Archive: March 2007
Back to the News Archive IndexMARCH 27 - ADVERTISEMENT: SAUCYS WORLD
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MARCH 25 - MACKIE TOPS FIELD AT FRIENDSHIP CLASSIC
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2004 Olympian Gael Mackie topped the field at last night's Friendship Classic, capturing the all-around title and three of four apparatus titles (vault, bars, and beam). Mackie's closest competition came from the Ukraine's Marina Proskurina and Loes Linders of the Netherlands. "We were honored to have Gael participate in our Friendship Classic competition," said Friendship Classic meet director Sandy Kost-Sterner. "She is not only an exceptional gymnast but truly a very fine young lady and was a very good representative of Canada." Mackie has accepted a scholarship to the University of Utah, but has deferred in her bid to represent Canada at the 2007 World Championships and 2008 Olympic Games.
In the junior category, Gym-Richelieu's Kim Levesque and Jennifer Fujis placed fifth and sixth, respectively.
The Friendship Classic is hosted by the Pottsville Gymnastic Training Center in Pottsville, PA, USA.
| SENIOR All Around 1. Gael Mackie (Canada)- 55.90 2. Marina Proskurina (Ukraine)- 54.90 3. Loes Linders (Netherlands)-53.55 4. Chloe Henry (Belgium)- 53.20 5. Kakitani Maniko (Japan)-52.95 6. Lisa-Marie Farley (Gym Richelieu-Canada)- 50.60 Vault 1. Mackie- 14.2 2. Proskurina- 14.1 3. Farley-13.85 Bars 1. Mackie- 14.00 2. Proskurina- 13.15 3. Linders-12.7 Beam 1. Mackie- 14.60 2. Proskurina- 14.15 3. Henry- 13.80 Floor 1. Linders- 14.55 2. Henry- 13.7 3. Maniko- 13.7 -. Mackie - 13.1 |
JUNIOR All Around 1. Valentyna Holenkova (Ukraine)- 55.50 2. Anastasia Grishina (Russia)- 54.50 3. Carol Byrnes (USA/Girls Co Op Starbounders)- 51.80 4. Annette Miele (USA/ Lehigh Valley)-51.45 5. Kim Levesque (Gym-Richelieu- Canada)-50.60 6. Jennifer Fujis (Gym-Richelieu- Canada)-50.1 Vault 1. Miele- 14.25 2. Holenkova—13.95 3. Cassandra Hanley (USA/Parkettes) Bars Beam |
MARCH 18 - HOPFNER-HIBBS THIRD ON BARS AT FRENCH INTERNATIONAL
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Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs finished third on the uneven bars at the French International earlier today. She scored a 14.70 to take the bronze medal behind Vanessa Ferrari of Italy and Daria Zgoba of Ukraine. She also finished sixth in the balance beam final. Additional results may be downloaded from the French Federation website.
Uneven Bars
1. Vanessa Ferrari ITA 15.800
2. Daria Zgoba UKR 14.825
3. Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs CAN 14.700
4. Lichelle Wong NED 14.625
5. Lenika De Simone ESP 14.525
6. Elsa Garcia MEX 14.425
7. Jade Barbosa BRA 13.525
8. Chloe Sims AUS 11.625
Balance Beam
1. Vanessa Ferrari ITA 15.600
2. Ksenia Afanasyeva RUS 15.175
3. Irina Krasnyanskaya UKR 15.150
4. Steliana Nistor ROM 15.025
5. Sandra Izbasa ROM 14.950
6. Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs CAN 14.800
7. Daria Zgoba UKR 14.600
8. Fan Ye CHN 14.225
MARCH 17 – VACULIK WINS ALL-AROUND AT GYMNIX
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Canadian junior all-around champion Kristina Vaculik of Gemini Gymnastics took first place in the all-around at the Gymnix international earlier tonight. Vaculik overcame a fall off beam (side somi) in her third event to take the gold medal over Russia’s Ksenia Semenova 57.55 to 57.175. Third place went to Randy Stageberg from the United States, a last minute addition to the competition (56.725). Vaculik told Gymn.ca that she was very excited and happy to win this competition. She was pleased to have overcome a difficult warm up and that she was able to work through it. A team competition was also held, with first place going to Russia, followed by the United States and Team Canada A (Vaculik,Sydney Sawa, Caya Colling, and Emma Willis.
