The Canadian beach volleyball duo of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson have advanced to the women鈥檚 gold-medal match at the Pan American Games.
Canada鈥檚 flag-bearers at the opening ceremonies in Santiago, Chile, swept Argentina鈥檚 Ana Maria Gallay and Gabriela Fernanda Pereyra 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) in Thursday鈥檚 semifinal.
The Toronto athletes will next play Brazil鈥檚 Ana Patricia Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa, who posted a 2-0 (21-11, 21-18) win over the American duo of Nicole Quiggle and Sarah Schermerhorn Murphy.
Medal games were set for Friday.
In the ring, Tammara Thibeault earned a berth at next year鈥檚 Paris Olympics with a semifinal win over Citlalli Vanessa Ortiz of Mexico by unanimous decision.
The top two boxers in each weight class qualified for the 2024 Games.
The 26-year-old from Shawinigan, Que., meets Panama鈥檚 Atheyna Bylon for Pan Am Games middleweight gold Friday in a rematch of their 2022 world championship final.
鈥淚 still have a fight tomorrow. Enjoy this for a little bit. Recover, rest and then get back on it tomorrow,鈥� Thibeault said.
Victoria鈥檚 Bryan Colwell (men鈥檚 92 kg), Montreal鈥檚 Junior Petanqui (men鈥檚 71 kg), Charlie Cavanagh of Saint John, N.B. (women鈥檚 66 kg) and McKenzie Wright of Oakville, Ont., (women鈥檚 50 kg) just missed out on an Olympic berth. They each earned a bronze medal for a semifinal loss.
Bronze-medal bouts aren鈥檛 fought at the Pan Am Games.
In track cycling, Canada earned a berth in Friday鈥檚 gold-medal final in men鈥檚 team pursuit.
Chris Ernst of Kitchener, Ont., Michael Foley of Milton, Ont., Carson Mattern of Ancaster, Ont., and Vancouver鈥檚 Sean Richardson set a new Pan Am record with a qualifying time of three minutes 55.981 seconds.
In shooting, Toronto鈥檚 Tugrul Ozer won gold in the men鈥檚 10-metre air pistol with a Pan Am Games record score of 240.5 points. His result secured a berth for Canada at the 2024 Olympics.
Ozer battled American James Hall throughout the event before taking the lead for good in the fifth of nine series.
Hall finished second with 239.3 points, followed by Brazil鈥檚 Felipe Wu with 215.3.
In other results, Samuel Murray of Baie-Comeau, Que., and Coby Iwaasa of Lethbridge, Alta., took silver in men鈥檚 team racquetball after falling 2-0 to Bolivia, and Calgary鈥檚 Kelly Fitzsimmons and Vancouver鈥檚 Devan Wiebe earned bronze in the modern pentathlon relay.
Canada has won 83 medals (29 gold, 24 silver, 30 bronze) after six days of competition.
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