The 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games are currently underway in Veracruz, Mexico. A multi-sport event featuring 44 sports in addition to artistic gymnastics, the Games showcase athletes from 32 countries, with host country Mexico expected to dominate.

Women’s artistic gymnastics was represented by four full teams in addition to eleven gymnasts from another seven countries. Nearly all competitors were in attendance at this year’s World Championships and/or Pan American Championships, making it an incredibly deep field with lots of top talent.

The first two days of WAG competition acted as the team and all-around final in addition to the qualification for event finals, which will be held November 20-21. Due to a shortage of judges, gymnasts competed on vault and bars on November 18 and then finished things up on beam and floor earlier today.

As expected, Mexico came out victorious in the team final, though it wasn’t an easy task. The Cuban silver medalists finished less than four tenths behind the home squad, an unprecedented result considering their relative lack of experience on the international stage. The team from Colombia earned bronze.

The all-around was a battle between gold medalist Jessica Lopez of Venezuela, silver medalist Elsa Garcia of Mexico, and bronze medalist Yesenia Ferrera of Cuba. Garcia led by about half a point after the first day of competition, though Lopez sealed the deal for her win today with an expertly-performed beam routine. Ferrera hit excellent vaults on day one and showed an awesome, engaging floor routine this afternoon, but her unfortunate bars fall left her a bit behind her competitors.

Still, coming out with an all-around bronze is nothing to frown at, and with the top qualification spots on both vault and floor, she could finish as one of the most decorated gymnasts in attendance. Ferrera also qualified fourth into the beam final, where Lopez currently sits in first, and Garcia leads bars qualifications ahead of Lopez by just a tenth. Lopez will also compete in the bars and floor finals, while Garcia has secured a top five spot in every event final.

Also of note, Yamilet Peña missed out on the vault final by just one spot after a rough landing on her DTY, a shame after winning the gold on this event in Medellin two weeks ago. The Dominican gymnast had issues throughout her entire competition and unfortunately didn’t qualify to any event finals in Veracruz.

Several other Medellin medalists are represented in the Central American & Caribbean Games finals, however, including Medellin bronze bars medalist Bibiana Velez of Colombia in the uneven bars final, beam gold medalist Isabella Amado of Panama in the beam and floor finals, and beam silver medalist Marcela Sandoval of Colombia in the beam final.

Finally, fan favorites Ana Sofia Gomez of Guatemala and Ana Lago of Mexico will also make further appearances this week – Gomez qualified second on beam and eighth on bars while Lago qualified eighth on beam.

The competition continues with vault and bars finals on November 20 and beam and floor finals on November 21.

Team Results

Rank	Nation	VT	UB	BB	FX	Total
1	Mexico	42.465	39.333	39.765	37.832	159.395
	Karla Retiz	——	——	——	12.566
	Amaranta Torres	13.966	12.633	12.966	11.900
	Alexa Moreno	14.133	13.100	11.633	11.533
	Ana Lago	14.066	12.733	13.033	——
	Elsa Garcia	14.266	13.500	13.766	13.366
2	Cuba	43.999	37.732	39.332	37.965	159.028
	Leidys Perdomo	13.800	——	——	10.500
	Leidys Rojas	14.300	11.933	13.266	11.066
	Mary Adny Morffi	——	12.866	11.833	——
	Yesenia Ferrera	15.033	11.600	13.600	14.133
	Dovelis Torres	14.666	12.933	12.466	12.766
3	Colombia	42.299	38.432	36.799	36.799	154.329
	Dayana Ardila	13.833	——	12.433	12.366
	Yurany Avendaño	13.033	13.066	11.100	12.000
	Catalina Escobar	14.666	11.933	11.300	12.433
	Marcela Sandoval	——	12.266	13.066	——
	Bibiana Velez	13.800	13.100	——	——
4	Venezuela	41.332	37.599	36.866	37.932	152.729
	Katriel de Sousa	——	10.866	9.666	12.366
	Jessica Lopez	13.733	13.400	14.600	13.900
	Paola Marquez	13.266	——	12.600	11.666
	Maciel Peña	13.833	9.333	——	——
	Ivet Rojas	13.766	13.333	9.133	11.600