In the junior competition, first place went to Russia’s Tatiana Nabieva - who also competed in this meet two years ago, and who will not be a senior until 2010. Nabieva’s teammate Aliya Mustafina took second, and Corrie Lothrop of the United States took third. The best Canadian was Charlotte Mackie who finished fifth. One of the pre-meet favourites for Canada in the junior competition, Peng Peng Lee, earned the second highest bars score and the third best beam score before hurting her ankle in warmups for the floor exercise. The exact nature of any injury is unknown at this time.
Full results can be downloaded from the Gymnix website. Senior Results; Junior Results.
Check back later tonight and early tomorrow for videos and more detailed reports from the competition.
MARCH 17 – HOPFNER-HIBBS QUALIFIES TO TWO FINALS IN BERCY
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Canada's Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs got the job done today in Bercy, at the 2007 French International. The Sport Seneca gymnast topped the field on beam throughout most of today's qualifications, until Vanessa Ferrari (ITA) and Dariya Zgoba (UKR) competed late in the competition. Zgoba's teammate, Irina Krasnyanska, the 2006 World Champion on beam, grabbed the last spot in tomorrow's finals.
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1.
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FERRARI Vanessa |
ITA
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15.400
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2.
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ZGOBA Dariya |
UKR
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15.525
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3.
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HOPFNER-HIBS Elyse |
CAN
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15.400
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4.
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IZBASA Sandra Ralouca |
ROU
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15.375
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5.
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NISTOR Steliana |
ROU
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15.250
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6.
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AFANASEVA Ksenia |
RUS
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15.175
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7.
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FAN Ye |
CHN
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14.825
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8.
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KRASNIANSKA Iryna |
UKR
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14.725
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* Results are taken from the French Federation, which lists Ferrari finishing in first with 15.400, despite a higher score (15.525) for Dariya Zgoba. Stay tuned for clarification.
Hopfner-Hibbs also qualified to tomorrow's bars final. She stands in fifth place (14.675), facing familiar competitors Zgoba (1st; 15.925) and Vanessa Ferrari (2nd; 15.800). Brazil's Jade Barbosa, new to the senior ranks, sits in third (14.800).
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1.
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ZGOBA Dariya |
UKR
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15.925
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2.
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FERRARI Vanessa |
ITA
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15.800
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3.
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BARBOSA Jade |
BRA
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14.800
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4.
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WONG Lichelle |
NED
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14.750
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5.
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HOPFNER-HIBS Elyse |
CAN
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14.675
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6.
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DE SIMONE Lerika |
ESP
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14.525
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7.
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GARCIA Elsa |
MEX
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14.525
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8.
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SIMS Chloe |
AUS
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14.450
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Canada's Grant Golding also competed in today's preliminary competition. He
placed 18th on floor (14.800), 33rd on pommels (13.350), and 10th on the
parallel bars (15.100). He does not advance to any finals.
MARCH 16 – VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS FROM GYMNIX FIG SESSION
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Gymn.ca is pleased to present you with a few video highlights from tonight’s FIG session at the Gymnix International. Competing in this flight were several of Canada’s non-national team high performance gymnasts.
Making a return to high level competition was 2005 Canadian junior champion Kelsey Hope. She suffered falls from bars and beam tonight, but looks to be returning to her former level after numerous injuries (the latest being to her knee) the last two years. Watch her vault and floor routines (please right click to save to your computer).
You may also download the following routines: Leslie Mak uneven bars (featuring the Bhardwaj transition); and Jessica Savona floor exercise (from the Elite Canada novice champion).
Look for videos and commentary from tomorrow night’s international session later tomorrow night.
MARCH 15 – GYMNIX HOSTS ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL MEET THIS WEEKEND
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The Gymnix club in Montreal, Quebec, is hosting its annual international gymnastics competition this week-end. The competition gathers most of the top Canadian women gymnasts, and this year’s event includes teams from the United States, Russia, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The international competition session takes place Saturday night at 7:00, with apparatus finals taking place Sunday afternoon at 3:30.
