Gymnastics Canada – BOGOTA, COL (December 2, 2016) – Team Canada started off on the right foot at the 2016 Senior Pan American Trampoline Gymnastics Championships in Bogota, Colombia today winning a gold medal and advancing athletes to finals in every event.

Sophiane Méthot (La Prairie, QC) and Sarah Milette (Longueuil, QC) dominated the competition in synchronized trampoline, winning the gold medal with a score of 45.900, almost four points ahead of the silver medalists from Brazil.

Méthot and Milette also finished first and second overall in the women’s individual trampoline event and will represent Team Canada in the finals on Sunday. In her first senior international competition, Rachel Tam (Toronto, ON) finished just .400 points behind Milette in third place, but due to competition rules, only the top two athletes from each country can advance, meaning Tam just missed the final. Brittany Falconer (Montreal, QC) finished 14th overall and did not advance to the finals.

“All the girls had a stellar day,” said coach Dave Ross. “All of them had completed routines [with 20 skills] and dominated the competition. This is an awesome result for such a young team and bodes really well for the future.” The trampoline team event combines the scores from the top three women from each country, which led Canada to qualify for the finals. Méthot, Milette and Tam have been selected to compete in the final.

In the men’s individual trampoline competition both Nathan Shuh (Elmira, ON) and Jean-Christophe Martel (Terrebonne, QC) had solid compulsory round results but lots of travel during the optional round had them finish fifth and eighth respectively. “It was really stressful, but I just stayed calm even when my routine didn’t go as expected” said Martel. “I prepared myself mentally with each of my routines and told myself to be solid in my passes and most importantly that I was able to succeed in my two routines. Both men will advance to Sunday’s individual final as well as be joined by Keegan Soehn (Red Deer, AB) in the team final; Soehn had an excellent individual compulsory round but fell in the optional, missing the finals.

In the women’s tumbling competition, Canada once again finished first and second overall following the preliminary competition. It was Raphaëlle Villotte (Montreal, QC) who led the competition with 61.300 points followed by Nora Abouraja (Montreal, QC) with 59.500 points in second place; both women will compete in the final on Sunday. Jordan Sugrim (Mississauga, ON) finished in third place overall scoring 52.000 points but missed the final due to the two athletes per country rule.

The Canadian men’s tumbling team also dominated the competition with Jon Schwaiger (Ancaster, ON) finishing in first place with 70.200 points following the preliminary round. Michael Chaves (Mississauga, ON) finished less than one point back of first with 69.300 points, both men will advance to Sunday’s final. Matthew Dworak (Mississauga, ON) had to withdraw from the competition following a fall in training.

Competition continues tomorrow when the men and women’s double mini-trampoline teams take centre stage for the preliminary round. All individual and team finals are set to take place on Sunday.

 

ABOUT GYMNASTICS CANADA

First established in 1969, Gymnastics Canada is the national governing body for the sport of gymnastics in Canada. Gymnastics Canada works closely with the twelve Provincial Federations and the 700 local clubs to provide a broad range of programs and services to meet the needs of all participants. From athlete development, to coaching and judging education, Gymnastics Canada sets the operating standards and practices for the sport in Canada. Our mandate is to promote and provide positive and diverse gymnastics experience through the delivery of quality and safe gymnastics programming. Visit www.gymcan.org for more information, or follow us @CDNgymnastics.

 

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For more information, contact:

Julie Forget
Director, Communications and Marketing
Gymnastics Canada
Cell: 819.210.2064
Email: jforget@gymcan.org