Canada brings home 2 silvers from Pan American Sports Festival

Québec City, September 30, 2014 – Five Canadian junior athletes were in Mexico City over the last week to compete in the Pan American Sports Festival which just ended yesterday, bringing home 2 silver medals.

In the solo event, Halle Pratt from the Calgary Aquabelles took silver, narrowly missing top spot by a slim .12 points. Teresa Alonso from Mexico captured gold while the USA’s Olivia Ekberg came in third.

In duet, Andrée-Anne Côté and Camille Fiola-Dion, from Québec City’s SynchroÉlite, also captured silver for their performance. The Mexican duet was awarded gold and the Brazilians bronze. Wenjing Deng and Dylan Harding, from the Granite Club in Toronto, were third after the preliminary round but were not able to take part in the finals because of international rules which only allow one entry per country in the final.

“Halle, Andrée-Anne and Camille all had great swims in prelims and kept their best performances of the competition for the finals. We’re very proud to have been able to showcase the talent and the potential of our young junior athletes this week in Mexico”, said Canada’s National Development Coach Lilianne Grenier. “This competition has reinforced our belief that we have a talented crop of young athletes that will continue to be a force on the international stage for years to come.”

The Granite Club’s Sheilagh Croxon and SynchroÉlite’s Kasia Kulesza also accompanied their athletes at the event.

In the figures competition held on Saturday, Andrée-Anne Côté took first spot with a score of 74.262. All Canadians delivered noteworthy performances as Halle Pratt was 4th, Wenjing Deng 6th, Dylan Harding 7th and Camille Fiola-Dion 13th.

This was the first Pan Am Sports Festival. It is a multi sport festival consisting of 20 individual sports, all of which are included in the 2015 Pan Am Games and the Olympics in 2016. The festival is considered a warm up for future Pan American Athletes and Olympic athletes from each discipline. There were be approximately 3,238 athletes as well as 1,600 coaches delegates and other technical staff for a total of 4,908 participants at these Games.

About Synchro Canada

Synchro Canada is the national organization governing synchronized swimming in Canada. It represents 10 provincial associations, a territorial association, as well as some 150 clubs and 12,000 members across Canada. A member of FINA, the world’s governing aquatic sports organization, Synchro Canada promotes the quest for excellence by developing the athletes, citizens and ambassadors of the sport of synchronized swimming at every level.

Synchro Canada would like to thank its sponsors:

Program partners: Sport Canada, Own The Podium, the Institut national du sport du Québec

Official Aquatic Supplier: Speedo Canada

Official make up: MAKE UP FOR EVER

Official suppliers: Knox Gelatine, AdUp, National Car Rental

Official hotel: Hilton Hotels Canada

For further information, visit Synchro Canada’s Website at www.synchro.ca or follow Synchro Canada on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

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For information:

Stéphane Côté

Synchro Canada

Communications Coordinator