RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, July 19. STARTING off the fourth day of swimming at the Pan American Games, Brazil's Thiago Pereira owned the swim of the morning with a Games-record time in the men's 200 back. Not only did that performance give him his third gold medal of the meet, it moved him into a tie for eighth in the world this year in the 200 back.<\/p>\n
Women's 100 backstroke Finals<\/b>
\nThe United States' Julia Smit edged Brazil's Fabiola Molina in a hard-fought battle in the women's 100 back. Smit clocked a 1:02.01, while Molina wound up with silver in 1:02.18.<\/p>\n
While Smit never trailed, as she led 30.42 to 30.55 at the 50 and came home with a 31.59 against Molina's 31.63 split, the race still came down to the touch.<\/p>\n
Canada's Liz Wycliffe led at the halfway mark with a 30.14 split, but came home in 32.32 to finish with a bronze-winning 1:02.46. The effort nearly cost her though, as the United States' Brielle White stopped the clock just .03 seconds behind in 1:02.49.<\/p>\n
Women's 100 breaststroke Finals<\/b>
\nThe United States' Michelle McKeehan moved from 19th in the world this year to tied for 13th with a gold-winning effort of 1:08.49 in the women's 100 breast final. While she could not overcome Canadian Annamay Pierse's Games-record time of 1:07.78 set during prelims, she did beat Pierse head-to-head as the Canadian took silver in 1:08.72.<\/p>\n
The time of 1:08.49 tied McKeehan with Kate Haywood for 13th in the world this year, as the Brit clocked the time at Worlds in March.<\/p>\n
McKeehan's compatriot Elizabeth Tinnon rounded out the podium with a bronze-winning time of 1:09.18.<\/p>\n
Men's 200 backstroke Finals<\/b>
\nBrazil's Thiago Pereira dipped under the Games record of American Scott Clary (1:58.78) in the men's 200 back as well as beat Clary to the wall, 1:58.42 to 1:59.24. Pereira added the gold to the pair he already won in the 400 IM and 800 freestyle relay.<\/p>\n
The 1:58.42 also moved him into a tie with Japan's Ryosuke Irie for eighth in the world this year. A star-studded list sits in front of him in the rankings with Ryan Lochte (1:54.32), Aaron Peirsol (1:54.80), Markus Rogan (1:56.02), Michael Phelps (1:56.29), Arkadi Vyatchanin (1:57.14), Razvan Florea (1:57.31) and James Goodard (1:58.36) owning better times this year.<\/p>\n
Pereira's teammate Lucas Salatta grabbed bronze ahead of Canadian Matt Hawes, 1:59.51 to 1:59.75, in other action.<\/p>\n
Women's 400 freestyle relay Finals<\/b>
\nThe United States contingent of Julia Smit, Samantha Woodward, Emily Kukors and Martiza Correira came up just short of the Games record in the women's 400 freestyle relay. The quartet clocked a 3:41.97 to win by nearly a second over Brazil, but could not edge the 3:41.93 set by the U.S. on Aug. 13, 2003.<\/p>\n
"Both medals are important to me but I am really happy to have been on the relay," said Smit, after winning her second gold medal of the Games. "I enjoy being part of a team. Relays are fun to be on and it's great to have the whole team there at the blocks."<\/p>\n
Brazil's team of Tatiana Barbosa, Flavia Delaroli, Monique Ferreira and Rebeca Gusmao took silver in 3:42.96, while Canada's foursome of Elizabeth Collins, Seanna Mitchell, Chanelle Charron-Watson and Hilary Bell picked up bronze in 3:46.23.<\/p>\n
Women's 200 freestyle Semifinals<\/b>
\nNorth Americans traded the top four spots during semifinal action of the women's 200 free. The United States' Ava Ohlgren touched out Canadian Stephanie Horner, 2:01.02 to 2:01.45, for the top seed going into finals, while American Katie Carroll (2:02.98) finished ahead of Canada's Hilary Bell (2:03.33) for third place.<\/p>\n
Other swimmers also making their way to finals were Brazil's Monique Ferreira (2:03.49), Venezuela's Erin Volcan (2:03.95), Argentina's Cecilia Biagioli (2:04.08) and El Salvador's Pamela Benitez (2:04.85).<\/p>\n
Men's 200 freestyle Semifinals<\/b>
\nBrazil's Rodrigo Castro notched the fastest time of the morning semis with an effort of 1:49.96, while the United States' Matthew Owen placed second in 1:50.21.<\/p>\n
There was a logjam behind Owen as four other swimmers finished in the 1:50 range. The Cayman Islands' Shaune Fraser (1:50.24), Brazil's Nicolas Oliveira (1:50.58) and Canada's Adam Sioui (1:50.64) and Chad Hankewich (1:50.92) all made finals finishing third through sixth.<\/p>\n
Uruguay's Martin Kutscher Belgeri (1:51.60) and the United States' Robert Margalis (1:51.90) claimed the final transfer spots into the championship heat.<\/p>\n
Women's 200 IM Semifinals<\/b>
\nEmily Kukors, representing the United States, pocketed the top time out of semis with a 2:16.65 readout, while Canadian Stephanie Horner took second place in 2:17.92. The rest of the pack finished far behind what looks to be a two-person race for gold in finals.<\/p>\n
Brazil's Joanna Maranhao (2:20.72), Argentina's Georgina Bardach (2:21.17), the United States' Julia Smit (2:21.31) and Brazil's Lilian Cerroni (2:22.27) claimed third through sixth, while the Bahamas' McKayla Lightbourn (2:26.30) and Guatamala's Maria Fernanda Coy (2:28.66) made up the rest of the top eight.<\/p>\n
Men's 200 IM Semifinals<\/b>
\nCanada's Keith Beavers and Brazil's Thiago Pereira pushed each other during the first heat en route to the top two times of the semifinal round. Beavers placed first in 2:01.49, while Pereira nabbed second in 2:02.00.<\/p>\n
Barbados' Bradley Ally wound up third in 2:02.74, while the United States' Geoff Rathgeber (2:02.88) and the Bahamas' Jeremy Knowles (2:03.08) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.<\/p>\n
Brazil's Diogo Yabe (2:03.35), the United States' Robert Margalis (2:03.81) and Trinidad and Tobago's Nicholas Bovell (2:04.09) earned the last spots in the championship final.<\/p>\n
Special thanks to USA Swimming for contributing to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n