CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI, 6:21 p.m.: After an exciting junior women's competition ("won" by Cambridge Kips's Victoria Moors, who qualifies first to Thursday night's final; quick hits are here), the senior women have taken the floor to warm up for their own qualification round.
Moors's teammate Madeline Gardiner, who looked both delicate and fierce during the podium-less podium training session yesterday, is currently doing aggressive Yurchenko fulls on vault, while Kristin Klarenbach is doing timers for Podkopayeva vaults.
2010 World team member Coralie Leblond-Chartrand just did a very tidy 2.5 twist on floor. It's gametime.
6:52 p.m.: Sabrina Gill's Yurchenko 1.5 is definitely ready for competition -- she just did a great one in warmup.
I'm excited to see the Canadian-Americans Emma Sibson and Talia Chiarelli (though it is a little unclear whether Talia Chiarelli actually has American citizenship). Sibson, blonder than last year, and Chiarelli both stood out in training for their big skills and overall ability.
They'll contend with Gill, the reigning Canadian junior champion, who is going senior this year despite not being eligible to compete at the World Championshiops (she is age-eligible for London, however). Gill is certainly ready for this level. This year, she has upped an already impressive level of difficulty.
Madeline Gardiner, Jessica Savona, new senior Shae Zamardi, Dominique Pegg and Brittany Rogers (back from a long injury that kept her out for a year) are also capable of finishing top five.
Rotation one:
Warmup notes: The senior women's competition gets underway in a most Canadian fashion: a bagpiper, a mountie and Gymnastics Canada CEO J.P. Caron march out in procession with a few other meet directors. Holding the Canadian flag is Scott Chandler, who is introduced as "the oldest gymnast ever to compete at the Canadian Championships." I think he competed in 2010, actually...
Fashion notes! It wouldn't be a championships without them. Talia Chiarelli is instantly recognizable again, because she's wearing the sparly red leotard Aly Raisman wore at the 2010 U.S. Championships. WIth her hair pulled back into a bun, Talia looks like she could be Aly's sister, and Alicia Sacramone's little sister.
A good portion of the gymnasts here have opted for sleeveless leos for this opening night. Madeline Gardiner is in emerald green with long sleeves, and flames and maple leaves are easily spotted.
Sarah Flett, bars: Jump to high, hop change to Jaeger, clear hip, bail to kip to toe hecht, blind ot front giant to front tuck -- I don't think it was a double.
Eliane Kulzyk, beam: Punch front. Back tuck, step back. Did not see the rest.
Krishna Yemany, floor: Full intuck, small step forward. Punch front to double tuck, OOB. Tourjete half. Pulls around a double pike to end.
Sabrina Gill, vault: Should be a Yurchenko 1.5...it is, but she sits it down. Not quite enough rotation...too bad. Not the start she'd like. But it's how you recover...she looks disappointed. No second vault. She had a long wait before competing as well.
Taylor Ricci, beam: LIttle nervous early in the routine...bhs, layout, small wobble. Amazing double pike to end, however.
Dominique Pegg, floor: 1.5 to double tuck to open. The Indian music we've gotten to know over the past couple years from this routine. Nice choreo. Double pike to end.
Jessica Savona, vault: DTY, great! Couple small hops back, but oh well. Big smile on her face -- she knows that was good.
Madeline Gardiner, bars: Comes off after overbalancing a handstand early on in the routine, just after a hecht to high. Blind to Jaeger, nice, full to half to giant to double pike. Not the start she wanted either.
Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto, beam: Switch, scissone. Bhs, layout, wobble but nothing too serious. Double turn. Side somie. Didn't see the dismount. A serviceable routine from Canada
Talia Chiarelli, bars: Jump to high, blind, full. Bail to Ray, straddles legs on Geinger. Half turn to giant to double pike with a step. Well, she got through that. Onward.
Emma Sibson, beam: Punch front to back tuck. Front aerial to sheep. Bhs, layout to two feet, great. Punch front. Wobble on full turn.
Bianca Jordaan, floor: Full in tucked. Tourjete half. 2.5 to punch front, keeps it in bounds. Very nice technique. Switch, switch half. Scary "slasher movie" music, rather heavy. Beautiful triple full to end -- that looked easy.