All-Around Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	VT	UB	BB	FX	Total
1	Jessica Lopez	Venezuela	13.733	13.400	14.600	13.900	55.633
2	Elsa Garcìa	Mexico	14.266	13.500	13.766	13.366	54.898
3	Yesenia Ferrera	Cuba	15.033	11.600	13.600	14.133	54.366
4	Dovelis Torres	Cuba	14.666	12.933	12.466	12.766	52.831
5	Ana Sofia Gómez	Guatemala	12.766	12.933	14.400	11.400	51.499
6	Amaranta Torres	Mexico	13.966	12.633	12.966	11.900	51.465
7	Paula Mejias	Puerto Rico	14.600	11.833	12.266	12.666	51.365
8	Leidys Rojas	Cuba	14.300	11.933	13.266	11.066	50.565
9	Alexa Moreno	Mexico	14.133	13.100	11.633	11.533	50.399
10	Catalina Escobar	Colombia	14.666	11.933	11.300	12.433	50.332
11	Isabella Amado	Panama	12.666	11.533	13.166	12.566	49.931
12	Yurany Avendaño	Colombia	13.033	13.066	11.100	12.000	49.199
13	Yamilet Peña	Dominican Republic	13.033	12.166	11.566	12.100	48.865
14	Ivet Rojas	Venezuela	13.766	13.333	9.133	11.600	47.832
15	Valentina Brostella	Panama	13.700	10.600	10.466	12.166	46.932
16	Thema Williams	Trinidad & Tobago	13.833	12.333	10.200	10.133	46.499
17	Kaisa Chirinos	Honduras	12.466	9.933	11.566	11.266	45.231
18	Nicolle Vazquez	Puerto Rico	13.800	6.300	11.600	12.233	43.933
19	Alexa Grande	El Salvador	12.533	9.000	10.833	11.000	43.366
20	Claudia Goyco	Dominican Republic	13.166	7.233	9.533	10.866	40.798
21	Ana Lago	Mexico	14.066	12.733	13.033	——	39.832
22	Dayana Ardila	Colombia	13.833	——	12.433	12.366	38.632
23	Paola Marquez	Venezuela	13.266	——	12.600	11.666	37.532
24	Katriel de Sousa	Venezuela	——	10.866	9.666	12.366	32.898
25	Bibiana Velez	Colombia	13.800	13.100	——	——	26.900
26	Marcela Sandoval	Colombia	——	12.266	13.066	——	25.332
27	Mary Adny Morffi	Cuba	——	12.866	11.833	——	24.699
28	Leidys Perdomo	Cuba	13.800	——	——	10.500	24.300
29	Maciel Peña	Venezuela	13.833	9.333	——	——	23.166
30	Marcela Aparicio	El Salvador	13.333	——	——	8.100	21.433
31	Karla Retiz	Mexico	——	——	——	12.566	12.566

Vault Qualifiers

Rank	Athlete	Nation	D	E	ND	Total	Average
1	Yesenia Ferrera	Cuba	6.2	8.833		15.033	14.966
			6.0	8.900		14.900
2	Dovelis Torres	Cuba	5.8	8.966	-0.1	14.666	14.466
			5.3	8.966		14.266
3	Paula Mejias	Puerto Rico	6.0	8.600		14.600	14.466
			5.7	8.633		14.333
4	Catalina Escobar	Colombia	5.8	8.866		14.666	14.249
			4.8	9.033		13.833
5	Elsa Garcìa	Mexico	5.3	8.966		14.266	14.066
			4.8	9.066		13.866
6	Alexa Moreno	Mexico	6.2	8.233	-0.3	14.133	13.733
			4.6	8.733		13.333
7	Dayana Ardila	Colombia	5.3	8.533		13.833	13.733
			5.2	8.433		13.633
8	Nicolle Vazquez	Puerto Rico	5.8	8.100	-0.1	13.800	13.600
			4.8	8.600		13.400

Uneven Bars Qualifiers

Rank	Athlete	Nation	D	E	ND	Total
1	Elsa Garcìa	Mexico	5.8	7.700		13.500
2	Jessica Lopez	Venezuela	6.1	7.300		13.400
3	Ivet Rojas	Venezuela	5.2	8.133		13.333
4	Alexa Moreno	Mexico	5.4	7.700		13.100
5	Bibiana Velez	Colombia	5.5	7.600		13.100
6	Yurany Avendaño	Colombia	5.2	7.866		13.066
7	Dovelis Torres	Cuba	5.0	7.933		12.933
8	Ana Sofia Gómez	Guatemala	5.7	7.233		12.933

Balance Beam Qualifiers

Rank	Athlete	Nation	D	E	ND	Total
1	Jessica Lopez	Venezuela	5.7	8.900		14.600
2	Ana Sofia Gómez	Guatemala	6.0	8.400		14.400
3	Elsa Garcìa	Mexico	5.5	8.266		13.766
4	Yesenia Ferrera	Cuba	5.9	7.700		13.600
5	Leidys Rojas	Cuba	5.6	7.666		13.266
6	Isabella Amado	Panama	5.4	7.866	-0.1	13.166
7	Marcela Sandoval	Colombia	5.1	7.966		13.066
8	Ana Lago	Mexico	5.5	7.633	-0.1	13.033

Floor Exercise Qualifiers

Rank	Athlete	Nation	D	E	ND	Total
1	Yesenia Ferrera	Cuba	6.0	8.133		14.133
2	Jessica Lopez	Venezuela	5.5	8.400		13.900
3	Elsa Garcìa	Mexico	5.7	7.666		13.366
4	Dovelis Torres	Cuba	5.8	7.266	-0.3	12.766
5	Paula Mejias	Puerto Rico	5.3	7.466	-0.1	12.666
6	Isabella Amado	Panama	5.1	7.466		12.566
7	Karla Retiz	Mexico	5.2	7.366		12.566
8	Catalina Escobar	Colombia	5.1	7.333		12.433

Article by Lauren Hopkins