Scheduled to compete for team Canada are national team members Marci Bernholtz, Caya Colling, Stephanie Desjardins-Labelle, Catherine Dion, Crystal Gilmore, Brittnee Habbib, Peng Peng Lee, Cynthia Lemieux, Ti Liu, Charlotte Mackie, Stephanie Pacitto, Dawn Patulli, Dominique Pegg, Laurie-Eve Pépin-Gagné, Brittany Rogers, Sydney Sawa, Rebecca Simbhudas, Kristina Vaculik, and Emma Willis. They will face an international field including Belgian Olympian Aagjie Vanwalleghem and her teammate Chloe Henry; US national team members Sarah Demeo, Corrie Lothrop, and Amber Trani (Trani is a replacement for Bridget Sloan, who will be competing with the US team in Great Britain); world team member Loes Linders of the Netherlands; and four gymnasts from Russia: juniors Aliya Mustafina and Tatiana Nabieva (who previously competed at Gymnix in 2005), and seniors Ksenia Semenova and Margarita Slepchenko. Unfortunately, home club favourite Nansy Damianova will be unable to compete this week-end after suffering a dislocated elbow.
In addition to the international sessions, competition will take place throughout the week-end in provincial and national categories, including an FIG session Friday night at 6:00 featuring many of the Canadian high performance and novice gymnasts not currently on the national team. Scheduled to compete in this session is 2005 Canadian junior national champion Kelsey Hope who has not competed in major competition in nearly two years due to recent injuries.
A complete schedule and roster is available online at the Gymnix website. Gymn.ca will be in attendance, providing extensive coverage including reports, videos, and photos, throughout the
weekend.
MARCH 11 – PENG PENG LEE TOP CANADIAN AT HOUSTON INVITATIONAL
Junior Elite Canada winner Peng Peng Lee of Sport Seneca was the top Canadian gymnast at an international invitational held in Houston, Texas, earlier today. Lee finished seventh all-around in a field of gymnasts from the United States, Mexico, and Ukraine. Lee scored 57.75 points, with her best score of 14.85 coming on the floor exercise. Also representing Canada were Charlotte Mackie of Omega, who finished ninth all-around (56.35), highlighted by a 14.50 on the uneven bars (an event that has given her difficulty in the past), and Emma Willis of Bluewater – twelfth with 53.30 - whose best score of 14.20 came on her best event, the floor exercise. The Americans took the top three places led by Natasha Kelley (62.70), Ivana Hong (60.55) and Bridget Sloan (60.05). All three Canadian gymnasts, plus Sloan and Sarah Demeo of the US are scheduled to compete at the Gymnix International in Montreal next week-end.
All-Around Results:
1. Natasha Kelley USA 15.15 15.70 16.40 15.45 62.70
2. Ivana Hong USA 14.90 15.05 15.85 14.75 60.55
3. Bridget Sloan USA 14.75 14.90 15.40 15.00 60.05
4. Elsa Garcia MEX 14.75 15.50 14.20 15.20 59.65
5. Amber Trani USA 15.30 13.45 15.60 15.05 59.40
6. Hillary Mauro USA 14.50 14.45 14.55 15.10 58.60
7. Peng Peng Lee CAN 14.35 14.25 14.30 14.85 57.75
8. Sarah DeMeo USA 14.65 13.80 14.90 13.95 57.30
9. Charlotte Mackie CAN 14.10 14.50 13.95 13.80 56.35
10.Erika Garcia MEX 14.20 13.85 13.20 13.90 55.15
11.Maricela Cantu MEX 13.75 13.90 14.15 12.85 54.65
12.Emma Willis CAN 13.75 12.70 12.65 14.20 53.30
13.Dariya Zgoba UKR 0.00 15.05 14.20 0.00 29.25
14.Ashley Priess USA 0.00 15.40 13.65 0.00 29.05
MARCH 11 - CANADA WINTER GAMES CONCLUDE
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Competition in artistic gymnastics at the Canada Winter Games took place this week in Whitehorse, Yukon, yesterday. The Canada Games are a multi sport event for non-carded and non senior national team members. Historically, many gymnasts who achieve success in the Canada Games go on to represent Canada internationally. Past Canada Games competitors who have gone on to compete at the world championships or Olympics include Curtis Hibbert and Ken Ikeda for the men and Amelie Plante, Sarah Rainey, and Stacey Galloway for the women, to name a few.