Anysia Unick, vault: Yurchenko layout.
Demi Pas, bars: Stumbles on dismount (double pike). But great line and form and swing otherwise.
Kristin Klarenbach, beam: Switch half. Side somie. Double tuck to end, very nice. Didn't see most of the routine, however.
Brittany Rogers, floor: Double tuck, step back. 1.5 to double full, step back. Switch, switch half? Tourjete half. Triple full. Brittany looks experienced here -- not in top form maybe, but she's doing OK at faking it. Great double pike to end -- she had problems with that in podium training, big ones, but not a sign of that here. Girl knows how to compete.
Coralie Leblond-Chartrand, vault: Handspring beautiful front tuck to great landing.
Gabby May, bars: Hecht mount, Jaeger caught on her fingertips but kept going. Clipped her foot on the low bar on a giant before her double pike dismount too, but didn't show any signs of it, just a tiny hop. I like the fight in this routine...
Shae Zamardi, beam: She's a new senior from British Columbia who was one of the top juniors in 2010, and she has had to wait while the judges have tea and conversation after Klarenbach's routine. Ah, here we go...simple mount. Punch front. BHs, back tuck, step back. Side aerial, calm. Switch, pause, back pike. Switch side. Nice pose. Double turn, but put her foot behind her. Break on a wolf jump, of all the elements in her routine. 1.5 twist with large hop forward. Lovely presentation, if a bit of a trick-pose-trick-pose feel to this routine.
Silvia Colussi-Pelaez, floor: She even moves like one of the Spanish gymnasts...and she performs to Carmen! Full in tuck, great. Then overrotates front tuck to double tuck to her bottom. She looks in great shape, and if she goes to compete for Spain as she'd like, it will be Canada's loss. Double full. Double pike to end, gets it aorund. Shows off her flexibility and originality in her ending pose.
Rotation two:
Warmup notes: Emma Sibson threw a nice double layout on floor...saw a roundoff, layout to two feet mount on beam. Anysia Unick launched a Tkatchev on bars but missed badly and landed on her stomach...
Sabrina Gill, bars: Jump to high, inbar blind to Jaeger, good, Richna, good, stalder to Pak and catches too close, does a back hip circle and gets her rhythm off, and winds up coming off. Stalder full, a little crooked, and swings down and comes off again. Yikes. Gets up, and I'm going to characterize those giants before a good double layout as "angry giants."
Barbara Gasser, beam: PUnch front, easy. Bhs, random. Side somie. Didn't see flight series, but feel fairly certain she stayed on. Gainer pike off the end.
Taylor Ricci, floor: Triple full, a tad underrotated. Double tuck, step back. Switch. 1.5 to front layout full. Double pike. Pounding music that stomps out all attempts to be artistic.
Dominique Pegg, vault: Very nice FTY, nearly stuck.
Ti Liu, bars: Lovely Jaeger. Bail to immediate toe full, a little crooked but covers. Layout 1.5 dismount. She'd make a wonderful NCAA gymnast, IMO.
Madeline Gardiner, beam: Switch, split, crisp. Lovely presentation sets her apart on every event. Front aerial, bhs, layout to two feet, well done. Switch half. Almost comes off on changeleg side aerial but saves it after some wobbles. Lands chest low on her double pike, but does land it.
Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto, floor: Double turn. Whip to double pike. Double pike with step forward to end. Playful classical, orchaestral piece of music.
Bianca Jordaan, vault: Really easy handspring front tuck half. Nice.
Jessica Savona, bars: BIg Ricna right off the top...too big -- she misses the bar. Clear hip to straddle back half to low bar. Then Shaposh, but barely caught it and flew off the bar, doing a front flip to her back. Sheesh. Does a third release and makes it. Full twisting double layout with a step forward.
Talia Chiarelli, beam: Jump on from the end. Front aerial, bhs, layout, aggressive. Switch side, looks exactly like Raisman. Side aerial, nice. Smooth. Switch, back tuck, aggressive. Split, scissone. Punch front, stuck. Great routine going here...double turn, but puts leg behind her and will get a 1.5 for that...roundoff, double pike to very good landing. Great routine in a rotation full of falls.
