Félix Dolci

After kicking off this year’s Elite Canada competition with strong leads on Friday evening, Aurélie Tran and Félix Dolci continued on with more strong work this afternoon to win the senior all-around titles – a first for both after Tran won the junior title and Dolci took the “next generation senior” title in 2021.

Tran improved on an already great day one performance, where she led the senior field with a 51.933, to reach a 52.333 on day two, securing the win by more than three points with a 104.266 total. It was another great bars day for Tran, who earned a 13.4, and she also hit bars for a 12.933, but the biggest win for her was on floor, where she made up for a fall on day one to count a hit routine that went 13.4. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any video for the competition on day two, but her execution here was a massive 8.8, so I’m absolutely dying to see it!

She ended up in fourth on that event, even with the day one mistake, and she also took the titles on bars and beam, making this a super successful outing in her first all-around performance since last year’s Elite Canada.

The silver medal went to Cassie Lee with a 101.849 combined score, while the bronze went to Jenna Lalonde with a 101.366, with the two swapping the places they were in on day one. Lee, who had a 50.133 with a beam fall on day one, came back with an excellent performance on Sunday afternoon, with her scores of 13.366 on beam and 13.35 on floor bringing her to a 51.716 to push her past Lalonde, though she also had a great day, increasing her score from a 50.283 to a 51.083 with her most notable improvement happening on bars, where she posted a 12.9. Lalonde ended up winning the silver on bars, while Lee took silver on floor.

Rounding out the super close top eight were Clara Raposo in fourth with a 97.866 combined score, Amy Jorgensen in fifth with a 97.716, Evandra Zlobec in sixth with a 97.566, Jordyn Crerar in seventh with a 97.350, and Sophie Patterson in eighth with a 97.232.

Raposo had a slightly better day on both bars and floor to earn a 49.4, and she performed another great beam routine to share the event gold with Tran, an incredible accomplishment given the years of injuries she had to overcome. I was also super impressed with the performance Crerar put up on day two, coming back from several mistakes that left her back in 11th place on day one to count scores of 12.35 on bars, 12.5 on beam, and 12.5 on floor, earning a 50.250 for her day-two program.

Both Jorgensen and Patterson were pretty consistent compared to their day one performances, while Zlobec showed improvements on day two, where she put up a 13.3 on floor, giving her the push she needed to win bronze on the event.

Jordanna Phillis, who finished ninth all-around with a 95.249, ended up taking the vault title with her Yurchenko double and handspring front tuck combination, putting up a two-day average of 25.15 to narrowly defeat Makenzie Grant with a 25.125 for silver and Tegan Shaver with a 25.1 for bronze. Azaraya Ra-Akbar, who competed every apparatus except bars, took the gold on floor with a 13.9 on day one and a 12.45 in her follow-up performance, 2020 Olympian Ava Stewart tied for the silver medal on bars, and 2022 world medalist Sydney Turner won the bronze on beam, showing a great routine on day two.

The junior field saw steady performances from Gabrielle Black on both Saturday, where she earned a 50.166, and Sunday, where she earned a 49.833, leading to a combined score of 99.382 for a pretty narrow win ahead of Zoe Tsaprailis with a 98.632, who in turn wasn’t that further away from first-year junior and last year’s novice champion Lia Monica Fontaine, who won the bronze with a 98.066. Black excelled on beam, winning the gold there, while Tsaprailis won bronze medals on bars, beam, and floor, and Fontaine – who jumped up from fifth on day one to second on day two to sneak onto the podium, won vault and took the silver on floor.

Other titles went to Reese Wilson, who was fifth all-around, on bars, and Gabrielle Fausto, sixth all-around, on floor. And though she didn’t end up on any podiums, Aaliyah De Sousa deserves some recognition for her incredible improvement across the two days of competition. De Sousa struggled on day one, ranking ninth with a 46.316, but she came back to smash all four routines on Sunday morning, earning a 49.833 for that performance, which was the best of the day. Unfortunately, her first score held her back seventh all-around in the combined rankings, but she’s definitely not one to forget for international teams and national championships podiums later this season.

Maryam Saber was the novice champion with a combined score of 101.700, while Stella Letendre won the silver with a 101.232, and Coralie Demers won the bronze with a 100.132, making for an all-Québec podium. Letendre won vault and floor, Saber won bars, and Liviane Charron – another Québécois, who finished fourth all-around – won beam.

In the senior men’s competition, Dolci ended up winning all-around gold by nearly eight points, putting up a 160.298 total after earning a 80.365 on day one followed by a 79.933 on day two, where pommel horse was again a bit of a struggle. He finished 10th overall there, but was a top-two competitor on the other five apparatuses, winning the golds on floor, rings, and vault in addition to the silver medals on parallel bars and high bar.

Kenji Tamane had an incredible jump from a 74.464 on day one to a 77.964 on day two, ultimately taking the silver with a combined 152.428, while Mathieu Csukassy, who was second on day one, wrapped up his meet with a 152.196 for bronze. Tamane was notably strong on pommels on the second day, and won the bronze there in addition to taking the bronze on rings, and he also had a strong high bar performance on day two, while Csukassy won silver on floor and bronze on p-bars.

The pommels title went to Elel Baker, with Zachary Clay taking the silver there, though he fell short of making the p-bars and high bar podiums with some mistakes on Sunday. The gold medals for both of those events went to Samuel Zakutney, who had some great day two scores of 14.466 and 13.366, and Chris Kaji went hom with the silver on rings, though he had some misses elsewhere.

Winning the “next gen” (under 21) senior title was Trent Milligan with a combined score of 146.029, ahead of Ben Talbot with a 144.828 for silver and Jayson Rampersad with a 143.597 for bronze. There was a nice apparatus medal spread in this field, with Talbot winning high bar, his twin brother Patrick Talbot winning pommels, Léandre Sauvé winning floor and vault, Noah Royer winning rings, and Toby Cairns winning p-bars.

The junior 16-18 all-around gold went to Xavier Olasz, who also won rings, while Victor Canuel finished second all-around and won vault, Matteo Bardana was third all-around and won both p-bars and high bar, Jack Stargratt-Sweeney won floor, and Samuel Rakita won pommels. In the 14-15 field, Thomas Tittley won the all-around, rings, and high bar titles, Alec Ikeda was second all-around and won the pommel and p-bars titles, Parker Smith was third all-around, Hubert Decoste won floor, and Keita Kuramoto won vault. Finally, in the aspire competition for the youngest athletes, Jaydon De Silva won the all-around, floor, vault, p-bars, and high bars title, Olivier Lapointe was second all-around and won the pommels and rings titles, and Rory Freeman was third all-around.

Article by Lauren Hopkins