Gymnastics Canada – LIMA, PER (Aug 5, 2019) – Jérémy Chartier of Montreal, QC and Samantha Smith of Vancouver, BC kept the Canadian gold medal-winning tradition at the Pan Am Games alive on Monday both finishing on top of the podium in their respective men’s and women’s competitions. Canada has won gold in women’s trampoline at every Pan American Games since it was introduced in 2007, and in the men’s competition since 2011.
 
Chartier had a tough go in the qualifying rounds on Sunday, not finishing his compulsory routine, but then scored quite high in his optional routine to advance to the finals. He left nothing to chance tonight, laying down an excellent routine to score 57.440 to lead the pack to the gold medal. Jeffrey Gluckstein of the USA captured the silver with a score of 57.290, while his teammate – Ruben Padilla took the bronze with a score of 57.160.
 
“This feels great,” said Chartier who had the honour of carrying the Canadian flag into the Opening Ceremonies of the Youth Olympic Games last summer. “It was a tight competition, the Americans, Colombians, Mexicans, everyone were all really good, and I’m really proud of what I did, and it’s a great moment. This feels ‘grandiose’!”
 
In the women’s competition, Smith was the fifth competitor to hit the trampoline and performed a fantastic routine to score a 53.735 to lead the score board. Her teammate Sarah Milette of Longueuil, QC, who had qualified for the finals in first position, went up last, and unfortunately had to make a revision in the middle of her routine due to some travel, and scored a 51.515 to finish fifth overall. Nicole Ashinger of the USA took the silver, while Dafne Loza Navarro of Mexico captured the bronze.
 
“I’m really happy with my performance today. It started off a little rocky, and so I’m really happy I was able to bring my routine back to the middle and finish strongly. I’ve been working really hard, we just had our national championships last week, and so this has been two successful meets in a row,” said Smith who captured her first senior national title last week at the Canadian Championships.
 
“I had a hard time finishing my routine today, so I’m a bit disappointed with fifth position, but on the other hand I fought really hard to finish my routine so I’m really happy about that,” said Milette.
 
Next up for our trampoline athletes are a series of World Cups this fall that will count towards Olympic qualification, followed by the World Championships in Tokyo, JPN in December.
 
Canada finishes the Pan American Games with a total of 14 medals:
 
Artistic: 9 medals – 3 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze
Rhythmic: 3 medals – 3 silver
Trampoline: 2 medals – 2 gold
 
For full results, please visit: https://www.lima2019.pe/en/results
 
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