Canada’s Sullivan wins gold win track sprint

“It’s one of the best sporting experiences of my life”. “I hit it hard”.

The Pan Am Games offer some events you won’t see in the Olympics, and several are up in the second week: women’s baseball, 10-pin bowling and racquetball.

“I’ve been dreaming about getting a gold medal for Canada since I stepped on the team in 2007 and we’re one step away”, said the 31-year-old from Beaconsfield, Que.

Evan Dunfee started things off with gold in the men’s 20-kilometre race walk.

Canada’s Ryan Cochrane celebrates his gold medal win in the men’s 1,500-metre freestyle swimming final at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto on Saturday, July 18, 2015.

Erin Hartwell, the head coach of Canada’s track sprint program, had said prior to the Games the team’s goal was to win six gold medals. Canada is in second place with 122. Visiting 10 days ago, he suggested Canada’s largest city as a possible Olympic host.

“I had a really successful meet, I did exactly what I was set-up to do on my path next year to the Olympic Games”, said Coughlin. “So it’s a great combination”.

It was a golden ending to what’s been a year of dominance for the Canadian men’s softball team.

They jokingly call it the Milton Hilton, but for Canadian cyclist Monique Sullivan and some of her teammates, it is starting to feel like home.

– A one-two finish in women’s mountain biking. The two added another gold when Canada captured the team event. Top-placed U.S. rider Marilyn Little was clear and inside the time on RF Scandalous, which opened the door for her to take Individual gold when overnight leader Ruy Fonseca of Brazil dropped the very last rail on the show jumping course.

Murphy scored 12 points, while Kim Gaucher of Mission, B.C., and Edmonton’s Michelle Plouffe had 10 apiece for a Canadian team that completely outclassed Brazil with its depth and hard-nosed defence.

The native of Cap-aux-Meules, Que., defeated Trinidad and Tobago’s Njisane Phillip in the final, sweeping the first two races in the best-of-three set.

In Toronto, a torrent of early Canadian medal wins has been credited with softening how locals view the Games. “As an athlete, that really shakes you to the core”. There’s this collective energy.

Three Brazilians: Carlos Parra and Landline, Jorge Marcio Carvalho and Luissy Massachusetts Wayer, and Henrique Plombon and Land Quenotte all jumped double clear, putting the pressure on the US Team. “And that’s really what’s exciting about what’s happening here and the overall attitude and spirit of this team”.