(Santiago Du Chile) Quebecer Charles Philibert-Thiboutot got his hands on Canada’s first gold medal in athletics at the Pan American Games on Thursday when he won the 1500 meter event.
The 32-year-old athlete from Quebec gave an extra effort at the end of the race, falling at the finish line to beat his compatriot Robert Heppenstall.
Philibert-Thiboutot’s time was 3:39.74, just two hundredths of a second ahead of Hamilton’s Heppenstall.
The American Casey Comber won the bronze medal.
This gold charm from Philibert-Thiboutot was the 36e of the Canadian delegation in Santiago, which surpassed the harvest of 35 at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.
It was a second podium for Philibert-Thiboutot, who also won silver in the 5000m. He finished third, but Mexican Fernando Martinez, the initial winner, was disqualified for obstruction and shoving.