This afternoon, the women at the 2015 Pan American Games competed in the second and final round of event finals with Canada’s Ellie Black picking up another two gold medals for her excellent performances on beam and floor.

BALANCE BEAM

Black found the first of her two gold medals on this event scoring a full point above silver medalist Megan Skaggs of the United States, who posted a 14.05. In the bronze medal position was Victoria-Kayen Woo of Canada who finished with a 13.65.

1. Ellie Black, Canada, 15.050

Nothing but perfection for Miss Black, who blew everyone away with her set today. Opening with a double turn to full turn, she went on to nail her punch front pike, bhs layout, and a seriously perfect bhs tuck full. The switch to switch half and punch front tuck looked easy for her, and she nearly stuck her 2.5 dismount, finishing to the sound of a screaming crowd. Epic work, and possibly the most deserving beam win ever.

2. Megan Skaggs, United States, 14.050

This was a solid set for Skaggs, who began with a clean 2.5 wolf turn. She hit her front aerial to sissone with no problems, nailed her bhs loso and switch leap, and then had a significant check on her side aerial though she fought it and stayed on to hit her jumps and switch side. She hit her side somi before dismounting with a double pike which looked great coming off the beam, just hopped over slightly to the side.

3. Victoria-Kayen Woo, Canada, 13.650

The first to go up, Woo began her routine with a solid bhs loso before continuing with a front nice aerial to wolf jump, side aerial, and clean leap series. Her double pirouette had a significant break at the hips, but she hit stayed on to hit her side somi, switch half (a little short on amplitude), and 2.5 dismount, where her ankles crossed and she took a big step over but hit nonetheless.

4. Julie Sinmon, Brazil, 13.575

Sinmon had some very nice elements in her routnie here and possibly could have medaled, though unfortunately made too many small mistakes here and there to fit onto the podium. She began with a bhs loso with a check (her leg coming up), but then hit a great switch to switch half to back tuck series as well as a punch front to wolf jump to split jump. The front aerial to sissone was lovely, there was a check on her side aerial, she nailed the full L turn, and she took a step back on her double pike.

5. Flavia Saraiva, Brazil, 13.225

Unfortunately, after two relatively solid routines earlier this week, Saraiva was unable to deliver in event finals and the skill that caused her so much grief with wobbles in the team and all-around finals caused her to fall today. She did have a bit of a wait before competing so it’s possible that messed with her nerves a bit.

Opening with a bhs loso loso she had a pretty big check at the end but managed to stay on, however it was the roundoff layout that pushed her a little off-center and caused her to fall. The split jump to sissone was fine as was the full turn, she hit her switch leap, and then had a bobble on her switch ring, not connecting it to the sheep jump. Her punch front tuck to wolf jump was very tidy, but she missed the connection between the front aerial and side somi before dismounting with a powerful and clean double pike.

6. Jessica Lopez, Venezuela, 12.775

Lopez began her routine with a bhs bhs layout landed well but showing bent knees from start to finish, possibly due to her current injury situation. She hit her switch side but missed the connection between her front aerial and sheep jump, hit the side aerial, and then fell on her side somi. All that was left after this was the full turn and the 2.5 dismount, a slight upgrade from her double in prelims, though I’m not sure why she bothered to risk it after the fall.

7. Ana Sofia Gomez, Guatemala, 12.325

The most depressing routine of all time. From start to almost finish, it was excellent. Her bhs tuck full was fantastic, and she went on to hit her switch to switch half, full turn, side aerial to split jump, side somi with a slight check, front aerial to wolf jump, and switch side, all looking very strong. Sadly, when she was SO close to a definite spot on the podium, she missed her feet on the second back handspring going into her dismount and had to just hop off the end. Just devastating, though she was quick to stop the dismount…I’ve definitely seen other gymnasts continue to propel backwards after missing their feet, landing badly on their backs or necks, so she was fortunate there, but oy. Very upsetting.

