Parapan Am Games: Athletics day one recap

Bravo à Diane Roy. Médaillée d’or au 800m T54 au Para Pan Am à Toronto. @AthleticsCanada @Athl_FQA @dianeroy71 pic.twitter.com/qOOnVgSuip

— Felix A Lapointe (@CoachLapointe) August 10, 2015

Canadian athletes performed incredibly well on the track of the first day of athletics bringing home three medals in middle distance running, two of them gold.

Jason Dunkerly’s 5,000m race was on of the most impressive yesterday. He raced in the T11 category placing first and outrunning the second runners by a long shot. His time was 15:39:54. Not only was it a gold medal for Canada, it was also a PB for the Canadian runner. In second place was Cristian Valenzuela Guan was Chile. He ran 16:21:31. The third place runner, Ecuador’s Darwin Castro 16:34:891.

#ParapanAmGames & a fave photo of Ont’s Jason Dunkerley & his guide in the Men’s 5000m T11. Congrats on #GOLD, JD! pic.twitter.com/jF567JoNVi

— Athletics Ontario (@athleticsont) August 11, 2015

The T11 wasn’t the only 5,000m race yesterday. The T54 athletes also competed in the distance with an American athlete winning gold. Daniel Romanchuk wheeled to a 11:44:88. Canada’s Joshua Cassidy won silver in the event with a time of 11:44:92. Juan Valladares of Venezuela placed third running 11:45:06.

The women’s race of the day was the T54 800m. Diane Roy also won a gold medal for Canada. She finished first with a time of 2:01:24. American athletes also did well in the event. Hannah McFadden came second (2:02:04) and behind her was team mate Cheri Madsen in 2:13:76. Check out the video of her win below!

Canadian Diane Roy wins gold in the women’s 800m T54 #CBCPARAPANAM http://t.co/OeqceojsSt

— CBC Sports (@cbcsports) August 10, 2015

The men’s T20 1,500m also took place yesterday evening. No Canadians represented. Team America got another medal with Michael Brannigan’s first place win. His time was 4:04:32.