Archive: July, 2001
Back to the News Archive IndexJULY 28 - COCKBURN FIFTH AND FOURTH AT T&T WORLDS
Olympic Bronze medallist Karen Cockburn finished fifth individually and fourth with partner Lydia Zanon in the finals at the World Trampoline and Tumbling Championships today. In the individual finals, Cockburn had the second highest degree of difficulty of 14.2 - second only to the eventual winner Irina Karaeva - current Olympic champion who made a tremendous comeback from her seventh place finish in preliminaries. The team of Cockburn and Zannon moved up from eighth in qualifying to finish just outside of the medals in fourth in the finals.
The final day of competition also featured Canadians in the men's and women's double mini trampoline events. Unfortunately, defending world champion Chris Mitruk had a disappointing first jump - with scores of 6.8 for execution after presumably not completing his pass as planned (his degree of difficulty was only 1.7 for his first pass). He rebounded with an excellent second pass with execution scores of 9.6 and 9.7 and a difficulty score of 3.1. In fact his second pass total score of 32.00 was the second highest in the entire final - yet the miss on his first pass dropped him to a disappointing 8th place overall. On the women's side, Cheryl Johnson had a similar result - scoring 6.7s and 6.8s for execution with a degree of difficulty of only 0.6 on her first jump - and rebounding on her second jump, scoring 9.5 and 9.6 with a degree of difficulty of 2.0. This led to a final rank of 6th, an improvement from the 7th place she earned in the preliminaries.
Overall there were no medals this time around - at least not officially (the women's trampoline team actually tied for the third highest score in the finals, but lost the bronze medal on a tie breaker). Yet the team should be pleased at having finalists in four of the individual events as well as the team events for women's trampoline and both double mini trampoline events. On August 1st, the Age Group Games begin, and gymn.ca will bring you up to date on Canadian performances in those events next week.
Complete results for the Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships can be found at FIG's website by clicking on events and results, trampoline, and 2001 Odense. Below are the top 3 results from each of the finals, plus Canadians.
Women's Individual Trampoline
1. Irina Karaeva (Russia)
2. Anna Dogonadze (Germany)
3. Clarie Wright (Great Britain)
5. Karen Cockburn (Canada)
Men's Individual Trampoline
1. Alexandre Moskalenko (Russia)
2. Oleksandor Chernonos (Ukraine)
3. Allan Villafuerte (Netherlands)
Women's Synchro Trampoline
1. Ukraine
2. Germany
3. Belarus
5. Karen Cockburn/Lydia Zanon (Canada)
Men's Synchro Trampoline
1. Russia 2
2. Germany 2
3. Belarus 2
Women's Tumbling
1. Olena Chabanenko (Ukraine)
2. Lajeana Davis (USA)
3. Kathryn Peberdy (Great Britain)
Men's Tumbling
1. Denis Serdioukov (Russia)
2. Nicolas Fournials (France)
3. Levon Petrosian (Russia)
Women's Double Mini Trampoline
1. Marina Mourinova (Russia)
2. Monica Fernandez (Argentina)
3. Katarina Prokesova (Slovakia)
6. Cheryl Johnson (Canada)
Men's Double Mini Trampoline
1. Nuno Lico (Portgual)
2. Amadeu Neves (Portugal)
3. Rodolfo Rangel (Brazil)
8. Chris Mitruk (Canada)
JULY 27 - MITRUK LEADS MEN'S QUALIFIERS IN DOUBLE MINI
Defending world champion Chris Mitruk has qualified in first place for the men's double mini trampoline finals at the World Trampoline and Tumbling Championships today. Mitruk earned a combined score of 64.20 - 0.2 ahead of second place qualifier Amadeu Neves of Poland. Brazil's Rodolfo Rangel qualified third. Mitruk received execution scores as high as 9.8 for both his jumps - the only competitor to achieve such marks. The other Canadians included Ryan Ward in 10th, Marty Meyers in 17th, and Dave Parke in 45th. Unfortunately, Parke received zeros for his second jump, which greatly hindered his final placing. The Canadian men finished a very strong 2nd in the team preliminaries, but unfortunately dropped to 4th in the finals. Portugal, Spain and the United States took home the team medals in that event.
