Chile's Lucas Nervi triumphed in the men's discus at the Pan American Games in Santiago ©Getty Images

Chile's Lucas Nervi sparked home celebrations on the first day of track and field athletics events at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago winning a gold medal in the men's discus.

A 63.39 metres effort on his third attempt was enough to defeat Colombia's Mauricio Ortega, who threw 61.86m, and Jamaica's two-time defending champion Fedrick Dacres, who threw 61.25m in front of a crowd of 15,000 at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos.

Chile's sixth gold medal of their first-ever home Pan American Games leaves them eighth on the overall medals table.

The first five golds in track and field events were shared by five different nations.

Izabela da Silva of Brazil took the first of those in the women's discus throw with a 59.63m effort from her first attempt.

Andressa de Morais made it a Brazilian one-two with 59.29m, and Jamaica's Samantha Hall completed the top three with 59.14m.

Izabela da Silva, right, led a Brazilian one-two with Andressa de Morais, left, in the women's discus ©Getty Images
Izabela da Silva, right, led a Brazilian one-two with Andressa de Morais, left, in the women's discus ©Getty Images

Colombia's Natalia Linares was the other field event winner on the first day, triumphing in the women's long jump with 6.66m.

Eliane Martins of Brazil earned silver with 6.49m, and Tiffany Flynn of the United States took bronze with 6.40m.

Peru's Luz Mery Rojas claimed victory in the women's 10,000 metres, taking control in the final quarter of the race to take victory in 33min 12.99sec.

Laura Galván of Mexico was her closest challenger in 33:15.85, and Ednah Kurgat secured a bronze for the US in 33:16.61.

Dominican Republic took the final gold of the first day, winning the mixed 4x400m relay in 3:16.05 through Marileidy Paulino, Robert King, Anabel Medina and Ezequiel Suarez.

Brazil were a distant second in 3:18.55, and the US took another bronze in 3:19.41.

Dominican Republic earned the mixed 4x400m relay gold to finish the first day of track and field athletics at the Pan American Games ©Getty Images
Dominican Republic earned the mixed 4x400m relay gold to finish the first day of track and field athletics at the Pan American Games ©Getty Images

America's Samuel Jay Black leads the decathlon at the halfway stage with 4,160 points, followed by Chile's Santiago Adolfo Ford with 4,084 and Dominican Republic's Jose Miguel Paulino with 4,061.

Men's and women's 100m semi-finals also took place today, in which José Gonzalez of the Dominican Republic with a time of 10.30sec and Yunisleidy De La Caridad Garcia of Cuba in 11.53 setting the quickest times respectively.

Chile's Martina Weil with a time of 51.47 was the fastest of those who qualified for the women's 400m final, and Brazil's Lucas Conceicao the top performer in the men's 400m semi-finals in 45.76.

Most of the continents leading sprinters have opted not to compete at the Pan American Games.

There are five more scheduled days of athletics at Santiago 2023 through to Saturday (November 4).