The competition began Tuesday with the women’s team competition, where Quebec took gold (225.60), with a strong team of high performance level athletes. Team B.C took second (223.30) followed by Ontario. (223.45). The men competed the next day, and B.C. struck gold (294.60), followed by Alberta (292.00) and Ontario (290.90).
The men’s and women’s all-around finals took place on Thursday. The women’s competition was a battle between two up and coming gymnasts with international experience. The winner, Dominique Pegg is a youth national team member from Bluewater Gymnastics in Sarnia,Ontario, who has represented Canada internationally at the Gymnix International and Top Gym in Belgium. She took gold (58.05) over B.C.’s Brittany Rogers (57.85), whose international resume includes a team silver at last year’s Pacific Alliance and a team bronze at the Junior Pan Am Games. Bronze went to B.C.’s Alycia Chan, a national open competitor who will begin her NCAA career next year.
For the men, the all-around title went to Jackson Payne of Alberta, whose 13.60 on the pommel horse (considered the most difficult men’s event) was the highest score of the day on any event. His all-around score was 76.65. Silver went to Saskatchewan’s Jayd Lukenchuk, with a 75.40 total score. Both Payne and Lukenchuk competed at the Junior Pan American Championships in Gatineau, Quebec last summer. Bronze went to Alberta’s John Hall (74.25), who also took third place at Elite Canada last December.
Competition concluded with the apparatus finals on Friday. For the women, Rogers took two golds (uneven bars and balance beam), making her the most decorated woman gymnast of the games. All-around winner Pegg took gold on the vault, with all-around bronze medalist Chan striking gold in the floor exercise.
The men’s apparatus finals saw two double gold medal winners, with Kevin Lytwyn of Ontario taking gold in floor and vault, and all-around runner up Lukenchuk winning parallel bars and still rings. The other gold medalists were Alexander Hoy of B.C. on pommel horse (Hoy was another member of the Junior Pan American team last summer), and B.C.’s Spencer Dear on high bar.
Full results from the Canada Winter Games can be found at the Gym Score Depot Canada Winter Games page.
MARCH 5 – CANADIAN WOMEN THIRD AT QUAD MEET IN FRANCE
The Canadian women’s team competed at a quad meet in Soissons, France this week-end, against France, Great Britain, and Italy. The Canadians finished third, behind Italy, and France and ahead of the British team. Team Canada was only four tenths behind the French team (224.20 to 223.80. Italy was the clear winner (230.35), while the British team scored 214.50 for fourth. The top Canadian all-arounder was junior national champion Kristina Vaculik who finished in third place in her first senior international meet, scoring 57.05. Her best scores came on the uneven bars (14.65) and floor exercise (14.45). Marci Bernholtz was the next highest Canadian, finishing sixth in the all-around (55.90), whose best effort came on the balance beam (14.65). Nansy Damianova of Gymnix ranked ninth, with her best effort coming on the vault (14.70). Caya Colling of ASF had her best score on the vault (14.15) en route to tenth in the all-around (54.75). Stephanie Pacitto of Gymnastics Mississauga also showed up well on vault, scoring 14.65, and finishing 14th (53.80). Veteran Gael Mackie of Omega performed on three events only, struggling on vault and uneven bars and showing a high score of 13.15 on the balance beam.
The winning Italian team was led by world all-around champion Vanessa Ferrari who easily won the all-around here with an impressive 61.35 score. France’s Kathleen Lindor finished second with a 58.25.
This was an important competition for the Canadian women, as they will likely need to beat at least one of these teams in order to qualify a full team for the 2008 Olympics with a top 12 finish at this year’s world championships.
Click here to see full scores
(pdf format).
MARCH 3 – HOPFNER-HIBBS FOURTH AT AMERICAN CUP
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Toronto’s Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs finished fourth all-around at the American Cup finals today in Jacksonville, Florida. Hopfner-Hibbs maintained her preliminary ranking, though a fall from her acro series on beam cost her a possible medal. She was solid on the other three events, scoring 14.40 for her Yurchenko-full vault, a 15.30 on the uneven bars, 14.825 on beam, and 15.025 on floor.
The top three remained the same as in the preliminaries, with Shawn Johnson of the United States taking first place over her teammate Natasha Kelley (62.05 to 61.45), and Mexico’s Elsa Garcia taking bronze (60.20).
