Alberta gymnasts participate in World trampoline and tumbling championships beginning on Thursday
November 17, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, England - The 2011 world trampoline and tumbling championships kick off on Thursday with Olympic berths on the line for Karen Cockburn, Rosannagh MacLennan and Jason Burnett.
“I’m excited and nervous at the same time,” says Cockburn, Canada’s three-time Olympic medal winner.
“This is essentially the meet we’ve been training for all year long.”
The top eight competitors in both men’s and women’s preliminaries on Thursday will clinch an Olympic berth for their country next summer with Cockburn, MacLennan, and Burnett all hoping to get the job done now without having to worry about a final qualification meet in January to round out the Olympic field.
It’s the only opportunity for Canada to claim two spots at the Games in the women’s event, putting the pressure on Cockburn and MacLennan to both finish in the top eight in the prelims.
On the men’s side Jason Burnett is Canada’s main hope to earn a 2012 berth but whether he can finish in the top eight will depend largely on just how much he’s held back by the sore foot that caused the 2008 Olympic silver medalist to pull out of the Pan Am Games last month at the last minute.
Other members of the men’s trampoline team are Carl Rom Colthoff, brothers Keegan and Kyle Soehn and Charles Thibault while Samantha Sendel, Samantha Smith and Mariah Madigan round out the women’s roster.
While Thursday is devoted to the individual trampoline prelims, Canada’s double mini and tumbling teams will put the finishing touches on their training at Birmingham’s downtown National Indoor Arena.
In double mini Canada is fielding strong teams in both the men’s and women’s events.
Corissa Boychuk of Airdrie, Alta., the defending women’s world champion in individual double mini, leads a strong group also vying for a medal in the team event.
Other members of the group are Chelsea, Nerpio, Gillian Bruce, Mariah Madigan, who is also competing in both individual and synchro trampoline, and Janelle Desmarais-Moen.
The men’s double-mini team anchored by veterans Alex Seifert and Denis Vachon also has its sights set on a medal.
Vachon, one of Canada’s best-ever competitors in tumbling and double mini, came out of retirement this year for another shot in double mini at both the worlds and the 2013 World Games in Cali, Columbia.
“It’s great to be back and my main goal is to help the team win a medal,” said Vachon, who last competed at a world championship in 2007 when he won a silver medal in the individual double mini.
Other members of the men’s team are Luke Friesen, Keegan Soehn and Jonathon Schwaiger.
In tumbling perennial Canadian men’s and women’s champions Seifert and Emily Smith will be looking for their first world championship medals.
Smith is the lone Canadian competitor in the women’s event. Other members of the men’s team are Jonathan Meehan, Vincent Lavoie, Jonathon Schwaiger and Junior Charpentier-Leclerc.
The world championships run through Sunday, November 20th.
