Four of the five gymnasts who represented Canada at the 2016 Olympic Games will return for next weekend’s Elite Canada.
megThe competition will be held in Halifax, the home turf of Ellie Black, a two-time Olympian who made history in Rio by reaching Canada’s highest all-around finish in history when she placed fifth in the final. Black will join fellow two-time Olympian Brittany Rogers and Rio teammates Shallon Olsen and Rose-Kaying Woo at the start of what should be a thrilling season for Canada, the host federation for the 2017 World Championships in Montreal.
Olympic alternate Megan Roberts is also expected to compete, as are 2015 worlds team members Sydney Townsend and Audrey Rousseau and the country’s most promising new seniors Jade Chrobok and Haley de Jong.
Some of the most exciting gymnastics will come from the junior session with Ana Padurariu leading the field there. In the wake of the Olympic Games, the 14-year-old nearly swept both the Pan Am Championships and the Olympic Hopes Cup, winning nine individual golds between the two meets, with Pan Ams vault the only final she didn’t attempt. Her score of 57.15 at the Olympic Hopes Cup was the fourth-highest in the world among the 1300 gymnasts who competed internationally in the post-Olympic period, and though she’s too young to earn a spot at worlds this year, she will absolutely be a leader in Canada’s future.
Other junior names to keep an eye on include Victoria Jurca and Sophie Marois, both of whom worked on building up their international experience last year, and we’re also excited for the senior debuts of Megan Phillips and Brooklyn Moors. I actually thought Marois turned senior this year, and she’s listed as having been born in 2001 on her FIG profile, so it could be a mistake that she’s on the junior roster for this meet, but either way, she’s a fun one to watch.
2016 Olympic beam finalist Isabela Onyshko is not on the roster, and while she has been keeping her eyes on landing in an NCAA program, she has not yet retired from elite so it’s possible we could see her later in the season. Also missing are several of last year’s top seniors who have gone off to NCAA programs, including Olympic alternate Madison Copiak and Olympic Trials competitors Kirsten Peterman, Sabrina Gill, and Maegan Chant. Victoria-Kayen Woo has deferred college for a year to make a run for this year’s worlds team, so we’ll likely see her back in action soon.
A full list of competitors is below. For more information, check out our coverage guide.
| SENIOR WOMEN | |
| Kierstin Anderson, Pegasus | Madeline McLellan, Calgary |
| Alyson Arcand, Capital City | Coralie Melancon, Les Reflexes |
| Sofia Baggio, Rideau | Brooklyn Moors, Dynamo |
| Marjory Bastien, Viagym | Shallon Olsen, Omega |
| Ellie Black, Halifax ALTA | Megan Phillips, Gymnix |
| Amy Bladon, Bluewater | Megan Roberts, East York |
| Lindasy Chia, Rose City | Brittany Rogers, Calgary |
| Seina Cho, Omega | Audrey Rousseau, Equilibrix |
| Jade Chrobok, Gemini | Meaghan Ruttan, Calgary |
| Haley de Jong, Flicka | Meaghan Smith, Ottawa |
| Laurie Denommee, Viagym | Dahlia Solorzano-Caruso, Galaxy |
| Alexis Didomizio, Burlington | Madeline Straker, Manjak’s |
| Alexis Djoboulian, Laval Excellence | Sydney Townsend, Milton Springers |
| Jessica Dowling, Dynamo | Laurie-Lou Vezina, Gym-Fly |
| Kayla Folz, Sudbury Laurels | Jamie Wakin, Springers |
| Jillian Hutchings, Campia | Rose-Kaying Woo, Gym-Richelieu |
| Taryn McEvoy, Rose City | Sonita Zlobec, WIMGYM |
| JUNIOR WOMEN | |
| Zoe Allaire-Bourgie, Gymnix | Victoria Jurca, Gym-Fly |
| Madisen Bedard, Flicka | Jillian Langille, TAISO |
| Vanessa Bryk, Futures | Chloe Lorange, Gymnix |
| Juliette Chapman, Tumblers | Jenna Manuel, Titans |
| Maelle Delourmel, Gymnix | Sophie Marois, Viagym |
| Gabrielle Deslauriers, WIMGYM | Charlotte McDevitt, Equilibrix |
| Megan DiPietro, Dynamo | Eloise Monat, Equilibrix |
| Jordyn Ewing, TAISO | Myrelle Morin, Gymnix |
| Molly Fiorito-Laplante, Equilibrix | Chelsea Murray, WIMGYM |
| Audrey Foucault, Gym-Fly | Bailee Nadin, Flicka |
| Samantha Fourchalk, Flicka | Ana Padurariu, Gemini |
| Laurie Gagnon, Les Reflexes | Xuan Patenaude, WIMGYM |
| Brienna Gaspar, Twisters | Imogen Paterson, Vancouver |
| Sara Giard, Gym-Plus | Frederique Payn, Omega |
| Alexis Gillespie, Panthers | Amanda Pedicelli, Equilibrix |
| Serra Gillis, Prince Albert | Avery Rosales, Tumblers |
| Jaden Gorsline, Calgary | Mia St-Pierre, Gym-Fly |
| Rachel Grenke, Capital City | Quinn Skrupa, Brandon Eagles |
| Elizabeth Holmstrom, Capital City | Emma Spence, Dynamo |
