Dolci had a tough meet in the all-around competition on Friday where he failed to make the podium, ending the day in fourth. He bounced back in grand fashion Saturday, taking home three gold medals on floor, rings, and vault, and adding a bronze on high bar. His score on vault – 14.034 was the highest of the day.
“Yesterday was pretty hard for me, so today I just thought I’m going to give it everything I have so I can make it better than yesterday so it was really good and I’m pretty happy,” said Dolci who is coached by Adrian Balan out of Laval Excellence. “I love competition because when you make a routine, and you hit it, it’s a great feeling. It makes all the hours you put in in the gym worth it.”
Winning gold on the other three men’s apparatus was Evgeny Siminiuc of Mississauga, ON who took gold on pommel horse, parallel bars, and high bar. Siminiuc also won silver on floor – adding to the silver medal he won in the all-around competition on Friday.
Evan Fedder of Vancouver, BC was the top athlete in the junior men’s 14-15 age category winning gold on floor and parallel bars, and bronze on rings and vault. Matthew Brown of Dartmouth, NS was the other multiple medallist winning gold on rings and high bar, and bronze on pommel horse.
On the senior men’s side, gold was won by a different athlete on each apparatus. Joel Gagnon of Regina, SK took gold on floor as well as bronze on horizontal bar; Thierry Pellerin of Lévis, QC took gold on pommel horse; Chris Kaji of Mississauga, ON on rings; William Émard of Laval, QC on vault, Rene Cournoyer of Repentigny, QC took gold on parallel bars as well as bronze on the pommel horse and rings; and Kevin Lytwyn of Stoney Creek, ON took gold on horizontal bar and bronze on parallel bars.
“I hit all of my routines this weekend so the consistency was pretty nice. It wasn’t the perfect meet, but I’m happy with it,” said Gagnon who came up from the University of Minnesota where he’s finishing up his last year of an aerospace engineering degree to compete. “I’ve had some problems adjusting to different equipment in the past, so to go on the Gymnova equipment and hit all of my routines was pretty big for me. I’m hoping to carry that forward into Canadian Championships in May, and building towards the Olympics in 2020.”
Men’s national team director Tony Smith of Calgary, AB was very impressed by what he saw over the two days of competition: “I’ve participated in a lot of Elite Canada’s in my time, and I’d say that this was one of the more promising Elite Canada’s. I think the level has come way up with our junior guys and I’m really, really happy with a number of our first year juniors who are doing some really good gymnastics at this point in their careers. Some of the juniors that moved up to senior are starting to push the seniors which is something we’ve been missing over the last few years so I really see a great trend moving forward and I think if this continues, Canada is going to have a great gymnastics program on the men’s side over the next 10-12 years.”
In the novice women’s category which also wrapped up Saturday, it was Rébéka Groulx from Gym-Richelieu who took the all-around title by a substantial margin, scoring a total of 111.436 – more than 6 points ahead of her nearest competitor.
The competition finishes Sunday with the junior and senior women’s apparatus finals at 11:00 am ET.
For complete results, visit: http://bit.ly/ECAG2018_d-results
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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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