Friday, August 2
Highlighted by Lucas Kozeniesky earning a gold medal and Olympic quota spot for Team USA in men's air rifle, Team USA earned its 100th medal at the Pan American Games on Aug. 2.
Below are recaps of Team USA’s performances for the day. For live scores and results, please click here.
Podium Finishes:
Badminton (2 Silvers)
The U.S. men’s and women’s doubles teams each took the silver medal on the final day of badminton competition at the Pan American Games. The U.S. men’s team of Phillip Chew and Ryan Chew dropped a hard-fought, 2-1, decision (11-21, 21-19, 18-21) against Canada’s tandem of Jason Anthony Ho-Shue and Nyl Yakura to finish second in the tournament. Also facing Canada on the women’s side, Jamie Hsu and Keui-Ya Chen lost in straight sets (10-21, 9-21) to the No. 32 ranked pair of Kristen Tsai and Rachel Honderich to take the runner-up spot in doubles competition.
Boxing (4 silvers)
Four Americans endured hard-fought losses on the final night of boxing competition, each claiming silver medals to complete USA Boxing’s 10-medal haul (1 gold, 4 silvers, 5 bronzes) from the 2019 Pan American Games. Team USA’s Duke Ragan (men’s bantamweight) and Keyshawn Davis (men’s light welterweight) fell to Cuba’s David Caballero Garcia and Andy Cruz Gomez, while in women’s competition, Virginia Fuchs (flyweight) and Namoi Graham (middleweight) lost to a pair of Colombian fighters in Ingrit Lorena Valencia Victoria and Jessoca Paola Caicedo Sinisterra.
Cycling – Track (1 gold)
The U.S. team of Christina Birch, Chloe Dygert, Kimberly Geist, and Lily Williams won the gold medal in women’s team pursuit in a time of 4:24.099. Canada took silver (4:27.799), while Colombia rounded out the top-three finishers with bronze.
Diving (1 gold, 1 silver)
After teaming yesterday to take silver in the women’s synchronized 3-meter springboard, Sarah Bacon and Brooke Schultz went 1-2 in the women’s individual 1-meter springboard. Bacon earned a total score of 284.10 to secure the top podium spot and Schultz recorded 279.45 points to edge Mexico’s Paola Milagros Espinosa Sanchez (278.35) for the silver medal. In other action, Steele Johnson and Benjamin Bramley placed fourth in men’s synchronized 10-meter platform with a total score of 368.61.
Shooting (2 golds, 1 bronze)
Team USA added three medals, highlighted by a gold-medal showing from Kim Rhode in women’ skeet and a national Olympic-qualifying victory from Lucas Kozeniesky in men’s 10-metr air rifle. Recovering from a kidney infection, Kozeniesky powered through to the final, where he averaged 10.375 on a 10.9 scale – including a perfect 10.9 shot – to secure the win and quota by 0.8 of a point. His 248.2 total set a Pan American Games record and topped Mexico’s Edson Ramirez (247.4). American Tim Sherry finished fifth with a score of 183.0.
Making her sixth Pan American Games appearance, Rhode collected her first medal of these Games by firing a Pan American Games record of 55 targets. Teammate Dania Vizzi connected on 40 targets for third place behind Chile’s Francisca Crovetto, who recorded a total of 47 for the silver.
The Pan American Games shooting competition ends Aug. 3 with three additional medal opportunities for Team USA.
Surfing (1 gold, 1 silver)
Connor Baxter became the first-ever Pan American Games Champion in the men’s stand-up paddleboard race – an event that made its debut this year. In the women’s event, Candice Appleby took silver in a close finish after leading the race until the very end when a steep inside wave sent her over the falls.
Baxter made the grueling race look easy as he traversed the 5-kilometer course that zig zagged through the main surf break three times and finished in shore break. The racers were neck and neck until Baxter caught a set wave in lap two that took him all the way to the turn buoy. That extended his lead considerably, but the wave in the shore break proved to be the clincher, sending him to the finish line.
