SANTIAGO, Chile, Oct 22, (AP): Paige Madden, the 23-year-old Olympic swimmer from Alabama, broke the 400-meter freestyle record of the Pan American Games to win the gold medal on Saturday and boost the United States to the top of the medal chart in Chile on the first day of competition.
Near the end of the day, the U.S. had nine gold medals out of the 20 medals its athletes had won. Mexico had five gold medals, with Brazil and Canada next with four each.

Madden’s new record in the biggest multi-sports event of the Americas is 4 minutes, 06.45 seconds, topping the mark set by Canada’s Emily Overholt at the games in Toronto in 2015 by almost two seconds.
Madden, a silver medalist in the 4x200 freestyle relay at the Tokyo Olympics, is expected to earn more medals for the U.S next year in Paris.

The U.S. won four gold medals in the pool on Saturday, and it could have been more if it weren’t for Brazil’s and Canada’s 4x100 meter freestyle relay teams, men’s and women’s, respectively.
Canada’s victory gave swimmer Maggie Mac Neil, one of the stars of the games in Chile, her first gold, with more likely to come in her remaining six events. The Canadians beat the U.S. team by 0.67 seconds.
The 23-year-old China-born Mac Neil earned a gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the Tokyo Olympics.

Mexican divers and Olympic medalists Gabriela Agúndez and Alejandra Orozco made a 1-2 in the 10-meter platform to confirm their regional dominance in the sport.
Mexico had a special celebration for the gold medal of shooter Edson Ramirez. He also secured a spot at the Paris Olympics in the men’s 10-meter air rifle event. Four years ago in Lima, he took the Pan American Games’ silver medal.

Brazil won two of its gold medals of the first day in skateboarding, men’s and women’s event. The 15-year-old sensation Rayssa Leal dominated her rivals in the morning and 24-year-old Lucas Rabelo, returning from an ACL injury in his left knee, reached the top in Santiago. It was the sport’s debut in the games.

Once a sports powerhouse, Cuba only secured one medal on Saturday. Weightlifter Arley Calderón lifted 154 kilograms (339 pounds) in his first attempt to beat his rivals in the 61kg division.
The sport is debuting in the largest multisport event on the continent.
The teenager nicknamed “Fadinha” (Little Fairy in Portuguese) has become one of the biggest names in the sport since she won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She showcased her board flips, slides and grinds to score a total of 236.98 points in Santiago.

Her compatriot and friend Pamela Rosa finished with the silver medal, 25 points behind. American Paige Heyn, another 15-year-old, won the bronze medal.
Dressed in black, Leal looked effortless throughout the competition, spending more time on her cellphone than watching her adversaries.

A different scenario awaits the Brazilian in Paris, with her most likely rival being once again 16-year-old Momiji Nishiya of Japan, the gold medalist at the sport’s Olympic debut in Tokyo.
Leal is Brazil’s youngest-ever Olympic medalist.

Three years since Tokyo, she no longer displays a braces-filled smile and doesn’t dance as much between runs. But her talents continue to spark the skateboarding frenzy among tens of thousands of teenagers back home.

In April, the Brazilian returned to Japan and took the X Games title for a second time. She is second in the World Skate rankings behind Nishiya.
Brazilian fans first saw Leal in a video when she was just a 7-year-old attempting a heel flip over three stairs while wearing a blue dress. She tumbled twice, but on the third attempt - wearing wings - landed perfectly. American skateboard legend Tony Hawk shared the clip of what he called a “fairytale heelflip” on social media.

Shortly after Leal’s title, another Brazilian won the men’s gold for street skateboarding. Lucas Rabelo, 24, finished with 264 points, almost eight points above silver medalist Angelo Caro of Peru. Colombia’s Jhancarlos González won the bronze medal.

Rabelo recovered from an ACL injury in his left knee, and he has trained only since the beginning of the year. He is still battling for a place in the next Olympics because winning gold in the Pan American Games does not secure skateboarders any spots in Paris.
Brazilian and American skateboarders are likely to have a battle on Sunday when the park event is played in Santiago.