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Pan Am Games

Ryan Cochrane, Emily Overholt win Pan Am swim gold

Canada added its sixth and seventh Pan Am gold medals in swimming Friday night as Ryan Cochrane and Emily Overholt won the men's and women's 400-metre freestyle events.

Canadians take men's, women's 400m freestyle

Namish Modi · CBC Sports ·
Emily Overholt, who has won two medals in the Pan Ams so far, recovered from a tough disqualification Thursday night for a gold medal in the women's 400m freestyle Friday. (Al Bello/Getty Images )

Ryan Cochrane and Emily Overholt added two more swimming gold medals for Canada on Friday night, each winning the 400-metre freestyle at the Pan Am Games.

Disqualified a night earlier after an apparent gold-medal victory, Overholt recovered to win the women's 400 free.

The 17-year-old won from lane eight in a Pan Am-record time 4:08.42 a day after losing her gold medal in the women's 400m individual medley. She was disqualified for a non-simultaneous touch in that race.

Overholt outdueled Venezuela's Andreina Pinto in a very close finish, beating her to the wall buy a mere 0.25 of a second to earn her third medal of the Games. 

Overholt struggled in the morning, barely qualifying for the final in the eighth position, but stormed out at the beginning in the final, leading from wire to wire.

"It was definitely an emotional 24 hours, but I'm just so happy and so relieved to be able to get the gold medal after what happened last night," Overholt said. 

"It was definitely a tough race this morning. It didn't go how I wanted. I'm happy I got a lane. I wanted to get the gold so I went for it right from the beginning and just tried to hold on."

Gilian Ryan of the U.S. won the bronze.

Cochrane swims away with gold 

Two-time Olympic medallist Cochrane, the Canadian swim team's biggest star, dominated the men's 400m free, winning in a Pan Am-record time of 3:48.29. 

The 26-year-old led the race the entire way, holding off American Ryan Feeley, who took home the silver medal. 

"I was shaking this morning. I was shaking tonight," Cochrane said. "It wasn't the hardest final to make this morning, but I was still just as nervous and just as excited.

"I've never experienced anything like this period. I don't know if Canadians are a bit more rowdy, but it's been something I'll be telling my kids about in 20 years."

Brazil's Leonardo De Deus got the bronze medal. 

Nicol, Funk win bronze 

Rachel Nicol and Richard Funk each won a bronze medal in their respective 100-metre breaststroke finals.

Nicol, 22, finished behind Katie Meili, who won the gold for the U.S., and Brazil's Alia Atkinson, who won silver, in the women's race.

It was the first major competition of Nicol's career. 

Funk, also 22, added his second medal of the Games in the men's event. Brazil's Felipe Franca Da Silva and Felipe Lima won the gold and silver, respectively. 

With Files from The Canadian Press 

With files from The Canadian Press

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