Samantha Smith of Toronto, ON scored a personal best of 102.205 in the women’s trampoline preliminary competition, finishing 10th. Sophiane Méthot of La Prairie, QC, who is competing at her first World Championships, also scored a personal best and finished 14th overall with 101.750 points.
With both Méthot and Smith finishing in the top 24, they will advance to the semi-finals on Sunday and will be aiming to place in the top eight and advance to the championship final.
Sarah Milette of Longueuil, QC and Bronte Dundas of Richmond Hill, ON also represented Canada in the women’s trampoline qualifier, finishing in 33rd and 59th place respectively. Milette and Dundas are both competing at their first World Championships.
The women’s individual scores combined together to form the team’s overall score, leaving them in fifth place overall and in the last qualifying position. Smith, Méthot, Milette, and Dundas will now represent Canada in the women’s team final on Friday against China, Belarus, Japan, and Great Britain.
Smith finished eighth in the women’s individual final in 2014 and second in the team event in 2013 and will be looking to improve her World Championship results this year. “I had a great competition today, and am really happy with the results,” said Smith. “We have a really young and talented team, and I’m looking forward to competing in the individual semi-final and the team final with them!”
“Today’s performances were great! With three of our four girls competing at their first World Championships, they pulled through,” said head trampoline coach, Dave Ross. “Our veteran, Samantha Smith [at her fifth World Championships], received her highest score ever in competition and they all contributed to a good team score. They’re looking forward to competing in the team finals on Friday and I’m happy to see two Canadian women in the individual semi-finals!”
Canada’s lone man in individual trampoline, Keegan Soehn of Red Deer, AB, had a personal best preliminary round score of 108.090, finishing 34th and in the top half of the rankings. 2012 Olympic Games silver medallist and three-time Olympian, Dmitrii Ushakov of Russia, finished the preliminary round in first position with 115.260 as his total score.
In men’s tumbling competition, Jon Schwaiger of Ancaster, ON finished 19th in a field of 35 with 68.900 points. He completed two clean passes but will not be advancing to the finals.
In women’s tumbling, Jordan Sugrim of Mississauga, ON finished 30th after both passes included mistakes. “My competition definitely didn’t go as planned but I’m proud and happy with how I prepared for this meet,” said Sugrim. “Being the first competitor of the entire competition was intimidating and I didn’t do my best. With the World Games earlier this year being my main focus, attending this competition was just icing on the cake to a successful competitive season. Although I’m not pleased today, for it being my 5th World Championships and the last competition of the season, I’m happy with everything surrounding my performance and can only look forward.”
The World Championships continue on Friday with men and women’s synchronized trampoline and double mini-trampoline preliminaries as well as the trampoline team finals.
Here are the Canadian athletes competing on Friday:
Synchronized Trampoline – Women
- Sophiane Méthot and Sarah Milette, La Prairie/Longueuil, QC
- Samantha Smith and Rachel Tam, Toronto, ON
Double Mini-Trampoline – Women
- Jordyn Miller-Burko, Toronto, ON
- Karine Dufour, Laval, QC
- Danielle Grieve, Regina, SK
Double Mini-Trampoline – Men
- Jon Schwaiger, Ancaster, ON
- Mark Armstrong, Airdrie, AB
Trampoline Team Final – Women
- Samantha Smith, Toronto, ON
- Sophiane Méthot, La Prairie, QC
- Sarah Milette, Longueuil, QC
- Bronte Dundas, Richmond Hill, ON
For full World Championship results and detailed schedule, click here.
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