Morgan was rock solid in the three finals he competed in, taking home gold on floor with a score of 15.050, gold on the rings with a score of 15.150, and silver on vault with a score of 14.600. Payne, the newly minted 2016 all-around champion, faltered twice on his high bar routine and struggled on the pommel horse, taking home his sole medal, a gold, on the parallel bars with a score of 15.100. Gold on the pommel horse went to Justin Karstadt of Toronto, ON (14.700), on vault to William Black of Halifax, NS (14.900), and on high bar to Anderson Loran of Saskatoon, SK (14.450). Cournoyer had the top score for the day all-around, and took the silver medal on rings (14.550).
“It was a really good day and we’re really happy with the outcome. I just put everything out there and didn’t hold back at all and I’m just really excited about it,” said Morgan, who along with Payne and Cournoyer, will find out if he was successful in his hunt for the Rio team in the next few weeks after a selection community determines which athlete represents Canada’s best chance for an Olympic final. The final decision will be revealed on June 30th, along with the rest of Canada’s Olympic gymnastics team.
The junior men’s artistic athletes also had their apparatus finals on Saturday which saw Ontario’s Anthony Tawfik of Ontario mount the podium in all of his finals, including gold on parallel bars (13.400) and high bar (12.900), and bronze on floor (13.550) and rings (13.750). Gold on the floor went to Darren Wong of BC (14.400); on pommel to Elel Baker of Ontario (12.950), on rings to Quebec’s William Émard (14.350), and on vault to Ryan Oehrlein of Ontario (14.000).
“Following the test event, needless to say we were all disappointed in our performance and really what had been happening with our team with so many injuries, but here at Canadian Championships, a lot of new kids stepped up, increased their level, and pushed some of the veterans to have better performances – I was just really proud of how everyone did here,” said Tony Smith, national team director for men’s artistic gymnastics. “We have some great kids here that will be stepping up to the senior category in the next couple of years, and I think our best team is still ahead of us and I’ll be looking forward to working with them.”
In women’s artistic gymnastics, Manitoba’s Brandon Eagles Gymnastics Club claimed another all-around championship title with Isabela Onyshko’s teammate Quinn Skrupa winning the title in the novice category with a combined score of 116.775. Silver went to Jenna Sartoretto of Ontario (113.525), and bronze to Emma Spence, also of Ontario with a combined score of 111.925.
It was a busy day of team finals in trampoline gymnastics with Team Alberta dominating the field, bringing home medals in each discipline (6), including gold in women’s double mini-trampoline, and women’s trampoline. Team finals bring together the top athletes from the senior, junior, and 2 novice categories in that discipline to face off against the best from other provinces to determine the champion.
For full results, please visit: http://gymcan.org/events-results/2016-canadian-gymnastics-championships-mens-and-womens-artistic-and-trampoline/results
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.
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Julie Forget
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Email: jforget@gymcan.org