The Canadian rhythmic group made up of Elizabet Belittchenko, Vanessa Panov, Anastasia Shanko, Alexandra Udachina, and newest member Alexandra Zilyuk finished in 11th place overall with a score of 27.250.
“As a team, we’re happy with our overall performance. Considering we had a new choreography and one new member joining the team for the competition, it was a great start to the year,” said the group”. For our next competition in Baku, we’re looking forward to performing clean routines and to execute our elements with greater precision. We’re excited for what is yet to come and for all the hard work that is ahead of us.”
Katherine Uchida of Toronto, ON was Canada’s top individual gymnast, finishing in 25th place with 52.850 points. Uchida’s best performance came on hoop, where she scored 15.100 points.
“Today I made small mistakes, I wasn’t as sharp as I was on day one but I’m glad there were no big mistakes,” said Uchida. “I enjoyed performing my routines but I want to do more to intrigue the audience and the judges because that’s my strength as a gymnast. I’m happy that I was consistent throughout all four routines. For me this is a good start for the first World Cup of the season and makes me feel more comfortable going into another big competition like Commonwealth Games.”
“For the Commonwealth Games, I’d like to be able to maintain my consistency. I want to improve how I maintain my energy throughout the competition so that each routine is equally as strong and I don’t show weakness through fatigue. Otherwise, there are only a few small details I need to secure so that I don’t feel any hesitation for my performances.”
Aurora Ontario’s Carmen Whelan struggled through the competition and finished 46th overall.
“I’m definitely a little upset with how today went,” said Whelan. “I felt great in preparation but on floor it just didn’t come together at the right moment. But it’s in the past and now I’m going to learn from my mistakes so I can continue improving for the Commonwealth Games and avoid these situations in the future. For my first World Cup of the season it was not as clean of a performance as I was hoping for but I did have to clean routines that I’m happy with. I feel that with the mistakes I made, I didn’t show the judges everything I am capable of, but I’m going to continue working hard in training and bring it all to the carpet next competition.”
“For the Commonwealth Games, I want to focus on being clean with the apparatus and being in the moment during my performances so I can truly let my muscle memory take over and just perform like it was any other day in the gym.”
Whelan and Uchida will represent Canada at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia from April 11 – 13, 2018.
For full competition results, click here.
ABOUT GYMNASTICS CANADA
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.
-30-
For more information, contact:
Julie Forget
Director, Communications and Marketing
Gymnastics Canada
Office: 613.748.5637 x 233
Cell: 819.210.2064
Email: jforget@gymcan.org