Canada sweeps gold and silver in Junior Pan Am 1,500m
On Thursday in Paraguay, Ontario's Jude Wheeler-Dee and Quebec's Émile Toupin went neck-and-neck in a sprint finish for the 1,500m Pan Am title
Alex Reyes
The 2025 Junior Pan American Games (JPA) success continued for Team Canada on Thursday at La Nueva Olla Stadium in Asunción, Paraguay, led by 1,500m stars Jude Wheeler-Dee of Kingston, Ont., and Émile Toupin of Trois-Rivières, Que., who raced to gold and silver medals. In a sprint finish, Wheeler-Dee clocked 3:45.08 to narrowly edge out Toupin (3:45.29) by just two-tenths of a second. The pair helped to bring the total Canadian medal count to 11.
Foto: Alex Reyes / Panam Sports via Xpress Media
The race was tactical, with both Wheeler-Dee, 21, and Toupin, 22, showing off their final-kick speed down the final straight, falling just short of the championship record of 3:44.10; the pair boast personal bests of 3:39.02 and 3:39.15, respectively. Argentina’s Uriel Muñoz rounded out the podium, taking bronze in 3:45.97.
Wheeler-Dee claimed double silver at the 2025 U Sports Track and Field Championships in March, taking the runner-up spot in the men’s 1,500m and 3,000m runs. Toupin owns a gold medal from the 2023 NACAC U23 Championships 1,500m in San José.
View this post on Instagram
Keeler races to second medal of the meet
Barrie, Ont.’s Jadyn Keeler, newly-crowned 10,000m JPA champion and record holder, collected her second medal of the championship, taking silver in the women’s 5,000m, clocking 15:56.77; Mexico’s Dafne Juarez and Sabrina Salcedo took gold and bronze in in 15:51.27 and 16:09.11, respectively. Also on Thursday, London Ont.’s Liv Sands grabbed silver in the women’s shot put with a throw of 16.46m.
Other Canadian medallists
Dianna Proctor (Edmonton) – 400m gold and championship record
Isabella Goudros (Toronto) – heptathlon gold
Jennifer Elizarov (Waterloo, Ont.) – pole vault gold and championship record
Heather Abadie (Baton Rouge, La.) – pole vault silver
Avery Pearson (Meadow Lake, Sask.) – 800m silver
Jeremiah Nubbe (Rainier, Wash.) – hammer throw silver
View this post on Instagram
Team Canada’s squad of 12 women and eight men includes four sprinters, seven endurance athletes, one hurdler and eight field athletes. The JPA event, which runs from Monday through Friday, will see 490 U23 athletes from across the Americas competing in 45 track and field events.
See here for full results from the 2025 Junior Pan Am Games.
