Asunción, Paraguay—Sidney Clement contributed to the Canadian medal count at the Junior Pan Am Games in Asuncion, Paraguay on Wednesday after she crossed the triathlon finish line in second place.
High winds from Mother Nature that delayed the start of the individual races to the afternoon were not enough to distract the 20-year-old Vancouverite from achieving her goal of climbing onto the podium at her first multi-sport international games.
Clement clocked a second-place time of 1:00:06 in the triple-sport, sprint distance test around San Jose Beach in Encarnacion City.
“This feels great. It is awesome to represent Canada and it was a great race, so I’m very happy overall,” said Clement, a former Junior National Champion.
Clement led the pack of 32 rising stars in the sport of triathlon through the choppy waters of the 750-metre swim before mounting the bike where she was up front with a handful of familiar faces for the 20-kilometre ride.
“The swim was really good. We managed to get a good breakaway of five that included three of my Arizona State University teammates in the front pack so that was good,” said Clement, who will return to Arizona next week for her sophomore season with the Sun Devils. “I felt good on the run and managed to run in third for most of it before sprinting to second.”
Clement’s college teammate, Naomi Ruff from the United States, captured the gold with a time of 59:49. Brazil’s Julia Visgueiro was third at 1:00:08.
Regina’s Molly Lakustiak placed eighth. The 18-year-old was in 13th place off the bike, but bolted her way into the top 10 with a solid run to finish with a time of 1:02:16.
Both Canadians also finished in the top-10 of the men’s race.
Manitoba’s Blake Harris came up just shy in his quest for the podium, placing fourth with a time of 54:51.
“It was a rough swim. Once I got on the bike, I had a bit of a break with Daniel (Epp) on the first lap which was cool, but I came back and took it super easy for the rest of the bike,” said Harris. “I’m pretty happy with finishing fourth, but also a little disappointed.”
The Americans claimed the gold and silver medals. Braxton Legg was first with a time of 54:16. Blake Bullard was seven seconds off the leading pace with a time of 54:23. Chile’s Andree Buc rounded out the podium in third at 54:30.
Ontario’s Daniel Epp also had a strong run to finish eighth overall at 55:18.
Team Canada will be back on the start line, August 22, for the mixed relay event.
This marks the first time Paraguay will host a continental multi-sport event. The Junior Pan am Games bring together approximately 4,000 athletes from 41 countries across the Americas, competing in 28 sports.
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