Lima day 2 graphic, women's rugby team holding hands

Day 2 at Lima 2019: Team Canada adds gold to the medal table

Team Canada athletes shined on day two of Lima 2019, with kayak and rugby earning the nation’s first gold medals of the Games.

Here are some of Team Canada’s highlights from day two:

Team Canada’s first gold

Athletes stand on the podium wearing gold medals.

Alanna Braylougheed, Alexa Irvin, Andréanne Langlois & Anna Negulic clinch Team Canada’s first gold medal at Lima 2019.
Credit: Lima 2019

Canada’s women’s K4 500m team of Alanna Bray-lougheed, Alexa Irvin, Andréanne Langlois and Anna Negulic, became Team Canada’s first Pan American Games champions in Lima, Peru.

“We had a race plan going in where we were really focusing on the second half of the race. In that last 100m or so you could hear the crowds. Our crew was working really, really well together and it was just a great push. It felt awesome to cross the line and realize that we were first.” – Irvin

READ: Everything you need to know about Lima 2019

Back-to-back Pan Am Champs

Team Canada’s women’s rugby squad became back-to-back Pan American Games champions, after defending their gold medal from Toronto 2015. The Canadians defeated Team USA 24-10, to stand atop the podium in Peru. Shortly after, the men’s team went head-to-head with Argentina, where the Canadians fell by 23 points to walk away with silver.

With Olympic qualification spots already secured for both teams, their Lima 2019 medals will act as extra motivation as they prepare for Tokyo 2020.

Another medal from the court

Team Canada squash women stand on the podium.

Squash Women’s Double Final Team Canada Samantha Cornett and Danielle Letourneau win silver medals at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games on July 28, 2019. Photo by Vincent Ethier/COC

Samantha Cornett and Danielle Letourneau captured Team Canada’s fourth squash medal in women’s doubles. The pair brought home silver after losing 2-0 to the United States in the gold medal final.

This was the second Lima 2019 podium for Cornett, who also secured a bronze medal in the women’s individual event yesterday.

Four trips to the Taekwondo podium

AJ Assadian (left) and Michelle Lee, pose for photos with their medals at Lima 2019.

AJ Assadian (left) and Michelle Lee, pose for photos with their medals at the Lima 2019.

Today was a good day for Team Canada’s taekwondo athletes who collected four medals at Lima 2019.

Michelle Lee and Jinsu Ha were the first to climb the podium when they finished second in Poomsae duet. The pair join Mark Bush, Abbas Assadian Jr. and Valerie Ho to win another medal of the same colour in the poomsae team freestyle duet.

Hervan Nkogho was next to bring home hardware with a bronze in the kyorugi -68 kg bout. Last but not least, Skylar Park added Canada’s final silver of the day in the kyorugi – 57kg category.

Team work makes the dream work

Team Canada’s men’s gave the nation its second gymnastics medal. Canada’s team of Justin Karstadt, René Cournoyer, Cory Paterson, Sam Zakutney and Zachary Clay finished behind winners from the United States and silver medallists from Brazil.

At the end of Day 2, Team Canada has 16 medals (2 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze).

Canadians can watch the Lima 2019 Pan American Games LIVE on cbcsports.ca and on CBC Sports app.