Asunción, Paraguay—Four Canadian triathletes from across the country joined forces to capture the nation’s first-ever triathlon mixed team relay medal at the Junior Pan Am Games, winning the silver on Friday in Asunción, Paraguay.
Vancouver’s Sidney Clement, Ontario’s Daniel Epp along with Molly Lakustiak and Blake Harris from the prairies swam, pedaled, and ran their hearts out to the podium, completing their four combined legs in a time of 1:23:53.
Led by individual silver medallist, Sidney Clement, the young Canucks were in podium position from wire-to-wire. The 20-year-old Clement completed her opening leg in second spot against a talented group of frontrunners where she handed off to Daniel Epp who was able to hold onto third spot through this triple-sport test.
“It’s awesome. Everyone on the team did their jobs and it paid off today by winning the silver,” said Epp. “I had a small gap in my leg, but I did manage to keep the gaps small in front and pull more gaps on those behind us.”
Epp tagged off to Regina’s Molly Lakustiak for the penultimate leg. The feisty flatlander held her position while battling through the 300-metre swim, 6-kilometre bike and 1.5-kilometre run.
“It was really good. I was happy to get some redemption from the individual race that I wasn’t super happy about, so it was good to perform as a team and come back to get that silver medal,” said Lakustiak, who was eighth in Wednesday’s individual test.”
Lakustiak set up the final Canadian charge from Blake Harris. The Manitoban, who was fourth in the men’s individual race, was not going to let another podium chance slip through his fingers. The determined Cancuck closed the gap on the bike heading into transition two and never looked back to secure the silver medal.
The Canadians finished 33 seconds behind a dominant American squad who captured the gold at 1:23:20. Mexico celebrated the bronze with a time 1:24:41.
This marks the first time Paraguay hosted 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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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Chris Dornan
Triathlon Canada
E-mail: chris.dornan@triathloncanada.com