Emma Sibson, floor: Very dramatic beginning...double layout! But not quite around and puts her hands down. Then sits down front handspring, double front. Just not quite enough height for either...Sits 1.5 to front layout full also...sigh. She has great potential.
Brittany Rogers, vault: Yurchenko 1.5! Steps back, but well done. Hey, Brittany's back!
Anysia Unick, bars: Clear hip hecht to high. Amazing high Tkatchev! Blind to Jaeger, misses the Jaeger...Pak, full turn to blind to double front.
Demi Pas, beam: Press handstand to split planche in handstand, very nice. Side aerial, comes off. Switch, back pike. Lovely bodyline -- tall and very elegant, with great form. Bhs, layout, wonderful. Front aerial. Jumps. Punch front, a little low but she deals with it. And then falls again on her full turn with leg up! What a shame! Roundoff, 1.5.
Kristin Klarenbach, floor: Very nice Arabian double front to open, tiny hop is only deduction. Double pike, another great landing. 1.5 to front pike. Double tuck with small step to end. Nothing wrong with those tumbling skills!
Silvia Colussi-Pelaez, vault: FTY.
Coralie Leblond-Chartrand, bars: Didn't see it, but believe she hit.
Gabby May, beam: Roundoff, layout to two feet mount, handles it. PUnch front, big step. Switch side. Barely gets her double tuck dismount around, but saves herself from having to put her hands down. Again, experience.
Shae Zamardi, floor: 2.5 to punch front, OOB. Steps out while prepping her second pass, a double tuck, which she steps out of bounds on again as she lands it. A fairly slow, elegant piece of piano music. Easy double full. Very nice double pike to end.
Krishna Yemany, vault: FTY.
Anna Gamelo, bars: Comes off on Jaeger. Clear hip to bail, toe hecht to high. Hesitation on full turn but saves it. Double pike with a step.
Sarah Flett, beam: Swing through mount. Punch front, small check. Back tuck. Back pike. Side aerial to two feet, nice. Switch side, leg comes up and wobbles on landing. Front pike, great. Switch, wolf. Double tuck with a small hop. A few wobbles, but overall impressive.
Eliane Kulzyk, floor: Kulzyk is wearing the black and white leo work by Ana Progras when she won her world beam title...triple full, not all the way around but faked. Eats the mat on a double tuck. Ouch. Finishes the routine, nose bleeding. But she does seem good humored about it.
Rotation three:
Warmup notes: For all of her struggles in podium training (and there were a few), Brittany Rogers certainly knows how to peak herself to compete. On bars, she showed a casual Ricna to immediate bail. This is after nailing floor (albeit not with the difficulty she'd like, I'm sure) and surprising with a Yurchenko 1.5 on vault. My, my...
Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto, vault: Didn't see it.
Madeline Gardiner, floor: Gardiner salutes and then directs Saadi where to place her crash mat. Lovely dance before her just-got-it-around full in tuck. Very languid version of Dark Eyes here. 1.5 to low front layout full and sits it down. Tourjete half walkout, switch half. Triple full, not even close to rotated enough and puts her hands down. Double pike, barely got it around.
Emma Sibson, vault: Beautiful handspring front pike half. Just beautiful. On her second vault, she comes onto the horse from her roundoff with very bent elbows, a little scary.
Bianca Jordaan, bars: Falls on her Jaeger, but good recovery for the rest of the routine, including her full in tuck dismount. Bars have not been kind to Oakville this evening.
Jessica Savona, beam: Punch front. Bhs, layout to two feet. Switch half. Switch, back tuck. Saves the side somie, bends at the waist. Huge double pike with a small hop.
Talia Chiarelli, floor: Big high Arabian double front, and literally just a toe OOB. 1.5 to double tuck, muscled the double tuck after some hesitation in the 1.5 but OK. Third pass is 2.5 to front layout. And caps it with a nice powerful double pike. Moves like Alicia and Aly, every bit the Brestyan's girl. 13.125.
