Charles Philibert-Thiboutot dived across the finish line to win the men’s 1,500-meter race and give Canada its first track and field gold medal at this year’s Pan American Games in Chile.
Philibert-Thiboutot, 32, cried in disbelief when he saw he had secured the win in 3 minutes, 39.74 seconds, two one-hundredths of a second ahead of fellow Canadian Rob Heppenstall, who earned the silver medal. American Casey Comber won the bronze medal in a cold and damp National Stadium in Santiago, Chile.
Philibert-Thiboutot said he had “never before” dived across the finish line.
“I saw that Rob (Heppenstall) was leading, I saw we could go one-two and then I remembered that I really wanted to win gold,”
he said.