Full results can be found at USA Gymnastics.
MARCH 2 – HOPFNER-HIBBS REACHES AMERICAN CUP FINALS
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World championship beam bronze medalist Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs of Sport Seneca in Toronto has qualified for tomorrow’s finals at the American Cup in Jacksonville, Florida, with a seventh place finish in today’s qualification round. Hopfner-Hibbs scored 58.95 points, with her best score of 15.20 coming on both of her best events, uneven bars and balance beam. The United States women dominated the competition, finishing first through fifth, though only the top two will advance to the finals. They were led by 2006 U.S. Junior National Champion Shawn Johnson and Natasha Kelley, 2006 US senior all-around silver medalist, separated by nine tenths of a point (62.10 to 61.20).
Canada was not as fortunate in the men’s competition, with Calgary’s Adam Wong failing to advance to the finals after a disastrous pommel horse routine (his 11.95 score was the lowest score of the day on any event) left him in 11th place. Wong was a favourite to make the finals based on his tenth place all-around finish at last year’s world championships, a best ever result for the Canadian men. The top men’s qualifier was Fabian Hambüchen of Germany, 2006 world championships all-around bronze medalist, who bested Jonathan Horton and Sasha Artemev of the United States who finished second and third respectively.
Women’s Results
1. Shawn Johnson USA 62.100
2. Natasha Kelley USA 61.200
* Shayla Worley USA 60.700
* Bianca Flohr USA 60.550
* Samantha Peszek USA 60.300
3. Elsa Garcia MEX 59.450
4. Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs CAN 58.950
5. Zhou Zhuoru CHN 58.050
6. Daria Joura AUS 56.750
7. Dariya Zgoba UKR 56.700
8. Kristina Pravdina RUS 55.800
9. Kyoko Oshima JPN 54.050
10. Andreea Grigore ROM 53.800
11. Katja Abel GER 53.050
12. Danielle Englert SUI 14.400
13. Nathalia Sanchez COL 13.100
1. Fabian Hambüchen GER 90.750
2. Jonathan Horton USA 90.150
3. Sasha Artemev USA 90.100
4. Nakase Takuya JPN 89.800
* Guillermo Alvarez USA 89.400
5. Dmitry Savitsky BLR 89.350
6. Maxim Devyatovsky RUS 89.200
7. Lu Bo CHN 88.450
8. Luis Vargas PUR 87.600
9. Flavius Koczi ROM 87.000
10. Adam Wong CAN 86.700
11. Raj Bhavsar USA 85.200
12. Daniel Corral MEX 70.250
* cannot advance to finals due to two per country limit
Full scores can be found at USAG online.
MARCH 2 - MARCH ASSIGNMENTS FOR TEAM CANADA
Many of Canada's top gymnasts are on assignment this month:
2007 American Cup (Jacksonville, Florida): Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, Adam Wong
2007 France vs Italy vs Great Britain vs Canada (Soissone, France): Gael Mackie, Kristina Vaculik, Nansy Damianova, Caya Colling, Stephanie Pacitto.
2007 training camp (Thessaloniki, Greece): Kyle Shewfelt, Brandon O’Neill, Ken Ikeda, David Kikuchi, Adam Wong, Nathan Gafuik and Grant Golding.
Many of Canada's top gymnasts are also expected to compete at the 2007 Gymnix
International.
MARCH 1 - GERBER RETURNS TO GYMNASTICS
2006 was a year of ups and downs for Aisha Gerber. The thrill of a third place finish at the 2006 American Cup was met with challenges surrounding subsequent illness and injury.
Gerber took a number of months off from gymnastics, but has just recently returned to training. "Aisha is back to training," her father, Keith Gerber, reports. "...but just as of Monday! Aisha is now in Oakville, under Kelly and Sue
Manjak." (Kelly Manjak coached Kyle Shewfelt to gold at the 2004 Olympics Games, and he and wife Sue moved to Ontario after Athens.) "Kelly seemed like the right fit for Aisha at this time. As to goals...we're
taking things a step at a time right now."
Aisha's younger sister, Mikaela, who placed first on the second day of novice competition at the recent Elite Canada, continues to train at Cambridge Kips with Elvira
Saadi.
Gymn.ca wishes both girls continued success and enjoyment!
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