Junior Women's AA 1. Shallon Olsen 2. Aleeza Yu 3. Brianna Clark 4. Isabela
Onyshenko 5. Sydney Townsend 6. RK Woo 7. Kirsten Peterman
8. Jayce Roberge
That's TWO silver medallists for Gemini coach Elena
Davydova!
Maddie Gardiner wins the Sherri Hawko award,
for best Choreography. Sydney Townsend wins for best junior floor
choreography.
MAY 21 - HOFLAND LEADS CANADIAN NATIONALS
Canada's top gymnasts are in Ottawa this week, for the 2013 National
Championships. Artistic gymnasts took to the floor today, for their
first day of competition. Kaitlyn Hofland posted the
top all-around total (53.425) in today's preliminary competition,
ahead of Ellie Black (53.150) and Maegan
Chant (52.525). Hofland was absent from Elite Canada last
February, where Black and Chant finished 1-2.
Hofland also posted the highest score on bars (14.075), an apparatus
that caused struggles for many in both junior and senior competition.
Top scorers for the other apparatus include Victoria Moors
(vault; 14.400), Ellie Black (14.150) and Gabrielle
Douglas (13.575).
Today's competition saw the return of Olympic alternate Maddie Gardiner,
who debuted a
new floor routine. Were it not for a 0.1 deduction, she would've
won the event. Gardiner's only other event was beam, where she placed
second.
The big talk of the town, however, was the debut of Moors' monstrous
layout double double on floor. Moors is the second to compete the
skill, with American
MyKayla Skinner
debuting hers earlier this year. Whichever girl successfully competes
the skill first at a World Championships or Olympics will have the
skill named after her. Moors stands a greater chance of being named to
Canada's World team for the upcoming World Championships in Antwerp,
Belgium than Skinner with the USA sporting such depth.
In the junior category, Shallon Olsen vaulted to the
lead thanks largely to the strength of her double twisting yurchenko.
Aleeza Yu placed second, and Brianna Clark
third. Absent from the field was Heaven Latimer, the
runner-up at February's Elite Canada.
Tomorrow sees the men's first day of competition. Competition for the
women continues Thursday, with the all-around finals. Finals will be
contested Saturday, with live web commentary from Kyle
Shewfelt.
ESPN 2 is airing coverage of last weekend's USA vs The World, an
event held last weekend in Pennsylvania. The International cast
included two Canadians, Laura-Ann Chong and Nathan Gafuik.
The event is expected to be available online after June 30.
After the competition, Chong received a contract with
Cirque du
Soleil. She'll be traveling to Edmonton at the end of the month to
perform in
Amaluna, and then onto Denver.
MAY 10 - GYMNASTICS IS A WAY OF LIFE!
Check out the "Perfect Balance" Promo spot featuring Sydney
Townsend!
MAY 3 - GYMNASTICS STAMPS BY CANADA POST
Bluewater Gymnastics coach Dave Brubaker unveiled
some of the best stamps ever produced by Canada Post!
Two weeks beore the BC provincial championships, Jordan de Jong (HP
Novice) and Haley de Jong (Junior HP) switched to Flicka gymnastics.
Previously, they trained at Omega Gymnastics.
APRIL 30 - GERBER SIGNS WITH UCLA
Following in the footsteps of older sister Aisha Gerber,
2011 Worlds team member Mikaela Gerber will soon be off to
UCLA! Today, Head Coach Valerie Kondos-Field announced that
Gerber has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete for the UCLA Bruins
next season.
"We are excited to add Mikaela Gerber to our team this next season,"
Kondos Field. "Mikaela brings the same level of powerful gymnastics and
artistry that her sister Aisha did, only with a style uniquely her own."
Gerber plans to close out her Elite career at the upcoming Canadian
National Championships in Ottawa. One of the most elegant floor workers that
Canadian has ever produced, she plans to treat fans to a new routine in her
farewell competition.
Video of Mikaela in 2010:
APRIL 28 - BLACK LEAVES SLOVENIA AS MOST DECORATED GYMNAST
Ellie Black dominated World Cup competition today in Slovenia, winning
gold on both beam and floor.
Long considered just for her vaulting, Black has consistantly been
proving her all-around prowess in competition this year. Today she hit a
beam routine that many have long known her capable of doing.
“I’ve never really hit
my beam routine exactly the way I want to in competition and it was great to
go out in the final and do it the way I planned."
Black's final medal of the meet came on floor, where she's
re-introduced the triple
twist mount that had been part of her 2012 Olympic program.
“It feels incredible,”
Black told Gymnastics Canada. “I came here to get more experience and try
out some new skills and it turned into a really great trip for me.
The wins bring Canada's medal tally from Slovenia to five!
Canada had two other entrants in today's competition:
Victoria-Kayen
Woo finished 6th on beam, in her World Cup debut and
Mathieu Csukassy placed eighth on vault. Both Woo and Csukassy hail
from Quebec.
Scott Morgan
and Ellie Black put Canada on the map in both the men's and
women's fields, in the first apparatus contested at this weekend's Salamunov
Memorial World Cup in Llubjana, Slovenia.
Scott Morgan earned a bronze on vault, while Black took the title on her
speciality, the vault.
I couldn’t have asked
for much more,” Morgan told Gymnastics Canada.
“It’s still a new routine and to do that well in a such a strong field was
pretty cool, it really gives me a big boost.”
Morgan also finished
fifth on rings, with Black capping off her day with fifth on bars.
Victoria-Kayen Woo placed seventh on bars, in her only event of the
day.
Black burst onto the scene a year earlier, in neighbouring Croatia.
Winning gold on vault and floor, Black announced herself as a contender for
Canada's Olympic team. She went on to make the team, and compete in the
vault final at the Olympics.
Competition concludes
tomorrow, with Black competing both beam and floor, Woo on beam, and
Mathieu Csukassy on vault.
The favourite amongst many for the NCAA title the past few years, the
University of Florida always came up short at Nationals. Not any more! Today
the Gators rallied, after counting a fall rom beam, to finish ahead of
Oklahoma and two-time defending champs Alabama.
The team has a token Canadian in 2006 World team member
Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto, who competed in the bars line-up.
APRIL 18 - SAMARATUNGA RECEIVES CORNEA TRANSPLANT
Former gymnast Alyssa Samaratunga recently spoke to CTV, promoting organ
donation. Ravaged by a fast-acting infection, Alyssa lost her sight within
24 hours. Now, thanks to a cornea transplant, she is living the life of a
normal teen. Her days with gymnastics may be done, but she's transferred her
talents to cheerleading.
APRIL 7 - BLACK TAKES BRONZE IN ALL-AROUND AT TOKYO WORLD CUP
Asuka Teramoto of Japan took the gold with 56.825 points, overtaking
first-day leader Peyton Ernst of the U.S. who settled for silver with a
score of 56.550.
“It was different this
time because it was an all around event, so I was very excited to see
what it was all about,” said Black.
“Vault is my favourite event and
it went really well but I was also very pleased with my uneven bars
performance because it’s been a difficult event for me,” added Black. “I’ve
been working really hard to bring up the level and I think I did a pretty
good job.”
