Olympic gold medalists Gary Hall Jr. and Mark Gangloff will headline a rich field of American swimming talent that will represent the United States at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 14-22. The top U.S. open water swimmers, including Kalyn Keller, Chloe Sutton, Chip Peterson, and Fran Crippen, will also compete in Brazil. The event will follow the planned Olympic schedule featuring evening preliminary sessions and morning finals.
Team USA Swimming continued their dominance in the pool Sunday, winning five more swimming gold medals on the final day of the 2007 Pan American Games swim competition. Swimmers Randall Bal (Fair Oaks, Calif.), Caitlin Leverenz (Phoenix, Ariz.), Teresa Crippen (Philadelphia, Pa.), and both men’s and women’s 400m medley relay teams broke Pan American Games records on their way to winning gold. Team USA finished the competition with 38 total medals: 19 gold, 14 silver, and five bronze.
Kathleen Hersey won her third Pan American gold medal Saturday with her standout swim in the 200m fly. Hersey finished five seconds ahead of the field in 2:07.64 to break the Pan American Games record she set in Friday’s semifinal. Chip Peterson also won gold and set a Pan American Games record in the 1500m free. Team USA took home a total of five medals Saturday, increasing its overall total at the pool to 30 medals.
Two Pan American records fell Friday night after strong preliminary swims from Team USA’s Keri Hehn (Laguna Hills, Calif.) and Teresa Crippen (Philadelphia, Pa.). Hehn shattered the previous 200m breast Pan American record of 2:28.69 with a time of 2:26.72, while Crippen had a record-breaking swim in the 200m back with a time of 2:12.35. Both Hehn and Crippen qualified as the top seed for their event’s semifinal at the 2007 Pan American Games.
Team USA Swimming had another strong showing at the pool Friday, winning four golds and three silvers to continue its success at the 2007 Pan American Games. USA swimmers have won 25 medals to lead the competition with two more days of swimming finals still to come.
Scott Spann (Austin, Tex.) and Courtney Kalisz (Bel Air, Md.) heated up the pool Thursday night, leading a USA Team that kept its streak alive, advancing a swimmer in every preliminary event. Spann topped the men’s 200m breast, qualifying first in 2:15.70. Kalisz led the women in the 200m fly and qualified in 2:11.41. Both swimmers will swim in Friday morning’s semifinals.
Swimmer Julia Smit and the rest of Team USA Swimming had another strong morning at the Pan Am swimming pool Thursday, taking home a total of three golds, one silver, and one bronze on day four of swim competition at the 2007 Pan American Games. Smit won the women's 100m back and was part of the winning women's 400m free relay team that helped increase Team USA's total medal count to 18 at the swimming pool.
Swimmers Geoffrey Rathberger (Kensington,Conn.) and Ava Ohlgren (Northville, Mich.) headlined another strong evening in the swimming pool for Team USA Wednesday night at the 2007 Pan American Games. Rathberger claimed the top spot in the men’s 200m IM prelims while Ohlgren topped the women’s field in the 200m free prelims.
Matt Patton added to Team USA's gold medal count Wednesday with a win in the men's 400m free. Patton swam a personal best to finish in 3:49.77, setting a new Pan American Games record. Kathleen Hersey and Jessica Rodriquez also won their second gold medals of the Games. In the second day of swimming finals, Team USA increased its total medal haul to 13 (5 gold, 6 silver and 2 bronze).
The U.S. women's 800m free relay team of Lauren Thies, Teresa Crippen, Emily Kukors and Jessica Rodriquez highlighted Team USA's performance in Tuesday night's prelim session by setting a Pan Am Games record of 8:05.28. The relay team will go for gold in Wednesday morning's finals. Rodriquez will look to win her second gold medal of the Games after having won 400m free Tuesday morning. Other members of Team USA had a strong finish Tuesday as each swimmer advanced to the semifinal or final.
Kathleen Hersey and Jessica Rodriquez won gold medals Tuesday on the first day of swimming
finals at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to the
two gold medals, Team USA took home three silvers and one bronze to lead
the total medal count.
Olympians Maritza Correia, Gabe Woodward and Mark Gangloff and other members of Team USA to swim in Tuesday’s semis. Team USA had a strong showing in the pool Monday night, advancing the maximum number of swimmers to Tuesday morning’s semifinals and finals session at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. Olympians Maritza Correia, Gabe Woodward, and Mark Gangloff each advanced to the semifinal in their respective events and will swim in tomorrow’s session at 10 a.m. local time.
Olympic gold medalist Mark Gangloff (Akron, Ohio) will compete Monday in the first day of swimming competition at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. The event begins at 7 p.m. local time and features a total of nine preliminary events. Gangloff will swim in the men’s 100m breast along with fellow countryman Christian Schurr (Austin, Tex.).
Chloe Sutton and Fran Crippen took home Team USA Swimming's first two gold medals at the 2007 Pan American Games with wins in the men's and women's 10K open water swimming competition at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on 14 July 2007. Swimmers Chip Peterson finished second in the men's race to win silver and Kalyn Keller finished fourth in the women's race.
America's top open water swimmers will face a field of international competitors Saturday at the 10K Olympic distance open water event at Copacabana Beach. The women's competition begins at 9 a.m. local time and features 2007 World Championship silver medalist Kalyn Keller, and 2007 Pan Pacific gold medalist Chloe Sutton. The men's competition starts at 9:35 a.m. local time and features 2007 National Champion Chip Peterson, and Fran Crippen.
