ST JOHN'S - After three days of competition the Canada Games swim stars began to surface at the Works Aquarena on Tuesday, as Alyssa Smyth collected her third and fourth gold medals to lead a Team Ontario surge in the pool.
Smyth, who has stood top podium in each of the three nights of swimming, added to her haul with a win in the 100 metres backstroke and 100m butterfly para women's races to go along with earlier wins in the 400m and 100m freestyle para.
The 15-year-old's gold contributed to a huge night in the pool for Team Ontario, who also got wins from Kaia Hornby in the women's 100m butterfly, Teagen Ann Purvis in the 100m backstroke Special Olympics, Matthew Blackwell in the men's 100m butterfly, Paige Stepanoff in the women's 400m free and Gavin Schinkelshoek in the men's 50m backstroke.
Of the nine gold British Columbia has on the medal table all have come from swimming but Maelle Sanborn was the only individual swimmer to reach the top of the podium on Tuesday with a victory in the women's 200m breaststroke.
It marked the second gold medal performance for Sanborn, who on Monday also got to the wall first in the 50m breast.
Quebec picked up a pair of golds Oliver Blanchard claiming top spot in the men's 400m freestyle and Aidan Li Ying Pin men's 200m breaststroke.
Coming into Tuesday's action at Quidi Vidi Lake, Team Nova Scotia's canoe and kayakers had delivered all four of the province's gold medals and quickly went to work adding three more to the total.
Anna Archibald, winner in the K-1 500m on Monday, added K-1 1000 gold to her growing collection while Nova Scotia also topped the podium in the women's C-2 1000m and men's C-2 500m.
Team Ontario also had a productive day on the water with wins in the women's K-2 500m, IC-4 500m and men's K-4 500m while Team Quebec's Emile Bouvier completed a canoe golden double adding the C-1 1000 title to the C-1 500 he won earlier.
Over on the ball diamonds Team British Columbia moved into top spot of the Pool A standings shutting out Saskatchewan 2-0 while Team Ontario's woes continued as the defending gold medallists absorbed their third loss in four contests falling 11-6 to Team Alberta to leave them at the bottom of the group.
Prince Edward Island remained the only unbeaten team left in the competition beating Newfoundland and Labrador 10-8 to sit top of Pool B with a 4-0 record.
On the hardwood four-time defending men's basketball gold medal winners Team Ontario had a fright narrowly slipping past Team British Columbia 86-84 to remain unbeaten in a surprisingly tight and competitive Pool A.
In Pool C play, Nova Scotia dumped New Brunswick 102-71 improving to 3-0 while in Pool B the Northwest Territories, who claimed a milestone first ever Canada Games win on Monday, return to earth with a thud losing 96-51 to Team Manitoba.
STARTING LINEUP
Here's what you need to know about the Canada Games on Wednesday:
CANOE/KAYAK (Quidi Vidi Lake)
Nova Scotia will look to continue their domination of the canoe and kayak events at Quidi Vidi Lake with 12 finals scheduled for Wednesday. Team Nova Scotia has eight medals in the gold column through three days all put one courtesy of the paddlers.
TENNIS (Rogers Tennis Dome at Green Belt)
Mixed team competition continues with the final qualifications matches before Thursday’s quarterfinals.
BASKETBALL (Newfoundland & Labrador Sports Centre, The Works Field House)
After winning a nailbiter against British Columbia Team Ontario will look to return to their dominating ways and wrap up group play with a perfect record when they tip off against Alberta.
Team Alberta women, the 2022 gold medal winners, will try to bounce back from a loss to Quebec when that take on Team Ontario.
SWIMMING (The Works - Aquarena)
It will be another busy night at The Works Aquarena with more than a dozen gold medals up for grabs.