Monday, October 23rd.- The Americans Grace Joyce, Veronica Nicacio, Madeleine Focht, and Katherine Horvat narrowly defeated the Chileans Antonia and Melita Abraham and Christina and Victoria Hostetter by just 77 hundredths of a second, and they secured the gold in the female four pairs of short sculls, in the highlight competition of the morning at the Laguna Grande in San Pedro de La Paz. 

The track was challenging, but the two teams stayed row to row over the two thousand meters of the course. Despite the effort of the local team, the Americans kept the lead under control and showed no weaknesses in a great team performance, finishing with a time of 6:26.04. 

The big surprise for the Chileans came a few minutes earlier with the second place in the male pair of short sculls, in which Francisco Lapostol, Brahim Alvayai, Óscar Vázquez, and Andoni Habash finished behind the favorites from Uruguay: Bruno Cetraro, Marcos Sarraute, Felipe Kluver, and Leandro Salvagno. 

The national team started in third place, following Uruguay and Cuba, but the setback of the Cuban team allowed them to move up to second place, 3.31 seconds behind the Uruguayans, who secured their victory with a time of 5:53.34. Mexico completed the podium, finishing 7.65 seconds behind. 

Nahuel Reyes and Marcelo Poo added a fourth-place in the male double sculls at Laguna Grande in San Pedro de La Paz. Magdalena Nannig and Antonio Zanetta closed out the female double sculls final, dominated by the Americans Hannah Paynter and Isabela Darvin. 

The day at Laguna Grande in San Pedro de La Paz began with victories for the Argentinian team of Clara Galfre and Oriana Ruiz and the Canadian team of Rui Xu and Michael Ciepiela in the male double pair of short sculls. 

With these new medals, Chile ranks eighth in the overall medal standings, with one gold, five silver, and two bronze medals. 

Written by Nicolás Olea; translated by Vicente Valdivia / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport
Ph: Marco Vazquez / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport