Weekend recap: Pan Ams wrap up in Toronto

Pan Ams come to a close

The largest sporting event ever held in Canada, the Pan American Games, ended Sunday in Toronto with the athletics team bringing in 26 medals, second to only the United States, who won 41, and well ahead of Cuba’s nine.

The star on the track was undoubtedly Canada’s new sprint star Andre De Grasse, winning both the 100m and 200m. He also ran for the Canadian 4x100m relay team which finished in first but was later disqualified for a lane violation.

Other strong performances included golds Mohammed Ahmed in the men’s 10,000m, a gold-silver combo in the men’s steeplechase by Matt Hughes and Alex Genest, and a gold by Melissa Bishop in the women’s 800m.

Telly 10-mile runs in St. John’s

The one Canada’s oldest road races, the Telly 10-miler, was held Sunday morning, seeing about 4,700 runners in St. John’s, N.L. The men’s race was won by Matt Loiselle in 49:25, and the women’s by Anne Johnston in 58.55.

Diamond League shows off worlds-ready stars

The London Diamond League meeting was held Friday and Saturday, showing off many of the athletes who will be poised to win world championships at the end of August.

Most notable was the return of Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt to the spotlight, running 9.87 twice on the day, first in the heats and again in the finals. Mo Farah convincingly won the 3,000m in 7:34.66, continuing to look unbeatable at any track distance longer than the mile. Kenyan world and Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop won the mile in a strange feat of font- and back-running, easily sprinting past a field of the next-best athletes in the world. He seemingly wasn’t even short of breath after the race.