Canadian gymnast Ellie Black defends Pan Am women's all-around title

Elisabeth Black of Canada competes on the balance beam to win the gold in the women's individual all-around artistic gymnastics event at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, Monday, July 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

LIMA, Peru -- Halifax gymnast Ellie Black defended her Pan American Games women's all-around title on Monday.

Black, 23, scored 55.250 points to edge American Riley McCusker (55.125) for top spot. Brazil's Flavia Saraiva was third with 54.350 points.

Top scores on vault and uneven bars gave Black a sizable lead after two rotations, and she was able to withstand strong beam and floor routines form McCusker.

"Vault and bars were really strong for me. I was really happy with those," Black said. "On beam I was able to fix up one little mistake that I had made during the qualifications. On floor, I had kind of a little 'oopsie' as I landed outside of the floor when I landed one of my tumbles."

Victoria Woo of Montreal was eighth.

It's Black's seventh Pan Am medal overall and second of these games. She helped Canada win silver in the women's team event on Saturday.

"I really just wanted to enjoy it today and wanted to fix some things from my routines from day one (and) just continue to build towards the world championships," Black said.

Black will return to action Tuesday in the vault and uneven bars finals. Her next major competition will be the worlds in October in Stuttgart, Germany.

Also Monday, star water skier Whitney McClintock-Rini of Cambridge Ont., earned a pair of silver medals, taking second in women's jump and women's slalom. Those results increased her Pan Am medal total to 13 since making her debut at the 2007 Rio de Janeiro games.

McClintock, 29, is appearing at a Pan Am Games without her brother Jason -- himself a decorated water skier -- for the first time. But her stepdaughter, Paige Rini of Kingston, Ont., kept the family legacy going with bronze medals in slalom and tricks in her Pan Am Games debut.

"This is my first event competing without my brother and now my stepdaughter is on the team and it's so cool, because we have our family everywhere you go and it just feels like home," McClintock-Rini said.

"Like literally she skied right before me. So it's really cool to have her here and even better to watch her be so successful and it'll make it easier for me to transition out knowing that she's coming up to take my place."

McClintock-Rini and Rini will compete Tuesday in the women's overall competition.

Also Monday, Calgary's Stephen Neveau took silver in men's slalom and Dorien Llewellyn of Innisfail, Alta., took silver in men's tricks.

CANOE

Canadian canoeists and kayakers added three silver and two bronze medals to the overall haul.

Drew Hodges won his second medal of the Lima games with a third-place finish in the men's C1 1,000 metres. Hodges teamed with Craig Spence for silver in the C2 1,000m on Saturday.

"It's good for me and Craig as well, and for myself in C1," Hodges said. "It shows that we're on the right path to where we want to be. Moving forward we can take away from this some key things and work on that next year and hopefully be at the Tokyo Games."

Andreanne Langlois of Lac Beauport, Que., (women's K1 500m), Marshall Hughes of St. John's, N.L., (men's K1 1,000) and the team of Jacob Steele of Halifax and Jarret Kenke of Saskatoon (men's K2 1,000) claimed silver medals. Anne Lavoie-Parent of Trois-Rivieres, Que., and Rowan Hardy-Kavanagh of Ottawa had Canada's other bronze in the women's C2 500.

EQUESTRIAN

Canada's dressage team of Toronto's Lindsay Kellock, Tina Irwin of Stouffville, Ont., Montreal's Naima Moreira-Laliberte and Jill Irving of Moncton, N.B., won gold with 220.287 points ahead of the United States (217.821) and Brazil (204.223).

HANDBALL

Canada was edged 24-23 by the Dominican Republic in women's handball action. Nassima Benhacine of Chambly, Que., led Canada with eight goals on 10 shots. Canada next plays Peru in the seventh-place match.

FIELD HOCKEY

Brienne Stairs scored on all three of her shots and Kaitlyn Williams picked up the clean sheet as Canada blanked Cuba 10-0 in a women's preliminary match. Canada's next match is Wednesday against powerful Argentina.

TRIATHLON

Canada picked up silver in the mixed relay. The team of Desirae Ridenour of Cowichan Bay, B.C., Hannah Henry of Victoria, Charles Paquet of Port Cartier, Que., and Alexis Lepage of Gatineau, Que., finished behind Brazil and ahead of Mexico.

"I knew I had some work to do on the swim and bike if we wanted to get a medal," said Lepage, who had the anchor leg. "I knew I needed to go hard. ... It was a great day for our entire team."

The mixed relay, in which each athlete completes a mini-triathlon of a 300-metre swim, 6.6-kilometre bike ride and 1.5-kilometre run before tagging a teammate, makes its Olympic debut next year in Tokyo.

TAEKWONDO

Toronto's Ashley Kraayeveld came up one match short in her quest to get on the podium as the 27-year-old fell 12-4 in the bronze-medal tilt against Columbia's Katherine Dumar.

BASEBALL

The Canada's men's baseball team opened their tournament with a victory.

Phillippe Aumont of Gatineau, Que., tossed six scoreless innings while Tristan Pompey of Mississauga, Ont., went 4 for 4 with two RBIs to lead the way in a 10-0 win over Argentina.