ST JOHN'S - Rain and cold are not generally welcomed by athletes but if you are from Newfoundland and Labrador, they are ideal conditions and Gavin Baggs took full advantage powering his way to victory in the men's wheelchair 1,500 metres on Tuesday to give the Canada Games hosts their first gold medal.

   After a week of uncharacteristic hot, sunny weather the more familiar clouds and rain returned to St. John's setting the stage for Baggs to brighten up a dreary afternoon by snatching a long-awaited gold with Games now into their second week.

   While it was Newfoundland and Labrador's first gold in was not Baggs first medal the 18-year-old multi-sport athlete having already left his mark on the Games landing the province's first podium finish, a silver in the 400m freestyle men's para at The Works Aquarena, on the opening night of competition.

   If winning Canada Games medals in the pool and on the track are not impressive enough, Baggs is also a member of Canada's men's national para-hockey team and hopes to be on the squad for next year's Milano Paralympics.

   Coming into his fourth Canada Games Baggs was still chasing a first medal and now has had his perseverance and determination rewarded with gold and silver and the possibility of more to come with races in the 100 and 400m sprints still to come.

   "It was an unexpected result with the wind and the rain today," Baggs told NT. "In the end, I just put my head down, focused on what was ahead of me, and raced my heart out.
   "To walk away with a gold for Team NL is an absolute honour."

   Team Alberta also had a productive opening day of competition at the Fortis Canada Games Complex picking up three gold, including one from Maggie Slessor in thee women's 1,500m wheelchair.

   Adding to the Alberta haul were Jin Shomachuk in the hammer and Rachel Grenke in women's pole vault.
   British Columbia's Eniko Sara was a comfortable winner in the women's javelin with a throw of 51.23m, more than six metres clear of silver medallist Jula Elisabeth Konigshofer of Nova Scotia while Ontario's AJ Stanat claimed men's shot put gold and Quebec's Mathieu Dorais the para men's shot.

   The rain did impact some events, women's baseball got in three games Nova Scotia thumping rivals New Brunswick 22-1, Saskatchewan easing past Manitoba 8-5 and Ontario winning a 24-10 slugfest over Quebec.

   In women's soccer Quebec steamrolled to 10-0 win over the Northwest Territories while Ontario were 4-0 winners over Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia beat the Yukon by the same score.
   Team Ontario got the defence of their men's box lacrosse gold medal off to a bright start with Day One wins over British Columbia and Alberta.

   Ontario opened with an early 5-3 decision over BC then later in a rematch of the 2022 Niagara Games final rolled to a convincing 9-2 victory over Alberta.
   Artistic swimming is not new to the Canada Games but competing in St. John's marks a first for the sport after a move from the Winter to Summer program lineup.
   The change, however, looks as if it will no impact performance.

   The last Canada Games artistic swimming was part of in 2019 Team Alberta swept the gold medals and look to be strong contenders again in St. John's.
   The top six spots in the rankings after Tuesday's solo technical routines were all occupied by athletes from those three provinces with Team Quebec's Andrea Escobar and Lily Bernier one and two followed by Team Alberta's Lilian Wark and Jasmine Peloquin.

   Team Quebec's Zack Bourgeois made a tough day at the golf course look easy carding a one-under 71 while teammate Leonie Tavares returned a two-over 74 to put Quebec one stroke clear of defending champions British Columbia after the opening round at a rain-soaked Bally Haly Country Club.

    "It was hard today," said Bourgeois. So I'm happy.

   "I would be so proud of my round but today was really good.

   "I look forward to some good weather, the wind and the rain it was tough today.
     There was no rain, but it was still a tough day for the territories as indoor volleyball got underway, Nunavut, Yukon and Northwest Territories all absorbing straight sets losses in both men's and women's competition.

STARTING LINEUP
Here's what you need to know about the Canada Games on Wednesday:

ATHLETICS (Fortis Canada Games Complex)
After a less-than-ideal rainy start to the track and field events athletes will be hoping for better on Day Two when the decathlon gold is expected to be decided along with the race for podium spots in the men's and women's 3,000m steeplechase.

ARTISTIC SWIMMING (The Works Aquarena)
After solo swimmers had the spotlight on opening day of the women's duet and mixed team events take over the Works pool.

DIVING (The Works - Aquarena)
The men's one metre and women's three metre springboard take the diving spotlight at The Works Aquarena.

CYCLING (Pippy Park)
The mountain bikes make their first appearance with the men's and women's cross-country races.

GOLF (Bally Haly Golf and Country Club)
Quebec will take a one-shot lead over British Columbia into the second round of the team event at Bally Haly Country Club.

VOLLEYBALL INDOOR (Newfoundland & Labrador Sports Centre, The Works Field House)
Kept out of the win column on Day One Nunavut or the Northwest Territories will pick a victory when they meet in both men's and women's play.