CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI -- Dominique Pegg was thinking about her foot, not her ranking.
Pegg, a fixture on the World Cup scene in 2009 and 2010, injured her foot last summer. The recovery period has been long -- Pegg says she is still not throwing all her difficulty -- and she came to the Canadian Championships just to show people she was back. The scoring would be secondary.
"I wasn't expecting to be the leader," Pegg said after the competition. "It's a plus."
Pegg was one of the few to hit all four of her routines during the first night of the Canadian Nationals. Others, who presented upgraded difficulty, mostly had problems. Uneven bars claimed the most casualties, with several gymnasts falling multiple times.
Going into Thursday's women's all-around final, Pegg leads over Kristin Klarenbach and Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto, both veterans of several international competitions. Klarenbach is a power athlete, exceptional on floor and vault. Dancose-Giambattisto is the opposite, excelling on beam and especially uneven bars, but has made great strides on floor and vault since the World Championships. What they had in common Tuesday night was consistency.
2010 Junior National champion Sabrina Gill came to this meet with upgraded difficulty, particularly on uneven bars, with a new routine that carries a 6.0 D-score. Unfortunately for Gill, the difficulty cost her dearly -- three falls on the event dropped her to 15th in the all-around despite a nice recovery on beam and floor.
Favorite Madeline Gardiner also had trouble on bars, falling early in her routine on a pirouetting skill. But the real challenge for Gardiner came on floor, where she underrotated her triple full (hands down) and sat down on a 1.5 to front layout full. Gardiner currently sits 8th overall.
2010 World team member Jessica Savona unveiled the competition's only double-twisting Yurchenko vault and also showed an almost laid-out Arabian double layout on floor. But Savona too had trouble on bars, failing to regrasp after an overenthusiastic Ricna.
2009 World team member Brittany Rogers competed for the first time in more than a year after an ankle injury sustained at the 2010 Pacific Rim Championships. Rogers showed an impressive Yurchenko 1.5 on vault and relied on her experience to get through the other events. Beam, however, caused her three falls. Nonetheless, she claimed the 16th and final spot to Thursday night's all-around final.
Former Canadian competitor Talia Chiarelli, who moved to Massachusetts several years ago, competed as a guest and finished fifth overall. Chiarelli is in the process of getting U.S. citizenship and does plan to try and compete internationally for Canada, she said.
Chiarelli has been a guest at Bluewater Gymnastics, Pegg's home club, at the behest of Bluewater coach Dave Brubaker, who is close with Mihai Brestyan.
Twenty-one-year-old Sarah Flett of Manitoba, currently tied for seventh with 2010 World team member Coralie Leblond-Chartrand, and showed difficult tumbling with stellar form. Flett, like Pegg, opted not to perform full difficulty (she has a great double layout on floor) but aimed for consistency.
Junior women: Cambridge, Ont.'s Victoria Moors is the gymnast to beat. Moors was superb on three events, earning the highest scores on bars and floor, where she tossed a tidy double twisting double back. A fall on her dismount on beam (overrotated) was the only blip on an otherwise very successful day.
Working with former Soviet competitor Elvira Saadi has allowed Moors, a very powerful tumbler and vaulter, to develop as an artist as well. Her floor routine to "Roxanne" is well choreographed and highlights more than just her tumbling.
The elegant Natalie Vaculik, younger sister of 2010 Canadian champion Kristina Vaculik, is in second after breaking her swing on bars during the qualifying round. Kaitlyn Hofland nailed her bars set on a day when so many fell on the event to round out the top three in the all-around.
Note: Christine (Peng Peng) Lee, one of the favorites for the all-around title, withdrew after dislocating her kneecap in training before traveling to Charlottetown. But here's the interesting part -- Lee injured herself landing a double twisting Yurchenko on vault, according to coach Kelly Manjak.
Note: According to meet organizers, no fewer than 20 NCAA coaches were in attendance last night to watch the junior and senior women's qualifications.
Bonus! Video interview with Pegg after the senior women's competition. Watch it here.
Gymnastics Examiner Blythe Lawrence will be at the Canadian Championships this week in Charlottetown, PEI. Stay tuned for notes, quick hits from the competition floor, videos and interviews from the Canadian Championships all week, and/or follow The Gymnastics Examiner on Facebook or Twitter.
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