Mitruk's wife Lisa Colussi-Mitruk was less fortunate in the women's double mini event. Also the defending world champion, Colussi-Mitruk scored a strong 30.90 on her first jump, but had a disasterous 21.6 in her second, dropping to 45th overall. Her teammate Cheryl Johnson was much more successful - qualifying for finals with a 61.70 - good enough for 7th place. Johnson had a good degree of difficulty (2.5 for both jumps) and solid execution scores from 9.4 to 9.6 for both of her efforts. Cassandra Siwek finished 21st with 60.50 total points, followed closely by teammate Shannon Lee who scored 60.30. The top three women's qualifiers were Marina Mourinova from Russia with 62.30, Katarina Prokesova of Slovakia with the same score (but listed 2nd in the official score sheet), and Portugal's Sabrina Teixeira third with 62.20. The Canadian women's team finished 5th in the team finals, scoring an even 92 points. Russia took the gold, followed by Portugal and Australia.
Qualifying was also held today for the tumbling and synchro trampoline events. The top finisher in the women's tumbling event was last year's national champion Janice Creighton, who finished 19th with a total score of 63.20 for her two passes. Her difficulty scores were 6.5 for each pass. Neisha Davis finished 28th with a final score of 59.50 (and a degree of difficuly of 5.0 in each pass). Unfortunately, the newly crowned national champion Julie Pilon had a less than stellar result - finishing 32nd - and last - in the women's field. She scored a combined 53.20 and had low degree of difficulty in her second pass of only 3.0. This performance was not indicative of the excellence she showed earlier in the year at the Canadian Championships in Toronto. As a team, the Canadian women's tumblers finished 6th.
In men's power tumbling, team Canada finished 10th in team preliminaries, led by David Cowen's 24th place individual ranking. Ryan Lyons finished 37th, followed directly by teammates David Poirier and Matt Dial. Poirier and Dial are known for their high degree of difficulty - gymn.ca has no specific information about their performances at this point, but we will update you as more information becomes available. The men's team tumbling event was won by Russia, followed by South Africa and the United States. The top three individual qualifiers for tomorrow's finals were Denis Serdioukov from Russia, followed by his teammate Levon Petrosian, and France's Nicolas Fournials.
Canada qualified one of its women's synchro teams to tomorrow's finals when Canada 2 finished 8th in the preliminaries, scoring 82.40. Canada 1 finished 16th with 58.70. Unfortunately, gymn.ca does not know at this time which women were competing on which team, as the FIG results site did not include names, just countries. In the men's synchro event, the Canadian teams finished 15th and 18th and did not qualify for finals.
Results continue to be posted daily at the official FIG website. Gymn.ca hopes to provide more detailed and technical reports of the trampoline and tumbling words in a couple of weeks time. Also look for reports and some quotes from the Canadian athletes at Gymnastics Canada Gymnastique's website.
JULY 26 - CANADIAN WOMEN FOURTH IN TRAMPOLINE TEAM COMPETITION
The Canadian women's trampoline team, led by Olympic bronze medallist Karen Cockburn, finished a very close fourth in the team competition at the World Trampoline and Tumbling Championships today in Odense, Denmark. Ukraine took the gold, followed by Germany and Great Britain. The Canadians actually tied the score of the British team - gymn.ca is unable to confirm at this time, but we believe the preliminary score served as a tiebreaker (as has been the case in previous FIG competitions). Individually, Cockburn easily qualified for the finals in fourth place - where her 14.2 degree of difficulty was equal highest with current Olympic champion Irina Karaeva of Russia - who finished a surprising 7th after the preliminaries. Cockburn's teammates in the women's competition were Heather Ross-McMannus (a very strong 10th place finish individually); Lydia Zannon (25th individually); and Brenna Casey (35th individually). Casey did not participate in the team finals, which include 3 bouncers per country only. The top three individual qualifiers were Ukrainian Oksana Tsyguleva, Germany's Anna Dogonadze, and Ukrainian Olena Movchan.
The Canadian men's team was less successful. Their 8th place team ranking in preliminaries did not qualify them for the finals. National champion Michel Greene was only able to complete 6 skills in his optional routine for a disappointing 68th place finish. His compulsory score of 28.2 had been excellent and a spot in the finals would have been within reach with a strong optional performance. The top Canadian man individually was Marty Meyers in 22nd place. Meyers had won the second Canadian team trial earlier this year. Ben Snape finished 24th and veteran Paul Cameron 42nd. The men's Olympic champion Alexandre Moskalenko of Russia was the highest individual qualifier, followed by his teammate German Khnytchev (the two actually earned the same score but Moskalenko is listed as first in the results). Markus Kubicka of Germany was third.
