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
ABOUT GYMNASTICS CANADA
First established in 1969, Gymnastics Canada has been supporting the mastery of movement in Canada for five decades as the national governing body for the sport of gymnastics in Canada. We work closely with the twelve provincial federations and 700 local clubs to provide a broad range of programs and services to meet the needs of all participants. From athlete development, to coach and judge 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 experiences through the delivery of quality and safe gymnastics programming. Visitwww.gymcan.org for more information, or follow us @gymcan1. From here, we soar.
-30-
For more information, contact:
Julie Forget
Director, Communications and Marketing
Gymnastics Canada
Cell: 819.210.2064
Email: jforget@gymcan.org