Canada closes Chile 2025 Youth Parapan American Games with 14 medals

Canada’s younger Para athletes are getting back from the Chile 2025 Youth Parapan American Games with 14 medals.

The Games, which ran from October 31 to November 9, noticed 35 Canadian athletes compete in 5 sports activities, with podiums secured in every one: Para swimming (8 medals), wheelchair basketball (2), goalball (2), boccia (1), and Para desk tennis (1). A complete of 32 athletes received a medal, with all 35 making the medal rounds of their respective sports activities.

Alyssa Smyth (Para swimming) and Andrew Woodrow (boccia) had been Canada’s Closing Ceremony flag bearers.

Smyth, age 15, was Canada’s winningest athlete on the Games, capturing 4 gold medals within the pool. Eighteen-year-old Woodrow earned Canada’s boccia podium with a silver within the BC4 people.

CHILE 2025 CANADIAN YOUTH PARAPAN AM TEAM MEDALLISTS:

GOLD – Elise Froese, Rosie Long, Kayla MacKinnon, Mercy Nyakundi – Women’s 3×3 Wheelchair Basketball
GOLD – Dylan Cannan, Nasif Chowdhury, Cameron Gelowitz, Brandon Louie, Simon Mazi-Keep, Thai Milton, Ibrahim Odza, Bernard Rosello, Jeffer Ward, Judah Websdale – Men’s 5×5 Wheelchair Basketball
GOLD – Alyssa Smyth – Para Swimming, Junior Women’s 100m Freestyle Multi-Class
GOLD – Alyssa Smyth – Para Swimming, Junior Women’s 100m Breaststroke Multi-Class
GOLD – Alyssa Smyth – Para Swimming, Junior Women’s 50m Freestyle, Multi-Class
GOLD – Alyssa Smyth – Para Swimming, Junior Women’s 100m Butterfly Multi-Class
GOLD – Veronica MacLellan, Para Swimming, Junior Women’s 100m Backstroke Multi-Class

SILVER – Yehati Antone, Arianna Balson, Elena Hung, Lily-Anna King, Cassandra Ruttle, Sadie Trant – Women’s Goalball
SILVER – Roy Pan – Para Swimming, Senior Men’s 50m Butterfly Multi-Class
SILVER – Andrew Woodrow, Boccia, Men’s BC4 Individual

BRONZE – Thulir Hector – Para Table Tennis, Women’s Class 8-10 Singles
BRONZE – Will Campbell, Hayden Den Ouden, Samuel Devries, Caden Johnson, Harry Nickerson, Merrick Smith – Men’s Goalball
BRONZE – Lucas Van Herk – Para Swimming, Senior Men’s 200m Freestyle Multi-Class
BRONZE – Veronica MacLellan – Para Swimming, Junior Women’s 50m Freestyle, Multi-Class

“We are so proud of each and every athlete for their performances at the Games,” stated Catherine Gosselin-Despres, Chief Sport Officer, Canadian Paralympic Committee. “It has been such an exciting week of competition watching the entire team proudly represent Canada on the international stage, and we have seen so many incredible results. We have a bright future ahead for Para sport in Canada, and we can’t wait to continue following and supporting each athlete’s journey.”

Canada’s Opening Ceremony flag bearers each captured medals of their respective occasions – Elise Froese successful gold within the girls’s 3×3 wheelchair basketball match and Harry Nickerson claiming bronze alongside the lads’s goalball workforce.

At 14 years previous, Thulir Hector was Canada’s youngest medallist. She received Para desk tennis bronze for the nation’s first medal of the Games.

In addition to the robust outcomes on the sphere of play, Chile 2025 was an necessary occasion for classification, with a number of athletes categorized on the Games for the primary time and receiving their eligibility for worldwide competitors.  

This was the sixth version of the Youth Parapan Am Games, with greater than 1,500 athletes between the ages of 14 and 21 from over 30 nations in attendance. Canada competed for the primary time since 2017.