Ellie Black, Ana Padurariu, and Brooklyn Moors

The annual Elite Canada competition, which brings together senior, junior, and novice competitors hoping to qualify for High Performance status and Canada’s national championships, takes place this weekend, and the field includes just about every top senior gymnast you can imagine.

All five members of the 2019 world championships team that qualified for the Olympic Games are expected to compete, including Shallon Olsen, who will come up from Alabama on a mini-break from college gym as she multitasks her sophomore season with attempting to make her second Olympic team.

Ellie Black, Ana Padurariu, Brooklyn Moors, and Victoria-Kayen Woo will also be there, with Black, Padurariu, and Moors all using this meet to help them prepare for the all-around world cup series beginning next month. 2019 worlds alternates Isabela Onyshko and Rose-Kaying Woo are on the roster as well, as are 2018 worlds team members Sophie Marois and Laurie Denommée, 2018 Youth Olympic Games medalist Emma Spence, and 2019 junior world championships team member Okeri Katjivari, who will make her senior debut in Calgary.

Notably missing is first-year senior Zoé Allaire-Bourgie, who suffered a knee injury at nationals last year and is still recovering. The hope is that we’ll see her at nationals this summer, though if she can get back quickly enough, she could possibly be in the mix for Pac Rims or Pan Ams, either of which would be an important meet for her as senior experience will be crucial in her preparation for contending for the Olympic team.

In the junior field, 2019 junior worlds team members Clara Raposo and Cassie Lee should be at the top of your list, as should last year’s junior national champion Rébéka Groulx, who was too young to take part in Györ. I also really enjoy Sydney Turner, Alexa Tucker, and last year’s novice champion Alicia Wendland, who moves up to the junior field this year.

In the novice group, Victoriane Charron is going to be difficult to beat. The 2008-born gymnast is an absolutely brilliant performer, placing third in the novice division at nationals last year and then going on to win the espoir title at Tournoi International in France. A Gym-Richelieu kid, she follows in the footsteps of the Woo sisters and Groulx, all known for their elegance and poise at the national level, and she could very well become the “next big thing” for Canada in the coming quad.

The competition begins Friday morning with the first day of novice competition, followed by the first day of senior competition in the evening. On Saturday morning, the juniors get their first round in, while the novice gymnasts wrap things up in the evening, and on Sunday, the juniors and seniors have their final competition, which will act as both the all-around and apparatus finals.

You can watch the competition live on FloGymnastics, and scores will be available on the LiveMeet Mobile app. A full list of competitors is below.

Edit: The start lists posted today on the LiveMeet app do not include Shallon Olsen as participating on Friday, but as she has an Alabama meet that night, I think it’s possible that we can see her do something similar to what Brittany Rogers did in 2016, which was to compete in college on Friday, fly out to the event on Saturday, and then compete exhibition routines in Sunday’s finals.

Okeri Katjivari is also not included on the start lists for Friday.

Article by Lauren Hopkins