By Dan Plouffe
Four Ottawa athletes represented Canada at the 2025 Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, Paraguay and all four of them won medals from the Aug. 9-23 event.
Paris 2024 Olympian Kate Miller was the only one to climb to the top step of the podium, earning the gold medal in the women’s 10-metre platform synchronized diving competition alongside partner Katelyn Fung.
The Canadian pair scored a total of 289.05 points over their five dives to finish nearly 10 points ahead of the second-place Mexican duo.
“We knew we had to keep it steady, really take it one by one, and that’s what we did until the very last dive,” Miller said via Diving Canada. “I’m super pleased. It’s a great way to end our season. It’s definitely been a long run the past couple of weeks, so to end with gold is awesome. I’m just excited to have a little break and then be ready and prepped for next year.”
The South American competition came shortly after another lengthy journey to Singapore for the 2025 World Aquatics Championships, where Miller and Fung placed eighth in the synchro competition.
Fung also finished an astonishing fourth in her individual platform competition at the worlds, and followed it up with an individual bronze medal at the Junior Pan Ams (Miller was seventh).
“I’m thrilled to end the season with a gold medal. The last few weeks have been exhausting, but we made one last push and put up a strong performance,” Fung told Diving Canada. “It’s always a treat to dive with Kate. We push each other to be better, and I think we can be proud of what we’ve accomplished this season.”
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Fung, from Forest City Diving Club in London, and Miller, from the Nepean-Ottawa Diving Club, are long-time friends and teammates, dating back to their teenage days with Team Ontario.
Miller was of course still a teenager when she made her Olympic debut last summer, and the Asunción event served as a reminder of her youth as the 20-year-old is still eligible for junior competition.
It’s been a very busy schedule for Miller since the Paris Games. She started her studies and varsity diving career at University of Southern California shortly after making her Olympic debut and placing fourth in the synchro event with Caeli McKay. McKay took the 2025 season off and Miller was paired up with Fung for synchro events.
Miller’s season included trips back north for Diving Canada’s Winter Nationals in Gatineau and a spring World Cup meet in Windsor, plus a trip south to Mexico for another event where she matched her career-best individual World Cup result with an eighth-place showing.
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“The first thing I’m going to do when I arrive home is climb on the couch. And then you know, lay by the pool and maybe get a little bit of a suntan again,” Miller added with a smile. “I feel like our breaks we just do nothing.”
The three other Ottawa athletes who competing in Paraguay were Riley Richardson (rowing), Samantha Couture (artistic gymnastics) and Jiggy Schonfeld (rugby).
Richardson, an Ottawa Rowing Club product and team captain for the University of Virginia, was a triple medallist.
The former basketball player who was recruited into rowing through RBC Training Ground was part of the Canadian women’s eight crew, which finished the 2,000-metre course in 6:27.64 for the silver medal. Canada was 3.91 seconds behind champion Chile.
Richardson also won bronze medals in the women’s pair with teammate Ella McKinley (7:34.63) and the women’s coxless four with McKinley, Firinne Rolfe and Alessandra Tuttle (6:48.74).
With backing from her Tumblers Gymnastics Centre coach Anic Bellerose-Daneault, Couture won bronze medal in the team event with the Canadian women. In her fifth time representing Canada in international competition, Couture placed 11th in the individual all-around standings.
Her team totalled 145.450 points to edge out Argentina at 145.300 for the last place of the podium, while USA won with 152.300 and Brazil was second at 145.850 in the 12-team event.
Schonfeld was also a team bronze medal winner with the Canadian women in the rugby sevens competition.
Canada opened with a 53-0 victory over Jamaica and then prevailed 19-12 and 22-12 over Colombia and Argentina to finish with a perfect record in pool play and earn a place in the medal round.
The Canadians then fell 12-7 to Brazil in the semi-finals but bounced back from a repeat win over Argentina, this time with a 24-0 shutout.
It was Schonfeld’s third consecutive season representing Canada internationally, having earlier won a 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games silver medal and played in the Women’s U20 Transatlantic Quad Series last summer in Wales.
– with files from Martin Cleary
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