Canada closed out its artistic gymnastics campaign at the 2025 Rhine-Ruhr FISU Summer University Games with a pair of medals on Saturday, highlighted by Felix Dolci capturing gold in the men’s horizontal bar final and William Emard earning bronze in the men’s rings final.
Dolci, of Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs, Que., delivered a dynamic and precise routine in the high bar final at Messe Essen, earning a score of 14.633 to top the podium. He edged out Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto (14.100) and China’s He Xiang (14.066) to secure Canada’s second gold medal of the Games and the first in gymnastics at Rhine-Ruhr 2025.
“I had to pull out of the floor final, which I love floor; I’m very good at floor. I had a good chance to make a medal in the floor,” said Dolci. “So I came in with the mindset to get gold in the high bar. I said I have to make up for the lost track. I came in determined with one specific goal, and that’s exactly what we did today. Very happy about the results.”
The LaSalle College’s performance featured an execution score of 8.733 and a difficulty rating of 5.81 — the strongest routine among the eight finalists. It marked Dolci’s second medal of the Games, following silver in the team event earlier in the week.
Dolci joins teammate Emard in leading a Canadian men’s artistic gymnastics team that produced the country’s best-ever FISU Games showing in men’s gymnastics. Emard, from Laval, Que., capped a memorable week with his third medal — a bronze in the rings final.
“It’s very simple, it means it’s working. It means what we are doing as a collective and as a team of guys are working towards a common vision, a goal – its working,” said Dolci about the success of the men’s gymnastics team this week. “You can see it every single meet. We go out there, we rack up some medals, we get better and better scores, wither that’s team performances or individual performances. I’m proud to say we have something that works. We just want to see more and more people get behind us, pushing that movement forward; men’s artistic gymnastics in Canada is on the rise.”
The UQAM student posted a score of 14.233 to finish behind China’s Liu Hengyu (14.666) and Liu Yang (14.300). Emard’s routine was highlighted by an 8.933 execution score and a difficulty rating of 5.3.
“I was debating between doing a triple-back or that double-double dismount and we went with the safer route just because we saw a little of the competition and it was attainable for me and I didn’t need to go risky,” said Emard. “I’m a little tired from yesterday with all the emotion drop and stress drop. I was a little bit exhausted today, but I’m really happy with this medal.”
The bronze added to Emard’s silver from the men’s team event and bronze in the all-around final on Friday — making him Canada’s most decorated athlete of the 2025 Games.
“For sure, the team final being in the stands with the whole team and seeing the score to capture that silver medal as a team,” said Emard. “We knew it was a historic moment for us. There was never a medal for Team Canada as a team at a FISU Games, so that was a very special moment.
“High bar has been a bit of an issue for the last couple of years for me, so completing my all-around bronze medal on high bar with a successful routine and all the upgrades I put in this year was special. Today was the cherry on top of everything. With the rings, it’s my event and I know I can do it — and I did it.”
Later in the day, Emard was called into the parallel bars final as a reserve and placed fifth with a score of 13.600.
Canada leaves Essen with a total of four medals in artistic gymnastics: Dolci’s gold, Emard’s all around bronze and rings bronze, plus the team’s silver medal finish.