Seven Team Canada takeaways from the Santiago 2023 Parapan Am Games
Canada won 52 medals in Chile.
The 2023 Parapan American Games wrapped up in Santiago, Chile on Sunday evening, bringing to a close the nine-day event.
Canada added three medals on the final day of competition, bringing their final total to 52 — nine gold, 15 silver, and 28 bronze — eclipsing the 45 won in Lima four years ago. Of Canada’s 135 competitors in Santiago, 82 will be going home with at least one medal.
Not only the top multi-sport games exclusively for athletes in North and South America, the Parapan Am Games also served as vital qualifiers for next summer’s Paralympics in Paris.
Here are eight Canadian stories in particular that caught the headlines over the past nine days:
At least one athlete from each province won a medal
Each of Canada’s ten provinces were represented by athletes at Santiago, and at least one from each province won a medal.
Ontario led the way with 32 medallists, ahead of British Columbia with 15, and Quebec with 14. Albertan athletes won nine medals, with New Brunswick (4), Saskatchewan (3), and Manitoba (2) the others to have multiple athletes reach the podium. Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador had one medallist each.
Alexandre Hayward leads the way with four medals
Canada’s most successful athlete in Santiago was 26-year-old Para cyclist Alexandre Hayward. Competing in his first multi-sport games, Hayward won a medal in each of the four events he competed in between road and track cycling, taking home four in total — two gold, one silver, and one bronze.
Hayward’s first medal in Santiago came on the road, and was a gold in the C1-5 Time Trial, sharing the podium with fellow Canadian Mike Sametz, who took bronze. Hayward won a bronze medal of his own a few days later, finishing third in the Track 1000m Individual Time Trial. Hayward and Sametz shared the podium in the exact same positions — first and third, respectively — in the C1-3 Individual Pursuit on the track, Hayward’s third medal, and second gold, of the week.
The Quispamsis, New Brunswick native won his fourth and final medal on the last day of competition on Sunday, taking silver in the men's C1-3 Road Race to complete an impressive week of competition.
Keep an eye out for this rising star at Paris 2024 next summer.
Ruby Stevens wins Canada’s first gold in record-breaking fashion
The biggest story on day one at Santiago 2023 was Ruby Stevens’ performance in the pool. The 21-year-old from Toronto won the women’s S6 100m backstroke event in a Parapan Am record time of 1:30.41, nearly four seconds ahead of the next-closest racer.
For Stevens, who was only officially classified in October at the Para swimming World Series stop in Guadalajara, Mexico — allowing her to compete for Canada in international events — this gold medal was the first international medal of her career.
Stevens said after the event that winning “feels like a dream come true”, and her next target may very well be the Paralympics next summer. Her time of 1:30.41 would have been the 11th-fastest time in the heats of the same event at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
Canada’s oldest and youngest athletes reach the podium
Canada’s oldest athlete in Santiago was experienced table tennis player Stephanie Chan. The 66-year-old from Richmond, British Columbia continued her run of winning at least one medal at every Parapan Am Games since 2007, earning a bronze on day one in Santiago.
Chan lost in the semifinals to Giselle Muñoz of Argentina, and was awarded one of two bronze medals in the event as no bronze medal match was played. Chan is due to undergo heart surgery after the Parapan Am Games, but is already looking forward to getting back to the sport she loves.
‘’I’m so excited to get another medal,” said Chan. “After surgery I’ll come again to practice table tennis and have the chance to go to the Parapan Am Games again.”
On the other side of the scale, Canada’s youngest athlete — 16-year-old swimmer Fernando Lu — picked up two medals throughout the competition.
On day one of the games he earned a silver in the men’s 50m S10 freestyle, in a time of 25.28. He followed that up with a bronze in the 100m butterfly four days later.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said the Burnaby, B.C. native after winning his first international medal. “I’ve never really gone out of the country much before, so it’s pretty good to win a medal. I was just trying to get to the finish line as fast as I could, and I had no idea until I touched the wall I had the silver.”
