Brazil

The South American Championships held in Aracaju, Brazil this weekend saw the host nation walk away with eight titles across the women’s and men’s competition, which included both team gold medals.

Though the mostly super young women’s team missed out on the all-around gold, they overall showed a lot of promise, placing two gymnasts in the top five In addition to snagging two of the apparatus final golds and leading the team competition by nearly seven points.

First-year seniors Maria Heloisa Moreno and Hellen Benevides Silva were the strongest for the team, with Moreno landing on the all-around podium with a 51.500 for bronze, while Benevides Silva was a tenth behind her with a 51.400 for fourth place. Moreno also won the beam title with a 12.7 in addition to snagging silver on floor behind Benevides Silva, who won the gold there with a 13.225.

Also on the team were Gabriela Rodrigues Barbosa, who earned a 50.350 in the all-around, veteran Beatriz Lima, who competed every apparatus but beam and finished fourth on vault, Rafaela Oliva, who competed every apparatus but bars, and Josiany Calixto, who competed only on bars and beam, making both finals and finishing fifth and sixth, respectively.

Milagros Curti of Argentina won the all-around title with a 52.300 in addition to taking home a pair of bronze medals on beam and floor. She was key to the team’s silver medal performance, as was Sira Macias, who finished eighth with a 48.400 and won the title on bars with a 12.95.

Also in the all-around was Martina Abrahantes in her international debut with a 46.800, while Lucia Gonzalez – also making her international debut – competed every apparatus but beam and ended up winning the silver medal on vault, Mia Mainardi competed vault and beam, and Meline Mesropian competed bars and beam.

An incredibly strong team from Panama not only won the bronze here, but came very close to upsetting Argentina with a 197.400, just 1.6 points back from the silver medal position. 2024 Olympian Hillary Heron competed for the first time since Paris, winning all-around silver with a 52.150, while teammate Karla Navas, who came very close to qualifying to the Games this quad, finished sixth with a 49.550. Heron opted to skip the apparatus finals, but Navas was successful there, winning the gold on vault with a 13.813 average along with the silver medal on bars.

Tatiana Tapia earned a 47.700 in the all-around, while Lana Herrera had a 45.900, and the team also had specialists Valentina Brostella on vault and floor along with Victoria Castro on bars and beam.

Other top-ranked athletes in the all-around competition included Alais Perea of Ecuador in fifth with a 50.700, Ana Karina Mendez of Peru in seventh with a 48.650, Juliana Ochoa of Colombia in ninth with a 47.200, and Ashley Bohorquez of Ecuador in 10th with a 44.800. Perea also won the silver medal on beam along with a pair of bronze medals on vault and bars, the only athlete from outside one of the top three teams to land on an individual podium.

In the men’s competition, Bernardo Miranda of Brazil won the all-around with an 82.067 to lead Brazil to the team gold with a 324.203, more than 12 points ahead of Argentina with the silver medal and Chile with bronze.

His teammate Tomas Rodrigues was also on the all-around podium, winning the silver medal with an 80.601, while Lucas Bitencourt technically finished third with a 78.767, though wasn’t eligible to earn a medal due to two-per-country limitations. The bronze instead went to Santiago Mayol of Argentina with a 78.667, while Joel Alvarez of Chile finished fourth with a 78.301, Edward Alarcon of Peru was fifth with a 76.499, Nahuel Pardo of Argentina was sixth with a 76.467, Pablo Calvache of Ecuador was seventh with a 75.033, and Israel Chiriboga of Ecuador was eighth with a 74.266.

Brazil also dominated the apparatus podiums, winning four of the six titles. Miranda won gold on floor with a 13.775, Johnny Oshiro won pommel horse with a 13.25, and Rodrigues won vault with a 14.213 and high bar with a 13.75. On rings, the title went to Daniel Villafañe of Argentina with a 14.075, while Jesus Moreto of Peru topped the field on parallel bars with a 13.325.

Complete results for the women’s competition are here, while you can find the men’s results here.

Article by Lauren Hopkins