Kristin Klarenbach, vault: Handspring front half, terrific power AND control. Didn't see the second vault, but it was landed with a hop, and that was all.
Brittany Rogers, bars: Ricna to bail, good even though bail was not near handstand. Toe hecht to high, and comes off on toe blind, just couldn't get it over.
Anysia Unick, beam: Press handstand. Front aerial, back tuck, little shuffle but OK. Triple turn! Whoa. Back handspring crosswise to the beam. Front layout full.
Demi Pas, floor: Full turn with leg up. Switch ring. Double full. Double pike. Very cute choreography -- a fun, laid-back routine that suits her style. Double full. And ends with a double tuck!
Shae Zamardi, vault: FTY, arms bent when she hits the horse. But not a bad vault by any means.
Silvia Colussi-Pelaez, bars: Beautiful hit routine with stuck double layout landing! Wonderful. Canada may think twice about releasing her to compete for Spain after this....
Coralie Leblond-Chartrand, beam: Front aerial, bhs, layout, great. She looks both calm and aggressive, definitely in the zone on this event. Side somie with legs straight. Wolf, nice position. Didn't see the dismount, but believe it was not from a roundoff...yes, sometimes you can tell when a gymnast has been to a World Championship...
Gabby May, floor: 2.5 to scissone. Double tuck. Switch, switch side half. Front tuck to 1.5. Bit wobbly on double turn. Then falls on double pike! Didn't have enough to end it.
Eliane Kulzyk, vault: Wonderful, nearly perfect handspring front pike.
Krishna Yemany, bars: Hands down on double front dismount.
Anna Gamelo, beam: Press mount, Bhs, layout, very nice. Off on illusion turn. Punch front. Jumps. Switch, back tuck. Does not get 2.5 twisting dismount around and sits down. Glad her knees are OK.
Sarah Flett, floor: Nice full in pike. Great double tuck, legs totally together. Switch, switch half. Punch front to double full. Popa. Violin music, sort of...Double pike. The best tumbling form of the evening.
Taylor Ricci, vault: FTY, nice. Follows up with a tucked Omelianchik. Impressive, especially vault two.
Dominique Nadeau, bars: Hit routine with double pike dismount and cool Shushunova release move.
Dominique Pegg, bars: Toe stalder to Maloney to bail to toe hecht, full turn to blind to Jaeger, toe stalder half and her new double layout dismount. The layout could be a bit more laid out, but that was a really nice routine.
Sabrina Gill, beam: This will be a big test for Gill. For one thing, it's beam, which is always a test. But Sabrina is not used to going up on beam after a two-fall performance on her last event. She has to focus and recover. What a good learning experience! Press handstand mount to straddle sit. Switch half. Bhs, layout, good. Little check on full turn. Switch ring, a little conservative maybe, but good. Front aerial, small wobble, back tuck. Punch front, small hop forward but fine. Double pike, good height and power, shuffle back.
Rotation four:
Talia Chiarelli, vault: Falls on her DTY. There wasn't really anything wrong with it, exactly, but she did fall...and then looks at the replay on her coach's phone.
Emma Sibson, bars: Well. She got through it. She didn't bend her legs, but the routine had one large leg separation and at least one hesitation in handstand. That being said, like all the other events, Emma would be great here if only she didn't make mistakes in the meet. She's an athlete with tremendous potential.
Jessica Savona, floor: "Smooth Criminal"...Awesome Arabian double pike, almost a layout, but tonight it's piked. 1.5 to double tuck, terrific. Small hip on landing. Switch, switch side. Gets into the choreo before her third pass. Full in tuck! Oh yeah. Moonwalk draws applause from the crowd. Double pike, stuck! Then really plays it up during the last 10 seconds of the routine. The big smile from after vault is back.
Demi Pas, vault: Yurchenko layout.
Kristin Klarenbach, bars: Hit routine with stuck double pike dismount.
Brittany Rogers, beam: Press handstand mount. Kotchetkova. Off on bhs, layout. Falls again on switch half. That one was a concentration thing. She fought for it too. And a third time on something I didn't see. Sigh. Layout dismount. This will be a very low score, unfortunately. Might it knock her out of the AA?
