Julia Soares

At this weekend’s Brazilian Championships, 2024 Olympic medalist Julia Soares won her first national all-around title since her junior win in 2019, while 2020 Olympian Caio Souza returned from an Achilles injury to land back on the men’s podium after missing out last year.

Soares, 19, earned a 52.050 to secure her win, coming in six tenths over the rest of the field thanks to exemplary performances on beam, where she scored a 14.0, and on floor, where she scored a 13.25. She opted to withdraw from the apparatus finals held on Sunday, but overall she looked to be in the same shape we saw her in during the Paris Olympics, and hopefully we’ll continue to see her as a leader for Brazil throughout the next quad.

Also on the podium were junior Isabel Ramos, who earned a 51.450 for the silver medal, and first-year senior Hellen Benevides Silva, who won the bronze medal with a 51.200. Rounding out the top eight were Gabriela Boucas in fourth with a 50.650, Larissa Machado in fifth with a 49.800, Gabriela Rodrigues Barbosa in sixth with a 49.800, Beatriz Lima in seventh with a 49.750, and Sophia Weisberg in eighth with a 49.050.

Most of these athletes are still juniors, with the majority of the top senior competitors either taking post-Olympic breaks or focusing on just a handful of apparatuses, which includes Olympic champion Rebeca Andrade, who competed a beautiful Yurchenko double full along with a solid bars set on the first day of competition, and then returned on Sunday to win gold in the bars final with a 14.5. Fellow Paris medalist Lorrane Oliveira competed just on bars, earning an 11.2 in prelims, while veteran Carolyne Pedro competed on every apparatus but floor, and finished fourth in the bars final with a 12.767.

The juniors and young seniors dominated the apparatus finals, with Machado winning gold on vault with a 13.134, Ramos winning silver on vault and bronze on bars and beam, Boucas winning silver on bars, Rodrigues Barbosa winning silver on beam, Julia Coutinho winning silver on floor, Weisberg winning bronze on vault, and Maria Heloisa Moreno winning bronze on floor.

In the men’s competition, Souza won his all-around title by more than two points with an 82.350 total, about a point higher than he scored to take the Pan Ams title in May. He came in ahead of Bernardo Miranda, who had an 80.200 for the silver medal, while Tomas Rodrigues won bronze with a 79.650.

Rounding out the top eight were Patrick Sampaio in fourth with a 78.700, Lucas Bitencourt in fifth with a 78.250, Vitaliy Guimaraes in sixth with a 76.850, Leonardo Souza in seventh with a 76.550, and João Perdigão in eighth with a 75.300.

2024 Olympians Diogo Soares and Arthur Mariano also competed here, with Soares going up on every apparatus but rings and high bar and going on to win the silver medal on vault with a 14.15 average, while Mariano competed on floor, vault, and high bar, doing mostly well, though he wasn’t present for any of the finals.

In addition to his all-around win, Souza won rings with a 14.3, parallel bars with a 14.5, and high bar with a 13.95, while Yuri Guimarães won floor with a 13.9, Johnny Oshiro won pommel horse with a 14.1, and Rodrigues won vault with a 14.2.

Article by Lauren Hopkins