The 2014 Brazilian National Championships were held from July 31 through August 3 in Aracaju, Sergipe.

Daniele Hypolito became national champion for an outstanding 12th time in her career. The four-time Olympian will turn 30 this September, but shows no sign in stopping, putting in an impressive performance as she continues her campaign to make the team for the 2016 Olympic Games to be held in Rio.

Hypolito showed that she is still a top talent on vault, beam, and floor, and although bars has never been a standout, she has a decent enough set that she could make an all-around final internationally. She brought in a 54.7 this weekend for the all-around title, and took home two more golds on beam and floor. I was especially impressed with her level of difficulty on beam (she nailed that bhs-bhs-layout combo).

On vault, Hypolito earned silver behind teammate Jade Barbosa, whose 14.875 for her DTY and layout Podkopayeva gave her a comfortable half point margin for gold. She still performs both vaults with ease, especially that DTY, and could definitely be a medal threat at World Championships this year.

Barbosa, a 2008 Olympian who was removed from the team in 2012 due to a conflict of interest between her individual and team sponsors, also hopes to be included on the team in 2016. She placed second in the all-around with a 54.15 after falling on bars and beam and having problems with her vault entry, so a clean outing from her could put her around a 56.5-57.0, which would be a major contribution to Brazil internationally this year. In addition to vault gold and all-around silver, Barbosa also earned a silver on bars.

Bars gold went to Leticia Costa, who did not compete in the all-around. Costa competed a relatively easy routine but had clean skills, including her Maloney, straddle Jaeger, and lovely double front dismount.

Young senior Julie Sinmon earned beam silver with a 13.8 for a mostly steady routine capped off by a stuck double pike.

The junior competition was unfortunately without stellar talent Rebeca Andrade, who suffered a minor toe injury and will sit the remainder of the season out.

Flavia Saraiva, who replaced her in this month’s Youth Olympic Games, became junior all-around champion with a 51.8 after disappointing performances on bars and floor. Saraiva won bronze for her excellent beam presentation in event finals, which were combined finals between juniors and seniors. Though she did fall on her switch ring, the rest of her routine showed great difficulty and was very clean; she has potential to be a major contender for the beam medal podium in Nanjing later this month.

In team finals, CRF (featuring Barbosa, Sinmon, Costa, and Maria Cecilia Cruz) placed first with a 162.7, followed by CEGIN (with Hypolito) in second with 159.85 and Barueri in third with 149.4.

Overall, I was impressed with Brazil’s combination of older and younger athletes. While Hypolito and Barbosa are phenomenal, they can’t carry the program forever, though until now it didn’t look like there would be anyone to take their place. Now there are young seniors and rising juniors who could actually make a great impact for their team, especially if Alexander Alexandrov continues his attention to developmental aspects of the program.

Senior All-Around

1. Daniele Hypolito, 54.70
2. Jade Barbosa, 54.15
3. Maria Cecilia Cruz, 51.00
4. Mariana Valentin, 50.90
5. Julie Sinmon, 50.75
6. Mariana Oliveira, 50.50
7. Nayara Ferreira, 47.65
8. Vitoria Migliorin, 46.25

Junior All-Around

1. Flavia Saraiva, 51.80
2. Thais Santos, 50.30
3. Carolyne Pedro, 48.55
— Luana Silva, 48.55
5. Tamires Veiga, 48.50
6. Leandra Gago, 48.05
7. Vitoria Custodio, 47.50
— Milena Theodoro, 47.50
9. Lorena Rocha, 47.25
10. Leticia Goncalves, 46.55
11. Luisa Kirchmayer, 44.75
12. Thais Mota, 41.80

Vault Final

1. Jade Barbosa, 14.875
2. Daniele Hypolito, 14.350
3. Joselane Santos, 13.725
4. Nayara Ferreira, 13.575
5. Julie Sinmon, 13.550
6. Thayse Silva, 13.225

Uneven Bars Final

1. Leticia Costa, 13.200
2. Jade Barbosa, 13.150
3. Maria Cecilia Cruz, 12.250
4. Isabelle Cruz, 12.100
5. Thauany Araujo, 10.200
6. Leticia Goncalves, 9.500

Balance Beam Final

1. Daniele Hypolito, 14.050
2. Julie Sinmon, 13.800
3. Flavia Saraiva, 13.600
4. Mariana Oliveira, 13.400
5. Thais Fidelis, 12.150

Floor Exercise Final

1. Daniele Hypolito, 13.450
2. Mariana Valentin, 12.900
3. Julie Sinmon, 12.850
4. Lorena Rocha, 12.800
5. Milena Theodoro, 12.150
6. Thais Fidelis, 11.600

Article by Lauren Hopkins