Alison Levine gets her gold medal moments, is named closing ceremony flag bearer
Montreal, QC’s Alison Levine has been considered one of the best boccia players on the planet for several years now — including being the former number one ranked player, and now ranked third — but heading into Santiago 2023, had never won a gold medal at a major multi-sport games.
Levine won a silver medal at the Toronto 2015 Parapan Am Games, and followed it up with a bronze four years later in Lima, both in the BC4 pairs event. She also competed at the 2016 and 2020 Paralympic Games, eliminated in the preliminary round of the singles events on both occasions.
In Santiago, however, Levine finally got her gold medal moments. First, she won the BC4 individual tournament for her first individual Parapan Am medal, beating world number one Leidy Chica Chica of Colombia in the final. Paired with Iulian Ciobanu, Levine then topped the podium in the pairs event as well, qualifying the pair for next summer’s Paralympics in the process.
After her standout performances, Levine was selected to be Canada’s flag bearer for the closing ceremony on Sunday.
“I never in a million years thought of this moment,” Levine said in a press release. “I’m shocked, everyone who has carried that flag has been selected for a reason, and to just feel like I was selected for a reason as well is so amazing. I’m truly honoured.”
Three Paralympics qualifications secured
Levine and Ciobanu’s gold medal in the boccia BC4 pairs event qualified them for Paris 2024, but they weren’t the only Canadian athletes to book their spot in next summer’s Paralympic Games.
With a tight 4-3 victory over the United States, Canada’s women’s goalball team won the gold medal on day seven in Santiago. Along with their medals came the only spot available for an Americas country at Paris 2024, denying the Tokyo 2020 silver medalists from south of the border an opportunity to get back to the Paralympics.
“It’s amazing. To be Parapan American champion and a ticket to Paris, this is what we came here to do,” said Amy Burk after the team’s victory. “We’ve been working so hard these past couple years, to finally have it all come together is amazing. This game was the calmest our team has been.”
With a bronze medal in Santiago, Para archer Kyle Tremblay also earned a quota spot for Canada for Paris 2024, in the men’s compound open event. The Deep River, ON native will be looking to make his Paralympics debut next summer after rejoining the national team in 2023 following some time away with an injury.
Canada’s only archer in Santiago, Tremblay hit the bullseye in a one-shot winner-takes-all round in the bronze medal match, defeating Mexico’s Victor Sardina.
“On that last shot I just told myself don’t shoot a nine again and lose,” said Tremblay after the event. “I wanted this one for Canada. I earned us a spot [for Paris] here, but going home with a medal just makes it that much sweeter.”
Three Canadian teams will now play in last-chance Paralympics qualifying tournaments
As mentioned above, Santiago 2023 served as a crucial Paris 2024 qualifier for some Canadian athletes. For three Canadian teams, failing to win the gold medal at the Parapan Am Games means that they will have to play in last-chance qualifying tournaments in the leadup to the Paralympics in order to secure their spot.
Both Canadian wheelchair basketball teams are included in that. The women’s team won a silver medal in Santiago, following a narrow 62-56 loss to United States in the final. Their qualifying tournament will take place in Japan in April.
Also in April, but in France instead, will be the men’s qualifying tournament. Canada finished third in Santiago to book their spot in that competition, after beating Argentina for the bronze medal. They trailed at halftime, but came away with a crucial 70-62 win.
“I definitely wasn’t ready to be done with this group and this team,” said Pat Anderson after the bronze medal match. “It means a lot to me to keep moving towards Paris, to try to get better, to try to go from good to great. We’re not there yet but I still think we can get there. I believe in these guys, and this program.”
The wheelchair rugby team will head to New Zealand in March for their last-chance Paralympics qualifying tournament after earning a silver medal in Santiago. Canada’s only loss of the tournament came in the gold medal match, as they fell 57-51 to the same United States team that they had defeated in the group stage.
“We’re all disappointed, we wanted to win a gold medal for our country, we wanted to qualify for Paris,” said Patrice Dagenais. “That is not the case, but at the same time we have another chance to qualify. I’m sure we’ll take a break, we all deserve some time off from training and doing something else from rugby, and then we’ll get back together and start the grind for Paris.”
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