Anysia Unick, floor: Another "Smooth Criminal" but a different cut. Double full to open? Punch front, front tuck half, second pass. Seems to be opting not to tumble...last pass is a running front layout full.
Gabby May, vault: Terrific FTY. Second vault is a roundoff, full on, back pike off. Interesting choice. May and Klarenbach are wearing identical or similiar leotards, and their gymnastics resembles each other's as well.
Shae Zamardi, bars: Tkatchev. Pak. Toe blind to Markelov. Double front. Nice routine.
Silvia Colussi-Pelaez, beam: Comes off on a back tuck. Lovely bhs, layout. And aggressive double pike dismount. Greg Marsden is watching attentively.
Coralie Leblond-Chartrand, floor: Double turn. Easy double pike. 1.5 to front tuck to her bottom. Landed the 1.5 a bit funny. Hand down on her third pass as well. Switch, switch side, low. Looked tired.
Sarah Flett, vault: Terrific FTY. Time to turn that into a double, Sarah. Didn't see what her second vault was, but Sarah and her coaches were very happy with it. She had a huge smile after.
Eliane Kulzyk, bars: Geinger, good. Then turn out of handstand and she loses it and jumps off. Hmm. Bars have been just brutal tonight. Misses her toes on a toe stalder on high bar and has to jump off again. And falls on the double pike dismount, underrotated and hands down. Rough ride for her on this event.
Krishna Yemany, beam: Great double tuck dismount, nearly stuck. Believe it was a hit routine.
Anna Gamelo, floor: Double tuck, bounce back. 2.5, bounce forward. Switch, Tourjete half. Bounces out of the double pike dismount and has to put her hand down.
Taylor Ricci, bars: One form break in a low bar handstand (had to bend her knees). But the real problem came on the dismount, which was underrotated and she had to put her hands down on.
Dominique Nadeau, beam: Off on front somie.
Sabrina Gill, floor: Full in tucked, step back, no real problems. 1.5 to double tuck, heel barely OOB. Switch ring to switch half. 2.5 turn. Double tuck to end. Nice routine to end for Sabrina!
Madeline Gardiner, vault: FTY, tiny little hop. Good way to end an up and down evening for her.
Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto, bars: Toe stalder to Maloney to bail to toe hecht to high, blind to pike Jaeger, half turn, full turn, Arabian double front dismount with a sizable step forward.
Dominique Pegg, beam: Front aerial, bhs, layout, excellent. Switch. Lovely form. Side aerial. Punch front. Double tuck to end. Great routine for Dominique! 13.375.
Bianca Jordaan, beam: Jump to scale. Switch, wolf. Bhs, layout. Switch half, a bit more split/amplitude needed. Side somie. Punch front. Very nice 2.5 twist to end.
10:14 p.m.: The top 16 make all-around finals. And the leaders are:
- 1. Dominique Pegg
- 2. Kristin Klarenbach
- 3. Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto
- 4. Jessica Savona
- 5. Talia Chiarelli
- 6. Shae Zamardi
- 7T. Coralie Leblond-Chartrand
- 7T. Sarah Flett
- 9. Madeline Gardiner
- 10. Bianca Jordaan
- 11. Silvia Colussi-Pelaez
- 12. Krishna Yemany
- 13. Taylor Ricci
- 14. Anysia Unick
- 15. Sabrina Gill
- 16. Brittany Rogers
- 17. Gabrielle May
- 18. Eliane Kulczyk
- 19. Demi Pas
- 20. Anna Gamelo
- 21. Emma Sibson
- 22. Ti Liu (2 events)
- 23. Barbara Gasser (2 events)
- 24. Dominique Nadeau (2 events)
Savona, with lots of difficulty on vault and floor (DTY and 5.5 D-score on floor) easily qualified first to those two events for finals (she scored 14.25 for the DTY and 14.0 on floor), while Gardiner was the best on beam (13.675) and Dancose-Giambattisto had the top mark on bars (14.05).
Related: For complete results from the competition, please visit Gym Score Depot.
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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