Complete results can be found at FIG's website. Click on events and results and then click on "World Championships", then "Trampoline" and then "2001 Odense" to find the results.
JULY 25 - TEAM CANADA AT TRAMPOLINE AND TUMBLING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Canadian trampoline and tumbling team members have arrived in Odense, Denmark for the 2001 World Trampoline and Tumbling Championships which will be held July 26 - 28.
Canada will be represented by a strong trampoline contingent at the championships. For the men, current national champion Michel Greene of St.Bruno, Quebec is in fine form and has been training very well. He hopes to compete a 15.6 difficulty routine in the prelims, with a goal of qualifying for the finals and beating his personal best placing (he had placed 6th in a tie with Canadian Jean-Paul Aucoin at the 1996 Worlds in Vancouver). Greene competes for the Quadrotramp club where he is coached by Alain Duschesne. Rounding out the team are Ben Snape, Paul Cameron and Marty Myers, all three of whom train at the Skyrider's Trampoline place in Toronto, Ontario under coach Dave Ross. Olympic Bronze medallist Mathieu Turgeon, also of Skyriders, failed to make the team - which only exemplifies the excellent depth of the current men's team. Synchronised trampoline pairs are Greene/Snape and Cameron/Chris Mitruk (who will also compete in double mini tramp). Mitruk is also the alternate for the men's individual trampoline.
For the women, Olympic bronze medallist Karen Cockburn is Canada's best hope for a medal. She finished 5th at the last worlds in South Africa and she looks to better that ranking here. Good results at recent World Cup events should give her confidence and positive momentum for these World Championships. Rounding off the trampoline team are Brenna Casey, Heather Ross-McManus and Lydia Zanon. All four women train at the Skyrider's trampoline place. National champions Casey and Ross-McManus are looking for good results in the synchronised trampoline competition. Cockburn and Zanon will also be entering the synchronised competition. (Note: Cockburn's original synchro partner, Marianne St-Jacques, retired from the sport just before national championships).
In the double-mini trampoline event, husband and wife duo Chris and Lisa Mitruk enter the competition as the defending world champions and they may very well bring Canada home the gold once again. Chris will be joined by British Columbia's Ryan Ward, Ontario's Dave Park and Myers (also competing in men's individual trampoline). Joining Lisa on the women's team will be Cheryl Johnson of Ontario, Cassandra Siwek (Ontario), and Shannon Lee of Brittish-Columbia.
In the tumbling event, national champion Matt Dial of Alberta has plenty of difficulty, with a double layout through to triple back in his arsenal, and should be up to par with the rest of the world. He will be joined by David Poirier from Quebec, his Alberta teammate David Cowen, and Ryan Lyans of Ontario. The women's tumbling team will only be represented by three women out of a possible four. New national women's champion Julie Pilon leads the women's team which is all Ontario; former national champion Janice Creighton, and Neisha Davis join Pion on the team.
The World Age Group Games for trampoline and tumbling will take place immediately following the World Championships. Gymn.ca will bring more information about the Canadian team for WAGs shortly.
For more information about T&T worlds, you can check out Gymnastics Canada Gymnastique's home page and the T&T Worlds homepage.
JULY 18 - BELGIAN TEAM NOT CONFIRMED
Gymn.ca has learned that contrary to our July 16 newsflash, the Belgian women's team has not confirmed its participation in the training camp with our women's team. Gymn.ca appologizes for this error.
JULY 17 - CURRENT MEN'S TEAM RANKINGS AVAILABLE
National champion Richard Ikeda remains number one on the ranking list for the Canadian World Championships Team. The top four ranked gymnasts following the second trial in Abbotsford B.C. will be named to the team, with the remaining two spots to be selected by the national coach Edouard Iarov. The men's rankings are based on 70% of their Canadian Championships all-around score, and 15% each from their scores from the two trials (last week's trial in Calgary and the upcoming trial in Abbotsford August 11-18). So far, Olympian Alexander Jeltkov is second on the ranking list followed in order by: Grant Golding, Ken Ikeda, David Kikuchi (who scored an impressive 9.5 on rings at the Calgary trial), Rhett Stinson, and Scott Lang. Kyle Shewfelt is currently unranked due to his absence from the Calgary training camp.