Other results:
Basketball
With a 2-1 mark record in Pool A, Team USA had already clinched a spot in the medal round prior to its final game of preliminary play, in which it dropped a thrilling 87-84 decision against host nation Peru in a game that went down to the wire. Jermaine Samuels Jr. led Team USA with 17 points as three U.S. players recorded double-digit scoring figures. Up next, the U.S. will face Argentina in the evening semifinal match-up on Aug. 3.
Canoe/Kayak
Evy Leibfarth advanced to the semifinal of the women’s K1 extreme slalom after winning her heat against Sofia Reinoso (Mexico) and Lenni Ramirez (Periu). Up next, she will compete in the second semifinal race on Aug. 4 with the opportunity to advance to the same-day final.
Equestrian – Eventing
The U.S. Eventing Team concluded its first day of competition with exemplary scores from the four-member team and sits in first place with an overall score of 76.4. Canada secured second place with a team score of 81.3, while Brazil is positioned in third with a combined score of 85.9 heading into the second cross-country phase of competition, set for Aug. 3.
Competing in their first international championship for the U.S., Tamra Smith aboard Mai Baum finished their test on a 22.8 and sit in first place individually. Anchoring the team effort, Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg produced an impressive score of 25.6 to rank second individually.
Field Hockey
The U.S. women’s team concluded preliminary pool play with an 8-0 victory over Pan American Games host Peru. Mackenzie Allessie led Team USA with four completed shots on goal. The U.S. advance to the quarterfinals on Aug. 4.
Gymnastics – Rhythmic
After the first of two days of rhythmic gymnastics qualifications, Evita Griskenas and Camilla Feeley sit atop the preliminary all-around rankings. Both athletes qualified for the event finals on Aug. 4 for hoop and ball. The U.S. group sits in third after one event and advanced to the final for 5 balls, also on Aug. 4. Competition continues Aug. 3 with the remaining events in the individual and group all-around at 1 p.m. CT.
Racquetball
On the opening day of racquetball competition, Team USA’s Rhonda Rajsich and Jacob Bredenbeck began women’s and men’s singles competition with 2-0 victories over Mexico’s Montserrat Mejia de la Torre (15-4, 15-7) and Colombia’s Sebastian Franco (15-10, 15-9) in preliminary pool play. Meanwhile, fellow Americans Kelani Lawrence and Charles Pratt dropped their opening matches against Ecuador’s Paz Munoz (5-15, 6-15) and Canada’s Coby Iwaasa (9-11, 15-14, 11-15, 9-11).
Team Handball
The U.S. men lost a hard-fought match to Cuba, 34-26, in the final game of preliminary pool play. Trailing 11-17 after the first half, the U.S. recorded 15 points in the second stanza, but it was not enough to gain the lead. Up next, the U.S. will face host nation Peru in the fifth-eighth placement matches at 12 p.m. CT on Aug. 4.
Tennis
The U.S. women’s doubles team of Usue Arconada and Caroline Dolehide defeated Chile’s Alexa Guarachi and Daniela Seguel in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, to advance to the final. The U.S. duo advances to play the winner of Argentina-Paraguay in the gold-medal match on Aug. 3.
The two Americans also competed individually in women’s singles with Dolehide earning a 7-5, 7-6 quarterfinal win over Seguel. Meanwhile, Arconada fell to Aregentina’s Nadia Podoroska, 4-6, 4-6, and did not advance.
Volleyball – Indoor
With a trip to the semifinals on the line, the U.S. lost a grueling five-set match to Brazil to complete preliminary pool play Friday evening. After winning the opening two sets, 25-23, 25-21, the U.S. dropped three consecutive sets, 17-25, 19-25, 9-15. Team USA will look to rebound when it faces Puerto Rico in the fifth-sixth placement match on Aug. 3.