8. Rachel Gowey, United States, 11.625

From the very beginning, you could tell this routine just wasn’t going to work out. Gowey fell immediately on her bhs loso loso series, which looked way off-line. She hit her punch front tuck to wolf jump well, but then fell again on her punch front pike and from there kind of gave up. She hit her front aerial to sheep jump, but on the latter her feet went maybe halfway to her head, and then had a nice full L turn but got almost no amplitude on her switch half, which seemed to be at maybe 90 degrees. Dismounting with a 2.5 hopped forward, she definitely didn’t look thrilled, especially going last up and seeing all of the falls before her which basically guaranteed her the silver medal just for hitting.

FLOOR EXERCISE

Black again was the champion here, earning her third gold medal of the meet with a 14.4. She was followed by the American Amelia Hundley with the silver medal after notching a 14.2 and Sofi Gomez of Guatemala who hit a 14.15 for bronze.

1. Ellie Black, Canada, 14.400

This was definitely one of Black’s best floor routines, beginning with a great Popa before her 2.5 through to double tuck, which she bounced back a bit but controlled nicely. She hit her front double full to punch layout to stag jump no problem, and then stuck her front full through to double pike cold, easily earning her highest floor score of the past two years. An awesome job for the Canadian, who left the podium blowing kisses and waving to a very happy home crowd.

2. Amelia Hundley, United States, 14.200

Hundley had the honor of going first here, opening with a great double layout to split jump before moving on to her piked full-in, whip to double tuck, and double pike. She looked thrilled with her performance and was all smiles after finishing to bring in her second individual medal of the meet.

3. Ana Sofia Gomez, Guatemala, 14.150

Last up, Gomez clearly wanted to redeem herself from her medal misses in the all-around, bars, and beam finals, and thankfully, she finally managed to pull through! She had a small hop on her tucked full-in to open the routine, jumped her feet together on her solid triple full, showed a great landing on her 2.5 to front tuck, and though her legs were apart quite a bit on her double pike, she that very nicely as well, picking up her first medal of the meet.

4. Madison Desch, United States, 13.975

Sigh. So much potential here but poor Desch definitely seems to let the nervous energy get to her. Opening with a whip to double arabian, Desch stumbled slightly forward and out-of-bounds for the first time in this routine, something she repeated on her 1.5 to front double full, where the step was tiny but she was so close to the edge there was nothing she could really do. Her chest was down on the landing on her triple full, though she stuck her double tuck to finish…a good ending, but by then the damage was sadly done, putting her just about two tenths shy of a medal.

5. Leidys Perdomo, Cuba, 13.425

Perdomo began with a tucked full-in that looked slightly short on the landing. Her 2.5 to front tuck had a little bounce that brought her out-of-bounds, the landing on her double pike was deep, and she stepped forward on her double tuck final pass, though overall it was a solid effort.

6. Flavia Saraiva, Brazil, 13.200

After a fall on beam a rotation earlier, Saraiva also struggled on floor, beginning with a wild 1.5 through to front double full that caused her to stumble around and put her hands down. She had a slight step on her tucked full-in, a step on her double pike, and another step on her double tuck, finishing relatively well but not well enough to recover from her opening fall.

7. Paula Mejias, Puerto Rico, 13.125

I thought Mejias definitely made up for her vault issues here, though she did still have a few issues, notably on her 2.5 to punch front which was landed very low and had a foot go out-of-bounds. She hit a nice triple turn and a great double arabian with a small step, and then had a bounce out of her whip to double tuck to finish.

8. Daniele Hypolito, Brazil, 12.800

Hypolito got off to a bad start with a fall back on her 1.5 to front double full. She recovered well, however, and went on to hit a solid 2.5 to punch front layout, a double tuck with a step, and a stuck whip through to double pike. A shame about the early fall, but she definitely showed she’s a fighter by continuing on a strong note.

Article by Lauren Hopkins