Day 7 Santiago 2023: Brazil shines in beach volleyball, new places for Paris and the group stage of team sports continues

At the close of the first week of competition, there were new champions and medalists in several sports. It was a dream day for Brazil’s beach volleyball delegation, as both their male and female duo won the gold medal. Cuba and Chile completed the men’s podium, while for women, Canada won silver and the United States beat Argentina for the bronze medal.

In boxing, 13 gold medals were awarded throughout the day. Four of them were for Brazil, two for the United States, Cuba and Canada and one for Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. It is worth remembering that in these Games, boxing gave out a total of 30 places for Paris 2024. These were for the two finalists in each of the 13 categories that were fought, with the exception of the 57 and 60 kg categories of women, which also gave way to their semifinalists.

In cycling, Colombia won the gold medal in the final of the women’s Madison, completing the podium with Mexico and the United States. On the men’s side, Mexico won the race and was escorted by Colombia and the United States. In relation to the Sprint race, Martha Bayona Pineda from Colombia won the gold medal while Yuli Paola Verdugo from Mexico won silver and North American Mandy Marquardt won bronze against Carolina Barbosa from Brazil. Canada became champion of the men’s team race and Kevin Santiago Quintero from Colombia took the men’s Keirin test.

At the end of the modern pentathlon, Mexico won the men’s relay title just 16 points ahead of the United States, who won the silver medal with a difference of just one point over Ecuador’s bronze. In terms of shooting, Mexico became champion in the 3x20 rifle, also achieving gold and silver by mixed teams in air pistol, and Guatemala (under the name EAI) won the men’s Trap event.

Among other results, The Dominican Republic revalidated its Lima 2019 title and won the gold medal again by beating Brazil in the final of women’s volleyball. Los Leones beat Chile 3-1 in hockey, the Argentine women’s basketball team qualified for the semifinals for the first time in its history by beating Puerto Rico, and Colombia and Mexico won their respective baseball games.

Outside the competition, a meeting was held with great figures in world sports. Present was Carl Lewis, multiple Olympic and world champion and medalist. On his first visit to Chile, he confessed: “I am very grateful to the organization of Panam Sports and the Pan American Games, which were my first international competition, even my mother competed in the first Pan American Games”. He also met with other stars such as Javier Sotomayor, Sergei Bubka and Mijain López, among others.