The waves didn鈥檛 break Mathea Olin鈥檚 way Saturday, but only by the narrowest of margins.
The teenage prodigy from Tofino just missed advancing to the women鈥檚 longboard surfing final at the 2019 Lima Pan Am Games.
The Islander got off to a commanding start in the fourth round of the competition, the semifinal round, by scoring a 7.83 on her first wave to Brazilian opponent Chloe Calmon鈥檚 5.83. That lead looked strong.
But disaster struck on the last of the two-wave competition as Olin recorded a 2.47 to Calmon鈥檚 4.77, allowing the Brazilian to sneak into the gold-medal final by 10.60 to 10.30.
The 16-year-old Olin, who has a big future, will meet Maria Fernanda Reyes of host Peru for the bronze medal today.
Surfing makes its Olympic debut next year in Tokyo.
Anna Mollenhauer of Victoria has a unique familial connection to the Pan Am Games. Her mother, two-time Olympian Nancy Charlton of Oak Bay, was the Canadian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the 1987 Indianapolis Pan Am Games.
The daughter is writing her own Games story in field hockey at Lima. The rookie Mollenhauer, along with veteran national team player and fellow Victorian Maddie Secco, are into the quarter-finals today with sa国际传媒 facing Mexico. The winner meets the winner of the Argentina-Peru quarter-final in the semifinals on Tuesday.
sa国际传媒 defeated Cuba 10-0 and Uruguay 5-0 in pool play, on clean sheets by former University of Vikes star goaltender Kaitlyn Willams, and lost 3-0 to Argentina.
There鈥檚 a lot on the line as the Pan Am Games gold-medallist team will earn a berth into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Canadian team hasn鈥檛 been to the Olympics since 1992, which ended a successful era in which players from mostly Victoria, Vancouver and the Cowichan Valley powered sa国际传媒 to three consecutive Olympic Games at Los Angeles in 1984, Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992, with two World Cup medals thrown in.
But with that in the distant past, federal funding largely dried up, as the Victoria-based team made headlines by self-funding much of its Olympic drive on the road to Tokyo 2020.
James Kirkpatrick of Victoria and his former UVic Vikes teammates Keegan Pereira and Brenden Bissett finished 3-0 in men鈥檚 pool play following sa国际传媒鈥檚 14-1 blowout of Peru on Saturday.
The Canadians will meet Trinidad and Tobabo in the quarter-finals on Monday. Defending Rio 2016 Olympic gold-medallist Argentina is on the other side of the draw, setting up a potential gold-medal final between sa国际传媒 and Argentina for the Olympic qualifying berth to Tokyo 2020.
Island athletes have won four medals at the halfway point of the 2019 Pan Am Games, the latest the silver medal by track cyclist Erin Attwell of Victoria on Friday.
Atwell joined silver medallist triathletes Desirae Ridenour of Cowichan Bay and Hannah Henry of Victoria; Caroline Crossley, Pam Buisa and the Langford-based gold-medallist Canadian women鈥檚 rugby sevens team; and the silver-medallist men鈥檚 sevens squad, which included Luke McCloskey and Brennig Prevost of Victoria, Patrick Kay of Duncan and former UVic stars Nathan Hirayama and Sean Duke.
There are more than 50 Island or Island-based athletes on the Canadian team in Lima. They are chasing the 20 medals, including 13 gold, won by Island athletes at the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games and 21 medals, including three gold, won by Islanders at the 2011 Guadalajara Games.
