At just 20-years-old De Grasse could have been forgiven for faltering under the pressure of being both the face of the Games and trying to be the first non-Jamaican to claim the blue-ribboned event since Glenroy Gilbert secured Canadian gold at Mar del Plata 1995.

However, he showed no signs of nerves after qualifying fastest from the men’s semi-final in 9.97 seconds, with the only downside being that due to his time being outside the legal limit for wind assistance he would not take the Pan American Games record held by St Kitts and Nevis’ Kim Collins, which currently stands at 10.00 seconds.

The final would prove not to be as fast but despite suffering a sluggish start De Grasse was able to come on strongly in the final to claim gold in 10.05 seconds.

Taking the minor medals was Barbados’ Roman Gittens and St Kitts and Nevis' Antoine Adams, who finished in 10.07 and 10.09 respectively.

While De Grasse delivered under the pressure of expectancy,  his fellow Canadian Melissa Bishop came from under the radar to claim a surprise gold in the women’s 800m ahead of the fancied American Alysia Montano and Cuba’s Mary Almanza.

The Cuban had led through the field through the opening lap in 57.85 seconds but her challenge faded as Montano took control.

However a well-timed sprint finish from Bishop in the closing 150 metres saw him pull onto the American’s shoulder before edging ahead to take the title in 1:59.62, with Montano taking silver in 1:59.76.

It was not the only time of the evening when an American athlete was to have gold snatched from their grasp, as Barbara Pierre stormed out of the blocks in the women’s 100m final and appeared to be on course for gold.

However in the closing 30 metres her advantage disintegrated as Jamaica’s Sherone Simpson, who had an 18-month doping suspension overturned last July, crossed the line in 10.95 to win gold.

Pierre bore a look of astonishment after the finish, which was added to by the knowledge her time of 11.01 seconds proved only good enough for bronze, as Ecuador’s Angela Tenorio dipped at the crucial moment to edge the American to silver in a personal best time of 10.99.

The second day of athletics competition here also saw several countries win their first medals of the Games, notably in the morning session, as Saint Lucia’s Levern Spencer secured her county’s first ever Pan American Games gold with a successful clearance at 1.94m enough to win the women’s high jump.

Personal best jumps of 1.91m was enough for Antigua and Barbuda's Priscilla Frederick and Barbados' Akela Jones to win their country’s first medals of Toronto 2015, with Jones failures at earlier heights meaning she took bronze behind Frederick.

Cleopatra Borel also secured Trinidad and Tobago’s first gold medal of the Games as her second round effort of 18.67m saw her finish two centimetres ahead of United States’ Jillian Camarena-Williams, but despite the disappointment the United States enjoyed success in the other field events.

Jeffrey Henderson led the American charge as he extended his long jump world lead by two centimetres to 8.52m on route to gold, while Kibwe Johnson defended his men’s hammer title from Guadalajara 2011 with an effort of 75.46m.

A third American athletics gold of the day was sealed by Shamier Little as she posted a time of 55.50 to win the women’s 400m hurdles title, but the country also enjoyed success at the CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aquatics Centre and Field House, as they won both fencing titles on offer today.

The first was claimed by Lee Kiefer in the women’s foil event as the 21-year-old defended her women’s foil title as she came from 10-6 down to defeat Colombia’s Loretta Van Everen Garcia 15-11.

Her team mate Alexander Massialas, who won silver at the World Fencing Championships in Moscow last week, earned the men’s foil title by defeating his compatriot Gerek Meinhardt 15-12 in the gold medal bout.

The deluge of American success continued in the women’s cycling individual time trial as Kelly Catlin’s time of 26:25.58 was enough to take gold, with Canada’s Jasmin Glasser sure to be rueing a flat tire which saw her finish 35 seconds down on her rival in the silver medal position though.

However the men’s time trial gave the host nation more to cheer as Hugo Houle claimed gold in 45:13.48, finishing over a minute clear of Mexico’s Ignacio Prado and fellow Canadian Sean Mackinnon, who sealed silver and bronze respectively.

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