Double gold in mountain biking followed more gold medals in the pool launched Canada into the Pan American Games on Saturday.

Gunnar Holmgren of Orillia, Ont., claimed both the first gold medal by any athlete and the first for the Canadian team in Santiago, Chile, when he crossed the line first in the men鈥檚 cross-country mountain bike.

鈥淲e have a pretty unique opportunity to be one of the first events and I hope my performance can inspire and motivate the rest of the Canadians here,鈥� Holmgren said.

Canada capped the first day of medal events with four gold, two silver and three bronze for nine medals behind the United States (20) and Brazil (13) and Mexico (11).

Holmgren鈥檚 teammate Jenn Jackson of Barrie, Ont., won the women鈥檚 cross-country race.

Canadian swimmers finished one-two in women鈥檚 100-metre breaststroke with Rachel Nichol of Lethbridge, Alta., taking gold and Sophie Angus of Weston, Conn., the silver.

The women鈥檚 freestyle relay team of Marie-Sophie Harvey of Laval, Que., Brooklyn Douthwright of Riverview, N.B., Maggie Mac Neil of London, Ont., and Katerine Savard of Pont-Rouge, Que., beat runner-up United States for gold.

Toronto鈥檚 Javier Acevedo, Montreal鈥檚 Edouard Fullum-Huot, Calgary鈥檚 Stephen Calkins and Finlay Knox of Okotoks, Alta., combined for men鈥檚 freestyle relay bronze.

Gymnasts Zachary Clay of Orillia, Ont., William Emard and Felix Dolci of Laval, Que., Rene Cournoyer of Repentigny, Que., and Jayson Rampersad of Oakville, Ont., were silver medallists in the men鈥檚 team event.

Winnipeg鈥檚 Tae-Ku Park earned taekwondo bronze in the men鈥檚 68-kg class. Calgary diver Caeli McKay was a bronze medallist in the women鈥檚 10-metre tower.

Holmgren, 24, posted a time of one hour 17 minutes 59 to beat Chilean silver medallist Martin Vidaurre Kossman by 53 seconds.

鈥淚 spent the first three laps just checking out where he was strong, where I was maybe a bit stronger and put it to work with two laps to go,鈥� the Canadian said. 鈥淚 really fed off the Chilean crowd, they were amazing out there.鈥�

Jackson set a cracking pace off the start of the women鈥檚 race. She held the lead all six laps to finish almost three minutes ahead of runner-up Catalina Mar铆a Vidaurre Kossmann of Chile.

鈥淥ff Gunnar鈥檚 win, I had a lot of motivation coming into this race to race for a medal,鈥� said the 28-year-old Jackson. 鈥淏ut then there鈥檚 just that little bit of seeing one of your friends, someone you鈥檝e grown up riding with, achieve the best result they could here and have a life career performance. It just makes you believe, you鈥檙e like, 鈥楢ll right it鈥檚 my turn, let鈥檚 get to it.鈥�

鈥淚t was maybe the longest hour twenty of my life out there but I just got to the front, set my pace, tried to have a really calm ride, push where it was safe, just relax and make sure I wasn鈥檛 making any silly mistakes.鈥