Canadian Water-Ski Team Cleans Up On Final Day of Competition
Article by The National Post
TORONTO – The Canadian water-ski team took home two gold and four silver medals on the final day of water-skiing at the Pan American Games.
After claiming gold in the overall competition on Wednesday, Whitney McClintock led the way with a gold and two silvers.
After American Regina Jaquess posted a score of three buoys at 11.25 metres, it was up to top-seeded McClintock to knock off the world record holder.
Four clean passes set her up for the gold medal pass at 11.25m. Only needing to round the fourth buoy, the Cambridge, Ont., native was able to complete the feat, passing around the ball and receiving a score of 3.5 at 11.25m. McClintock’s celebration on the water was enough to fire up the Canadian crowd to start the day at the Ontario Place West Channel.
“Winning in Canadian water is pretty special,” the gold medallist said. “Regina is a really strong competitor. We’re always at the tournaments together and she’s the world record holder right now. It’s always really nice to get a victory.”
McClintock’s second event was trick skiing, where she dominated during the overall competition on Wednesday. The 25-year-old was the second-to-last skier to compete, scoring 8,030 after falling during one of her flip tricks. The score was enough to give her the silver medal behind Peru’s Natalia Cuglievan.
In women’s jump, McClintock and Jaquess were the only two competitors to attempt a 5.5-foot jump.
McClintock jumped before Jaquess, posting a best distance of 47.7m. The American needed just one attempt to best McClintock, travelling a distance of 49.1m on her way to claiming her third Pan Am gold in the discipline.
Whitney’s older brother, Jason McClintock, competed in two of the three finals – slalom and trick.
In slalom, McClintock came out and posted a fantastic score of a single buoy at the 10.25m rope length, just three balls off of his personal best. After the next three skiers couldn’t beat his score, the world record holder, Nate Smith of the United States, matched the Canadian, forcing a ski-off for the gold medal.
“I knew what I needed to do to put the pressure on Nate,” McClintock said. “I was kind of hoping for a little more at (10.25m), but I did what I thought I needed to do.”
In the tiebreaker, McClintock put up a score of four buoys at 10.75m, putting the pressure on the 24-year-old American. Smith didn’t let that get to him, however, as he was able to get around the fifth buoy and capture the gold medal, giving McClintock the silver.
McClintock was the first of two Canadian skiers to compete in the trick event. A score of 9,440 was enough to put the 27-year-old in second position, just 10 points behind Javier Julio of Argentina.
Canada’s Jaret Llewellyn, who won the event during the overall competition on Wednesday, was the next skier. After Llewellyn moved into first with a scored of 10,950, there was one man to go. American Adam Pickos scored 11,110, bumping Llewellyn to the silver medal, and knocking McClintock off the trick podium.
Llewellyn’s best event, jumping, didn’t go quite as well as he had hoped. A jump of 59.9m was enough to put the Innisfail, Alta., native in a tie for third with Felipe Miranda of Chile. But as Miranda’s preliminary score was higher, the South American bumped the 44-year-old Canadian to fourth.
“For a medal, I don’t really like it,” Llewellyn said about the tie-breaking procedure. “To go back from a previous day, I don’t think is right regardless if it’s gold, or any of the medals.”
Ryan Dodd of Olds, Alta., captured the gold medal in the jumping event with a distance of 64.8m.
“My whole life I’ve thrived on pressure,” Dodd said. “When I landed that jump … I knew how far it was and it just like the weight of the world just dropped off my shoulders.”
Through all four days of the water-skiing and wakeboarding events at the 2015 Pan Am Games, Canada took home four golds and five silvers.
