Black mounts defence of title
Top Canadian gymnast golden in all-around final for second medal in Lima
Halifax gymnast Ellie Black defended her Pan American Games women’s allaround title on Monday.
Black, 23, scored 55.250 points to edge American Riley McCusker (55.125) for top spot. Brazil’s Flavia Saraiva was third with 54.350 points.
Top scores on vault and uneven bars gave Black a sizable lead after two rotations, and she was able to withstand strong beam and floor routines form McCusker.
Victoria Woo of Montreal was eighth.
It’s Black’s seventh Pan Am medal overall and second of these games. She helped Canada win silver in the women’s team event on Saturday.
“I really just wanted to enjoy it today and wanted to fix some things from my routines from day one (and) just continue to build towards the world championships,” she said.
Black will return to action Tuesday in the vault and uneven bars finals. Her next major event will be the worlds in October in Stuttgart, Germany.
Also Monday, star water skier Whitney McClintock Rini of Cambridge, Ont., earned a pair of silver medals, taking second in women’s jump and women’s slalom. Those results increased her Pan Am medal total to 13 since making her debut at the 2007 Rio de Janeiro games.
McClintock Rini, 29, is appearing at the Pan Am Games without her brother, Jason — himself a decorated water skier — for the first time. But her stepdaughter, Paige Rini of Kingston, Ont., kept the family legacy going with bronze medals in slalom and tricks in her Pan Am Games debut.
“This is my first event competing without my brother and now my stepdaughter is on the team and it’s so cool, because we have our family everywhere you go and it just feels like home,” McClintock Rini said.
Also Monday, Calgary’s Stephen Neveau took silver in men’s slalom and Dorien Llewellyn of Innisfail, Alta., took silver in men’s tricks.
CANOE: Canadian canoeists and kayakers added three silver and two bronze medals to the overall haul. Drew Hodges won his second medal with a thirdplace finish in the C1 1,000 metres. He teamed with Craig Spence for silver in the C2 1,000m on Saturday. Andréanne Langlois of Lac-Beauport, Que., (women’s K1 500m), Marshall Hughes of St. John’s, N.L., (men’s K1 1,000) and the team of Jacob Steele of Halifax and Jarret Kenke of Saskatoon (men’s K2 1,000) claimed silver medals. Anne Sophie Lavoie-Parent of Trois-Rivières, Que., and Rowan Hardy-Kavanagh of Ottawa had Canada’s other bronze in the women’s C2 500.
TRIATHLON: Canada picked up silver in the mixed relay. The team of Desirae Ridenour of Cowichan Bay, B.C., Hannah Henry of Victoria, Charles Paquet of Port-Cartier, Que., and Alexis Lepage of Gatineau, Que., finished behind Brazil and ahead of Mexico. The mixed relay, in which each athlete completes a mini-triathlon of a 300-metre swim, 6.6-kilometre bike ride and 1.5-kilometre run, makes its Olympic debut next year in Tokyo.