The Australian senior teams

The Oceania Championships held in Brisbane, Australia yesterday saw both the WAG and MAG teams from the host nation qualify to world championships, while four all-arounders from New Zealand earned individual berths.

In the women’s competition, veteran Georgia Godwin – who returned post-2024 Achilles injury at the Gymnova Cup last fall – had a stunning day, competing on every apparatus except floor and winning the titles on each. She was close to top form across the board, with a 14.0 on vault, a 14.066 with the debut of a new routine on bars, and a 13.133 on beam, leading the team to an 18-point win ahead of New Zealand to easily get them the team title and the worlds berth.

We also saw strong all-around performances from two-time Olympian Emily Whitehead and Lucy Stewart, who landed in the top two spots on the all-around podium with scores of 50.998 and 50.299, respectively. This was Whitehead’s first international competition since the Paris Olympics, and she looked great, putting up the second-best scores on vault, bars, and floor, while Stewart led floor with a 13.0 and was also strong on her other apparatuses.

First-year senior Audrey Hawkins also competed in the all-around, with good vault and floor work earning her a 46.866 in the all-around, good enough for fourth place. Unfortunately, the fifth member of the team, Asher Bayles, was injured on vault, her first apparatus of the day, and she couldn’t finish the meet.

For New Zealand, Jun McDonald and Freya Reid competed well in the all-around, with McDonald earning the bronze medal with a 48.398 while Reid finished fifth with a 46.399. With the Australian team qualifying to worlds, both McDonald and Reid were then eligible to pick up the two individual spots available at this meet.

Also representing New Zealand were Sienna Shields, who was the sixth-best all-arounder with a score of 40.432, Reece Cobb with routines on beam and floor, and Olympian Courtney McGregor made an appearance on vault, putting up the third-best score of the day with a 13.433. Though McGregor won’t make it to worlds here, she’s currently ranked 22nd on vault in the world cup series, and with many athletes ahead of her likely to qualify through other means, she’ll be on the bubble for a worlds berth through this route.

The Australian MAG team had four all-arounders, all of whom finished in the top four, and with no two-per-country rule in play here, it meant the men saw a podium sweep led by Jesse Moore with an 80.165 for gold, ahead of James Hardy with a 75.331 for silver and Ritam Malik with a 74.698 for bronze.

It was a fantastic day for Moore, who also won the titles on floor, pommel horse, vault, and high bar to help the program to a 234.294, nearly 30 points ahead of New Zealand. Malik, who won the recent Commonwealth Games trial meet following a great freshman season at Penn State, was also mostly strong here, though a weak p-bars routine held him back from a higher total. In fourth place was Ben Foster with a 74.464, while Heath Thorpe competed three events, tying Moore for the top score on vault with a 14.0.

New Zealand’s best all-arounders were Alexander Istock in fifth with a 73.165 and Daniel Stoddart in sixth with a 66.098, both qualifying to worlds ahead of teammate William Fu-Allen, who was seventh with a 57.398. Stoddard had the top score of the day on rings with a 12.9, while Mikhail Koudinov, who competed two events here, won parallel bars with a 13.433. The team also saw Keegan Greene on two apparatuses.

Australia also swept the junior WAG and MAG podiums here in addition to winning both junior team titles.

For WAG, Alice Johnson won the all-around with a 49.399 in addition to taking the bars title with a 12.6, while Madelyn Fazio won silver with a 48.532 while winning the beam title with a 13.0, and Olivia Meaney won bronze with a 47.765 in addition to taking the vault and floor golds. New Zealand’s top all-arounder was Ella Thomas with a 44.031 for fourth place.

Elijah Wu won the MAG all-around title with a 71.299, ahead of teammates Oscar Scott with a 70.465 for silver and Josef Neumann with a 69.498 for bronze, with Wu also winning the rings, vault, and parallel bars titles, Scott winning floor and high bar, and Neumann winning pommel horse. New Zealand’s best here was William Davies with a 69.164 for fourth place.

Results: Senior WAG | Senior MAG | Junior WAG | Junior MAG

Article by Lauren Hopkins