Philibert-Thiboutot wins Canada’s first track and field gold at Pan American Games
By The Canadian Press on November 2, 2023.
SANTIAGO – Charles Philibert-Thiboutot won Canada’s first track and field gold medal of the Pan American Games on Thursday with his victory in the men’s 1,500 metres. The 32-year-old from Quebec City strained at the finish line and fell crossing it to edge his Canadian teammate Robert Heppenstall. Philibert-Thiboutot’s time was three minutes 39.74 just two hundredths of a second faster than Hamilton’s Heppenstall. Casey Comber of the United States took bronze. Philibert-Thiboutot’s track and field gold medal was Canada’s 36th in Santiago, Chile, and surpassed the 35 won by the Canadian team at the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru. Philibert-Thiboutot won his second medal in Santiago after a silver in the men’s 5,000 metres. He crossed the line third in that race, but was upgraded when Mexico’s Fernando Martinez, who crossed the line first, was disqualified for obstruction and jostling. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2023. 8-7
