Sunday, August 11
After adding 12 medals on the final day of competition, Team USA leaves Lima, Peru, the most decorated nation of the Pan American Games 2019 with 293 medals (120 golds, 88 silvers, 85 bronzes). Americans also earned 18 quota spots for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in archery, equestrian, pentathlon, sailing, shooting and water polo.
Below are recaps of Team USA’s performances for the day. For the full Games recap, click here.
Podium Finishes:
Archery (2 golds, 1 silver, 2 bronzes)
U.S. archers concluded competition at the Pan American Games with four podium finishes – including gold-medal-winning efforts in the women's team and mixed team recurve finals – and secured a women’s quota spot for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Seeded first, the duo of veteran Brady Ellison and 15-year-old Casey Kaufhold secured the gold medal in the mixed team event with a 5-3 victory over Colombia. The win garnered an Olympic national quota spot for the U.S. women, with the U.S. men having already secured qualification with Ellison’s individual world championship title earlier in the year.
Kaufhold then teamed with five-time Olympian Khatuna Lorig and Erin Mickelberry to win gold in the women’s recurve team final against Mexico. Despite an equipment failure for Kaufhold in the first set, Team USA fought through a dramatic four-set match to take the 5-3 victory. In the men’s team event, Ellison and teammates Jack Williams and Tom Stanwood clinched the bronze medal, splitting each of the last three sets to edge Mexico, 5-3.
Kaufhold and Lorig then went head-to-head in the women’s individual semifinals. Lorig took a 4-0 lead, but Kaufhold battled the match back to a 4-4 tie. Coming down to the final three arrows, Lorig won out by one point to advance to the gold-medal final and a chance to defend her title from 2015.
Lorig faced fellow Olympian Alejandra Valencia of Mexico in the final. The two were tied, 3-3, at the half, but Valencia held on for the gold, taking the last two sets as Lorig claimed silver.
In the bronze-medal match, Kaufhold earned a 6-0 shutout over Colombia’s Ana Maria Rendon, completing a full sweep of podium finishes in her Pan American Games debut.
Cycling – BMX (1 gold, 1 bronze)
Hannah Roberts and Justin Dowell helped Team USA close the Pan American Games on a high note, claiming gold and bronze medals in women’s and men’s BMX. Roberts’ first run of 86.67 was enough to secure the victory as Chile’s Macarena Perez (76.67) and Agustina Roth (71.00) rounded out the podium in second and third place.
In the men’s race, Dowell improved his first-run score of 84.33, earning a 85.17 on his second run to finish third. Venezuela’s Daniel Dhers won the gold medal with a best of 88.50 and Argentina’s Jose Torres claimed silver with a 87.33.
Golf (2 golds)
Team USA captured two gold medals, including a victory in the mixed team event and Emilia Migliaccio claiming the women’s individual title.
Heading into the final round with a six-stroke lead, Migliaccio finished with a four-round total of 276 (-8) to edge Paraguay’s Julieta Granada (280) for the top podium spot. She fired a 70 on the final day of competition and was the only golfer in the women’s tournament to complete all four rounds under par. Colombia’s Andrea Hurtado finished third with a total of 281. Team USA’s Rose Zhang finished on a high note, recording the third-best round of the day with a 69 to finish with a four-round total of 289, good enough for eighth place.
Migliaccio and Zhang teamed with John Hagestad III and Brandon Wu to win the mixed team title with a four-round total of 544. Entering the final day of competition in a three-way tie for second place, all four U.S. golfers went under par to secure the outright win. Paraguay took the silver medal with a total of 549 and Canada claimed the bronze with a 552.
Sitting tied for first place after three rounds, Wu finished with a fourth-round score of 71 and slipped to finish fourth overall with a total score of 270 (-14). Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti won the gold medal, Guatemala’s Jose Manuel Toledo Novales took silver and Chile’s Guillermo Artur Pereria Hinke claimed bronze. Hagestad placed 13th with a six-under par total of 278.
Judo (1 silver)
L.A. Smith advanced to the gold-medal final in the men’s -100 kg. division and left home with the silver medal after falling to Chile’s Thomas Briceno. Meanwhile competing at 100 kg., Ajax Tadehara finished fifth following a loss to David Moura of Brazil.
In women’s competition, Nina Cutro-Kelly also earned a fifth-place finish at +78 kg. after falling to Peru’s Yuliana Bolivar in the bronze-medal bout. In women’s -78 kg., Nefeli Papadakis advanced to the repechage round and finished tied for seventh place overall.
Karate (1 gold, 1 bronze)
Team USA added a pair of medals on the final day of competition, highlighted by Tom Scott claiming the gold medal in the men’s -75 kg. division with a 2-1 win over Hernani Verissimo of Brazil. Meanwhile, Cirrus Lingl claimed a share of the bronze medal in the women’s+68 kg. division after losing her semifinal bout against Pamela Rodriguez Ogando of the Dominican Republic, 5-3.
Other Results:
Track and Field
Team USA’s Matthew Forgues raced to a fifth-place finish in the men’s 50-kilometer race walk, crossing the line in 4:19:28. Ecuador’s Claudio Paulino Villanueva Florres took the gold medal in 3:50:01 ahead of Mexico’s Horacio Mava Reza (3:51:45) and Colombia’s Diego Juan Pinzon Florez, who rounded out the podim in second and third place (3:53:49).
In the women’s race, American Stephanie Casey earned a top-10 finish, placing ninth in with a time of 4:50:31. Ecuador claimed two of the top-three spots with Johana Edelmira (4:11:12) and Paola Bibiana Perez Saquipay (4:16:54) claiming the gold and bronze medals, while Guatemala’s Mirna Sucely Ortiz Flores took the silver in 4:15:21.
Americans Nicholas Christie and Kathleen Burnett also entered Sunday’s race, but did not finish.