| Calle Inkster, Norfort | Annie-Pier Theriault, Viagym |
| Charlotte Innes, Calgary | Alexandra Tonkin, Milton Springers |
| Lucia Jakab, Okanagan | Kiera Wai, East York |
| Ilka Juk, Calgary | Emily Walker, Marian |
| NOVICE WOMEN | |
| Brooke Biggin, Langley | Anna Marshall, Flicka |
| Chloe Burridge, London | Valerie Menezes Thibault, Laval Excellence |
| Hayley Carlson, Campia | Rylee Miller, Can-Am |
| Jayne Carvell, Flicka | Patricia Miron, Gymnix |
| Kyra Cato, Calgary | Nyla Morabito, Niagara Acro Cats |
| Alexandra Collins, Cygnus | Lauren Mounsey, Futures |
| Kyleigh Crawford, Okanagan | Jada Niles, Futures |
| Kennedy Duke, Langley | Hanna Nixon, Tumblers |
| Marissa Engh, Twisters | Elizabeth Noble, TAG Sports |
| Angelique Gates, Flicka | Sarah Pace, Cygnus |
| Julia Gillies, Quebec Performance | Kiora Peart-Williams, Milton Springers |
| Kamryn Greenhalgh, Okanagan | Camryn Pellerine, TAISO |
| Audrey Grimard, WIMGYM | Daryna Porada, Quebec Performance |
| Rebeka Groulx, Gym-Richelieu | Cassandra Rafuse, Futures |
| Makenna Guidish, Flip City | Clara Raposo, East York |
| Lora Harter, Omega | Jovie Richardson, Bluewater |
| Bailey Inglis, London | Rachael Riley, Bluewater |
| Anna Inkster, Norfort | Mikhayla Rosenow, Twisters |
| Amanda Jaggard, Okanagan | Jenna Sartoretto, Futures |
| Piper Johnson, Calgary | Mara Steinfort, Club Aviva |
| Okeri Katjavari, Brandon Eagles | Leah Tindale, Dynamo |
| Evalyn Kauffman, Pegasus | Ivy Tupper, Canmore Illusions |
| Alex Keats, Capital City | Sydney Turner, TAG Sports |
| Sophia King, Calgary | Saki Yoshida, GADBOIS |
| Jordis Kliewer, Twisters | Maya Zonneveld, Revolution |
| Nya Kraus, Queen City Kinsmen | Erika Zullo, Gym-Plus |
| Emmanuelle Lalonde, Unigym Gatineau | |
Article by Lauren Hopkins
The Gymternet 
Just read Ellie Black is most likely out of Elite Canada with a ankle sprain. 😭
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 😦
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Sucks that Ellie Black is out but she should be fine for the latter part of the season. If Ellie and/or Shallon manage to bring home an medal on home soil this fall I will pee my pants.
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A few belated notes: apparently Isabela Onyshko will not be competing because she’s not 100% recovered from Rio,but is planning to be back later in the year, so rumours of her retirement that were going around were a bit premature. It will also be interesting to see if Rose Woo is back in top form after a somewhat disappointing Olympics.
There are a couple more elites that are not on this roster that are worth mentioning: Meixi Semple, Montana Fairburn (an excellent vaulter in Jr) and Emilie Dumont. Also worth noting is a club switch for Xuan Patenaude from Gymnix to WIMGym.
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I heard Isabela was looking at Stanford, which requires athletes to enter in the fall (no late spring starts like other programs allow) so if she did opt for Stanford, she’d have to either enter Fall 2017 or Fall 2018 and I was wondering if she was going to push it back a year for worlds…happy to hear it’s likely she’ll wait on college because there’s still quite a lot she can accomplish at the elite level.
Yes, there were quite a few that we didn’t mention but I tried to keep it to the seniors with worlds or otherwise major international experience…I do that for every article/country otherwise you’re mentioning everyone under the sun and people get upset like “why did you mention X and not Y as someone who’s missing out?!” Easier to keep it to a standard of major international competition.
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Isabela is an exceptional student, so it’s good that she’s looking for a school with exceptional academics. I imagine that it would be worth putting off university until 2018 for the opportunity to compete a worlds in her home country.
I mentioned the others, not as criticism of your coverage, but as additional info for anyone who was interested. The others are still juniors, and so no major international competitions. However, Meixi was at Pac Rims, so I assumed it might make her name a bit more recognizable.
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Yes, it would be great for her to compete at worlds in Montreal, and I think she could also have a good shot at a beam medal! And I appreciate the other names being brought up…just wanted to let you know I wasn’t ignoring them for any reason!
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