Smith competed in the first flight of athletes, along with Sarah Milette of Longueuil, QC who unfortunately did not finish her routine and ended the day in 22nd position, and so had to wait nervously for the end of the second flight to see if her score of 54.190 would be enough to qualify her for the final. When the last competitor, Lingling Liu of China bounced out, she had her answer – finishing ranked eighth overall to advance. MacLennan scored 54.930 to also advance in fourth position.
The top-8 athletes (one per country) secured their country one spot for the Olympics next year. Canada could also secure a second spot through points gained from the World Cup series which wraps up next spring.
“Today was a little stressful, but I just came in trying to do the best routine I could do,” said MacLennan who is still coming back from a broken ankle injury from earlier in the year. “I was a little bit shaky again, I think I was little bit nervous, and a lot of people were feeling the pressure out there, but I was able to pull out 10 skills, and managed to sneak into the final with Sam Smith. It’s awesome to have two athletes in the finals for Canada and we’re really excited.”
Smith had to regroup quickly to compete in the women’s synchronized trampoline finals. She and Tam were the third team up and scored 48.420 to capture the bronze medal. The Japanese team won gold with a score of 49.590, while Russia captured silver with a score of 48.570.
“This was a really exciting day,” said Smith following the semi-finals of individual trampoline. “The semi-finals got off to a shaky start, I actually crashed in my pre-bounces and so I got a little bit of a time penalty, but I’m really proud of my routines, and I’ve shown that I’ve been really consistent over the last three optionals in this meet, so I’m really happy with them.”
Keegan Soehn of Red Deer, AB was the lone competitor in the men’s trampoline semi-finals, and he finished the day ranked 21st after scoring 56.700. Canada can still qualify a men’s spot for Tokyo through the World Cup series.
In the men’s double mini-trampoline (DMT) final, Mario Bruno of Kamloops, QC narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth with a score of 72.400. Mikhail Zalomin of Russia took gold with a score of 77.100 while Americans Ruben Padilla and Alexander Renkert took silver and bronze respectively with scores of 76.100 and 74.100.
Competition wrap-ups Sunday with Jordyn Miller-Burko competing in the women’s DMT final, Smith and MacLennan competing in the individual trampoline final, and then the all-around team final which will see the following Canadian athletes compete (all were the highest ranking finishers in their categories): MacLennan (women’s trampoline); Soehn (men’s trampoline); Miller-Burko (women’s DMT); Bruno (men’s DMT); Jon Schwaiger (men’s tumbling); Jordan Sugrim (women’s tumbling); Smith & Tam (women’s synchro); Soehn & Nathan Shuh (men’s synchro). Canada won bronze in this event at last year’s World Championships.
FULL RESULTS: https://live.gymnastics.sport/schedule.php?idevent=15568
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