A few weeks ago, we introduced you to one of Canada’s newest senior elites, Sydney Laird. 15-year-old Sydney lives in the U.S. and trains at First-in-Flight, but in December 2013, she qualified to the junior elite level in Canada and is now a member of their national team.

Though she’s only been at the elite level for about a year, Sydney already has international titles on her resume after competing at Coupe Avenir (winning all-around bronze, vault silver, and bars gold) and Top Gym (earning all-around silver as well as gold with her team) in Belgium last November.

Sydney made her senior debut at Elite Canada in January, and will head to Montreal in March to compete at L’International Gymnix. Known for her beautiful long lines, lovely flexibility on difficult leaps, and a real artistry and style on both beam and floor, Sydney is a Gymternet favorite and definitely one to watch

We caught up with Sydney to chat about her career, her goals, and her passion for the sport. Check it out below!

How did you get started in gymnastics?

When I was 3-1/2 my mom put me in gymnastics because she knew it would be a good foundation for any sport I wanted to do in the future. My mom had been in gymnastics for 10 years so she knew what it was like. I didn’t try any other sports because I fell in love with gymnastics.

When you were young, is there a gymnast you really loved and looked up to? How about now?

When I was 9 I watched the Olympics on TV for the first time, and Nastia Liukin became my favorite. When I was really little, mom says she showed me lots of videos of Nadia Comaneci (who was her hero). At the 2013 WOGA Classic I got to meet Nastia (see photo). My favorite gymnasts to watch in the sport right now are Aliya Mustafina and Larisa Iordache.

At what age did you realize you had a strong talent for the sport? When did you make the decision to train at a higher level and attempt elite?

It wasn’t until I was 13 and got a new coach (Elke Williams) until I realized what I could do. She had so much faith in me that I began to realize that I could go further than I had imagined. Five months after Miss Elke arrived at our gym, I made my first attempt at elite at WOGA. It was only after I had tried and fell short of making elite the first time did we realize that, because I’m a Canadian citizen and not a permanent resident of USA (no green card yet), I was not even eligible to be elite in the USA.

So you live and train in the U.S. but compete internationally for Canada. How did you get the idea to try elite in Canada? Do you have a citizenship there? What was the process like?

The plan with Miss Elke was always to try to make the Canadian National Team; once we found out that I was ineligible for elite in the USA, the process toward my Canadian goal went into high gear. The rules in Canada elite are a lot different than USA elite, so my coach had to learn all the rules and revise my routines from scratch; we did a lot of work that first year. And to add to all that, since my coach is not Canadian, she can’t go on the floor during international meets, so we had to team up with a gym in Canada (Calgary Gymnastics Centre) that was already doing a lot of elite traveling.

Your first international assignments were the Coupe Avenir and Top Gym meets in Belgium, right? Tell us a little about your experience.

It was really great getting to see Belgium. Even though we were in the gym most of the time and didn’t get to see much of the country, it was an awesome experience. I love traveling with my Calgary teammates. We had a lot of laughs! I’ll never forget when we got lost trying to find our hotel in the middle of the woods in Belgium; it was a trip that should have taken us less than hour, but took four hours, with all of our luggage sitting on our laps because the van we rented was way smaller than we thought it was going to be. We had a lot of adventures — and bought a lot of Belgian chocolate!

At Top Gym, you had some pretty big competition, including the European junior champion, Angelina Melnikova. How did it feel to be on the podium with a silver medal?

Getting that silver medal gave me a lot of confidence to realize that I really could compete internationally and end up on the podium with someone like her. In Belgium, the spectactors treat gymnasts like stars; random people came up to me wanting their picture with me and I signed a ton of autographs. That was definitely different; something I’ve never experienced before.

You officially kicked off the competition season, and your first competition as a senior elite, at Elite Canada last week. Tell us about your competition there, and how you think each of your routines went. Did you feel like it was majorly different competing as a junior last year and a senior now?

Competing senior didn’t really feel different than competing junior. But the big difference was the level of competition; some of the girls had a lot more experience than I did. I didn’t do as well as I intended, but it’s definitely something I can learn from. Three of my events went pretty well. Bars was good before my dismount; I put a knee down so I have to get that perfected. I recently upgraded on bars and I am planning to upgrade more by Canadian championships. On floor, leaps make up a large portion of my D-score, so sometimes if they don’t get counted, my score goes down.

I believe you were in a rotation with Victoria Moors, right? What was it like competing with her, and with other top gymnasts who have been to World Championships and the Olympic Games?

It ended up that I wasn’t in rotation with Victoria Moors after all, but it was really cool competing beside former Olympians, people I have been watching for a while. But when we’re all on the floor together, it’s like everyone is an equal; we’re all going for the same goal. I just had to concentrate on my own routines.

With Gymnix coming up, what are you working on most?

I’m not concentrating on too many upgrades for this meet since I only have a few weeks to prepare. I plan to just work hard on making my routines consistent and perfecting the little things.

As you’re simultaneously doing level 10 in the U.S. and elite for Canada, are there any changes you have to make between your routines for the two levels?

Since I attained national team status in Canada, my coach and I have decided not to go the J.O. route this year in the U.S. Last year, when I was trying to do both, it was so hard on my time and my body, I felt I wasn’t able to either really well. I don’t think I did the same routine twice the whole year because I was always changing from one to the other and constantly upgrading. I did more than a dozen meets last year in 6 months.

You’ve already verbally committed to an NCAA program. What was it about Arkansas that you liked the most? Did you visit any other schools?

I visited a few other schools around the U.S., which I really liked. There are some really awesome coaches out there. But in the end, it came down to Arkansas because it was the best fit for me. They had both the academic program I was looking for (sports nutrition / sports exercise / physical therapy), and I’m really excited about the gymnastics! The coaches are awesome, the gym facility is amazing and right now they are building a brand new athlete nutrition and study center right next door to the gym. I love the campus; it has such a great mix of modern architecture and historical buildings, and everything is in walking distance.

You’re also preparing for the 2016 Olympic Games. Is this something on your mind a lot or do you try to just focus on the present? Do you have any skills you’re training to add into your routines as you get closer?

I try not to think about 2016. I just want to focus on the skills I am working on right now. Of course, my ultimate goal would be to make the Olympic team. But right now I just need to focus on the next meet. Eventually I want to add a few more release moves to my bar routine and a bigger dismount on beam.

What would you say your biggest strengths are? What about weaknesses? Is there anything your coach has to remind you to do over and over?

My flexibility and form are my strongest points; I’m big on twists, more finesse than power. But I don’t have a lot of big tumbling passes; that’s a weakness. But what I lack in power, I try to make up for in style – so they tell me, LOL! I train really hard in the gym but sometimes the successes I have from day to day don’t translate to the competition floor; that’s something my coach has to constantly help me overcome.

What is your favorite thing about gymnastics? If you’re having a rough day or trouble with a skill, what’s the thing that inspires you to keep going?

I love training and I get to do it with my favorite people — in two countries! I love the feeling when you get a new skill you’ve been working on for weeks or even months. When I’m having a rough day, what keeps me going is that gymnastics is my life, I love it; I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Article by Lauren Hopkins
All photos courtesy of Sydney Laird and family