The current rankings can be found at Gymnastics Canada Gymnastique's official website. Scores from day two of the Calgary training camp/trial can be found at Gymscore depot.
JULY 16 - MEN'S TEAM SELECTION UPDATE
Gymn.ca has learned new information regarding the Canadian men's team's prepration for upcoming events. As mentioned below, Novia Scotia's David Kikuchi took first place at the World University Games selection. Saskatchewan's Rhett Stinson took second. Of those participating at the training camp in Calgary, Olympian Alexander Jeltkov was not eligible for the World University Games. Fellow Olympian Kyle Shewfelt chose not to participate in this training camp in order to focus on improving routines and start values in his non speciality events. Ontario's Leo Oka's non participation was due to a non-gymnastics related wrist injury. It is expected that Oka, Shewfelt, and Ontario's Eric Kafka will be able to participate in the final World Championship Team selection camp in Abbotsford, B.C. next month.
A special thanks to Stu Cram of gymscore depot for providing information about the men's team, and to Yvan Provencher from Gym-Alliance for providing information about the women's team.
JULY 16 - MEN'S TEAM FOR UNIVERSITY GAMES NAMED
Following the recent training camps in Calgary, Gymnastics Canada Gymnastique has named a 5 member team for the upcoming World University Games. National champion Richard Ikeda will compete along side brother Ken Ikeda and their Abbotsford Twister's teammate and 1998 Canadian junior champion Grant Golding. Saskatchewan's Rhett Stinson and Nova Scotia's David Kikuchi round out the team. Kikuchi, who had placed 6th all-around at the recent Canadian Championships, actually had the all-around score at both test meets in Calgary, having significantly increased his start values.
The World University Games take place August 22 - September 1 in Beijing China - a city that on Friday was named host city for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
JULY 7 - MEN BATTLE FOR WORLD TEAM BERTHS IN CALGARY
8 Canadian men are currently participating in a training camp at the University of Calgary. On the line are positions on the team for the upcoming World Championships in Ghent, Belgium. Among the contenders are current national champion Richard Ikeda and his Abbotsford Twisters teammates Grant Golding and brother Ken Ikeda. 1999 World high bar silver medallist and former Canadian AA champion Alexander Jeltkov (Quebec) and fellow Olympian (and World Cup floor silver medallist) Kyle Shewfelt (Alberta) are also among the contenders. Rounding out the field are former junior standouts David Kikuchi (Nova Scotia) and Scott Lang (Alberta - 1997 Canadian junior men's champion), and 1997 World Championships team member Rhett Stinson (Saskatchewan).
Two other team contenders, Eric Kafka and Leo Oka - both of Ontario - have withdrawn from the selection process, according to Gymnastics Canada Gymnastique.
The first competition takes place today at 11:30 Calgary time. After a week of training, the men will have a second competition next Saturday, July 14th. Gymn.ca will provide additional information as it becomes available.
JULY 5 - RICHARDSON NAMED TO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM - 8 OTHERS STILL IN THE HUNT
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| Kate Richardson |
National Champion Kate Richardson has been provisionally named to the 2001 Canadian World Championships Team. Richardson, whose 15th all-around finish at the 2000 Olympic Games is the highest ever for a Canadian woman at a fully attended Olympics, earned the direct nomination to the team based on her impressive showing at the Canadian Championships where she finished 1st in the all-around and three of the individual events.
Gymnastics Canada Gymnastique has nominated 8 other women to a training squad, from which the final team will be chosen. The gymnasts in the running are: Olympians Emilie Fournier (Gymnix Club in Montreal) and Crystal Gilmore (Cambridge Kips); 2001 Nationals runner-up Ashley Peckett (Gymnastics Mississauga); 1999 World Championships
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| Ashley Peckett |
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| Jennifer Simbhudas |
These 9 gymnasts will participate in a training camp in late August - which will include a dual meet with the Brazilian team. The final team to represent Canada at the World Championships in Ghent, Belgium this October will be selected following the camp. Gymn.ca will be sure to provide more up to date information as the training camp and Brazil dual meet approach.