Mexico underscored its strength in canoeing as it won three gold medals Saturday at the Pan American Games on a cool and rainy day at Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas.
The first race of the day featured the men's K-1 500m and the gold medal went to Manuel Cortina of Mexico, who finished in 1:45.35. Cortina then captured another victory in the K-2 500 with teammate Jesus Valdez.
In the C-1 500, Jose Cristobal Quirino crossed the line first with a time of 1:57.318 to add a third gold for Mexico. The Mexicans emerged the biggest winners in canoeing and kayaking as they scooped seven medals, five of that gold.
Kayaker Jill D'Alessio won the women's K-1 500-meter race while Kia Byers and Marie-Christine Schmidt were first in the women's K-2500. The result improved the team's gold-medal total to three at the Games. The canoe-kayak team won a total of seven medals in Rio -- three gold, two silver and two bronze.
Cuba broke the Mexican-Canadian dominance when Karel Aguilar and Serguey Torres won the men's C-2 500m title.
Source: Xinhua
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