Three was indeed company.
Island athletes played big roles in a trey-full of medals as sa国际传媒 captured gold and silver, respectively, in women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 rugby sevens and silver in the triathlon relay at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.
Two Island athletes 鈥� Desirae Ridenour of Cowichan Bay and Hannah Henry of Victoria 鈥� and two from Quebec 鈥� Alexis Lepage of Gatineau and Charles Paquet of Port Cartier 鈥� delivered sa国际传媒 silver in the triathlon mixed relay Monday in 1:20:57 behind the victorious Brazilians (1:20:34) and ahead of the bronze-medallist Mexicans.
The mixed relay triathlon makes its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, with the youthful Canadian foursome in Lima being targeted more for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Ridenour did the opening leg for sa国际传媒.
鈥淚 just wanted to stick with the front of the pack,鈥� said the Cowichan High graduate.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have the best swim, but I made it up on the run to transition, and then on the bike. I gave it everything I had on the run. I can鈥檛 even describe how happy I am.鈥�
Paquet did the second leg before tagging off to Henry.
鈥淒es and Charles did a great job of setting me up,鈥� said the Victorian Henry.
鈥淚 went into the swim and knew I had to go as hard as I could. I stayed on [Brazilian star Vittoria] Lopes鈥� feet. I couldn鈥檛 make it with her on the bike and I got caught with the United States and Ecuador. So I went as hard as I could with them and held on as best as I could in the run.鈥�
Lepage, who trains with Ridenour and Henry under coach Jono Hall at the National Triathlon Centre in Victoria, brought it home on the anchor leg. Lepage, Ridenour and Henry were held out of the individual triathlon races earlier in the Games to keep their bodies resilient for the relay. That seemed like a genius coaching decision in hindsight.
鈥淚 knew I had some work to do on the swim and bike if we wanted to get a medal,鈥� said Lepage, about being fresh for his anchor leg.
鈥淚 knew I needed to go hard. It was a great day for our entire team.鈥�
For Ridenour, it made up for the frustratingly close fourth-place finish with the more veteran Canadian relay team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
It also ended a bit of a drought. sa国际传媒 has now won 10 triathlon medals overall in the Pan Am Games. But the previous podium performances by a Canadian triathlete in the Pan Am Games were the silver medal at Rio 2007 and bronze medal at Guadalajara 2011, both won by two-time Olympian Brent McMahon of Victoria. Despite being the host nation, sa国际传媒 was blanked in triathlon at the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games.
Meanwhile, the Langford-based Canadian women鈥檚 rugby sevens squad successfully defended its Games home-turf gold medal from Toronto 2015 by dispatching the U.S. 24-10 in the Lima final Sunday.
鈥淭his is a great launch pad for Tokyo 2020 [sa国际传媒 has already qualified for the next Olympics],鈥� said captain Kayla Moleschi.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a pretty incredible performance all weekend, supporting each other in attack and defence, and that鈥檚 what led us to this gold. I am so incredibly proud of the girls. Their spirit and energy is what makes us the top.鈥�
sa国际传媒 sent a mix of veteran and developmental players from Westhills Stadium to Lima as Delaney Aikens, Olivia de Couvreur, Asia Hogan-Rochester and Temitiope Ogunjimi won their first caps. They were augmented by the veteran presence of Moleschi, Caroline Crossley of Victoria and Pam Buisa out of the University of Victoria Vikes.
鈥淥ur depth chart is huge,鈥� said Moleschi.
鈥淧eople are putting their hands up and we are going to do amazing things this year. The Pan Am Games is just the first of it this year. We are looking for a lot more podium finishes [in the 2019-20 World Series] before we get to Tokyo.鈥�
Like the women, the Canadian men鈥檚 sevens team had already qualified for Tokyo 2020 before departing Langford for Lima and beating Brazil in the semifinals before falling 33-10 to Argentina in the gold-medal final Sunday.
鈥淚t was a great tournament for us. We had some young guys in the squad as well, so they got a lot of experience,鈥� said captain Harry Jones.
鈥淥bviously, it was not the result we wanted, but you have to be happy with the effort.鈥�
The Canadian silver medal roster included Luke McCloskey and Brennig Prevost, both of Victoria, Patrick Kay of Duncan and former UVic Vikes stars Nathan Hirayama and Sean Duke.
Meanwhile, Victoria field hockey players Maddie Secco and Anna Mollenhauer opened the Games in a 10-0 Canadian victory over Cuba. Former UVic Vikes goaltender Kaitlyn Williams recorded the clean sheet.
There are more than 50 Island or Island-based athletes on the Canadian team at the Pan Am Games.
