Nine-year-old Langley gymnast Emily Klenin looked relaxed and confident as she took the floor at the LEC field house against hundreds of hundreds of elite young athletes from across B.C.
Turns out she had every reason to be optimistic.
Emily won four gold medals, one silver and the title of overall champion for her age group at the two-day 2019 B.C. WAG Junior Olympic Compulsory Championships that wrapped up Sunday (April 7) at the Langley Events Centre (LEC).
It may have been the first-ever Gymnastics BC provincial championships for competitors who train at the Junior Olympic (JO) Level 1-5 categories, but for Emily, it was familiar territory.
Langley Events Centre, the inaugural host site, is where their club is based, and the foundation happened to be putting on the event together with Gymnastics BC.
That also made it a familiar space for Dumitru Avarvarei, women’s artistic gymnastics (WAG) head coach at the foundation, who was there with Klenin and teammate Jayda Francis, who had a weekend of top-10 finishes placing 8th on vault and 9th on bars.
Members of the Langley-based Flip City club were also among the 450 gymnasts between the ages of five and 12 from across the province, who were competing at the event.
Flip City took home 15 medals, two gold, nine silver and four bronze.
Gabriella Kovacs took silver on vault, silver on uneven bars, silver on balance beam to finish as provincial champion, gold all around.
Addison Hill won gold on balance beam, silver on floor and provincial champion in her category.
Lucy Cummins took bronze on beam,Taylor Meeds won silver in vault, silver on balance beam for a bronze All Around finish.
Claire Morin took silver on uneven bars and bronze on balance beam, Keira Dutschek won silver on uneven bars and a silver all around.
Kallie Cremers won bronze on vault,
A foundation Facebook post described the field of competitors as “the best of the best.”
READ MORE: VIDEO: Langley hosting high-flying fun at annual gymnastics tournament
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Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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