Weekend Roundup: Huge medal haul for Canadian fencers and gymnasts at Pan Am Championships
What a week it was in South America for Canadian fencers and artistic gymnasts, who made multiple trips to the podium at their respective Pan American Championships. Among the highlight moments was fencer Eleanor Harvey beating the best in the world in women’s foil and the Canadian men’s artistic gymnastics team claiming a first ever continental title.
Elsewhere, the Canadian women’s volleyball team had a hugely successful week two in Volleyball Nations League and many national champions were crowned in track and field.
Here’s a look at what you might have missed.
Fencing: 8 medals for Canada at Pan Am Championships
Canada had an excellent showing this week at the Pan American Fencing Championships in Lima, Peru, with the team bringing home eight medals.
Leading the way was Olympic bronze medallist Eleanor Harvey, who won the gold medal in women’s individual foil. She defeated reigning Olympic champion Lee Kiefer of the United States in the semifinals. Harvey also helped Canada win silver in women’s team foil.
There were three individual bronze medals won. First by Dylan French in men’s épée, followed by Nicole Xuan and Ruien Xiao in women’s épée.
Canada also won silver in men’s team sabre, women’s team épée, and men’s team foil.
Artistic Swimming: Lamothe captures silver at World Cup Super Final
Audrey Lamothe delivered for Canada on home soil, earning silver in the women’s solo free final on Saturday at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup Super Final in Toronto.
The 21-year-old scored 267.8651 points to finish just ahead of Georgia’s Mari Alavidze for Canada’s only medal of the Super Final. Lamothe previously won both solo events at the World Cup opener in Medellin earlier this season.
Canada finished fourth in the team acrobatic event at the Super Final after placing fifth in both the team technical and team free events.
Artistic Gymnastics: Historic team victory for Canada
Canada’s senior men’s artistic gymnastics team made history by winning the country’s first ever team gold medal at the Pan American Championships. René Cournoyer, Xavier Olasz, William Émard, Félix Dolci and Jordan Carroll posted a winning score of 243.026, finishing ahead of Colombia and the United States in Rio de Janeiro.
The Canadian senior women’s team also reached the podium, earning bronze behind the United States and Brazil. Both Canadian teams secured spots at the 2026 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam where the first Olympic quota spots for LA 2028 will be awarded.
In the individual apparatus events, Aurélie Tran captured the gold medal in women’s uneven bars. Émard and Dolci delivered a double podium in men’s rings, taking gold and bronze, respectively. Dolci tied for bronze in men’s horizontal bar.
Lia-Monica Fontaine won silver in women’s vault, the event in which she is the reigning world silver medallist. Carroll claimed silver in men’s pommel horse. Lia Redick took silver in women’s floor exercise.
Cournoyer was the top Canadian in the all-around events, finishing fourth in the men’s final. Fontaine finished fifth in the women’s all-around final.
Athletics: National champions crowned
Many of Canada’s top international track and field athletes claimed national titles at the Canadian Track & Field Championships in Ottawa. Among them were hammer throwers Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzberg, who won their sixth and fourth national titles, respectively. Sarah Mitton continued her dominance of women’s shot put with her sixth straight Canadian crown.
On the track, Audrey Leduc completed her third straight 100m/200m double. Andre De Grasse reclaimed the men’s 100m national title while Aaron Brown took the victory in the men’s 200m. World indoor champion Christopher Morales Williams won the men’s 400m.
Olympic medallist Marco Arop opted out of competing in his primary event, the 800m, and instead raced the 1500m, in which he finished second to Foster Malleck. Olympic finalist Savannah Sutherland withdrew from the women’s 400m hurdles final with an undisclosed injury.
Read more on the results from a busy week in Ottawa here.
Volleyball: Three wins for women’s team in VNL Week 2
The Canadian women’s volleyball team posted a 3-1 record during the second week of Volleyball Nations League preliminary round play in Thailand.
They closed out the week with a dramatic five-set victory over Poland (25-23, 21-25, 25-16, 11-25, 15-13), which was punctuated by a final-point ace by captain Emily Maglio. The team bounced back from a 3-1 loss to Thailand on Saturday. They had started the week with back-to-back wins over the Netherlands and Bulgaria.
After recording two wins at home in Quebec City during week one, the Canadian women’s team has five wins in Volleyball Nations League and sits seventh in the overall standings. They’ll head to Hong Kong for week three of the preliminary round, starting July 8. The top eight teams will advance to the knockout round in Macao, China that begins July 22.
