Gymnast completes clean sweep at Provincials

By Charlie Pinkerton

Madison Capretta of the Kanata Gymnosphere completed a clean sweep of Ontario competitions for the season, placing first overall in the Level 8, Age 15 category at the 2018 Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Ontario Championships, held from April 5-8.

“My goal was to at least make the podium (at each of my competitions), but I really wanted to come 1st,” Capretta said. She did just that in each of her qualifiers, capturing the gold medal at all three that she competed in prior to the Ontario Championships.

At Provincials, finishes of 6th in floor, 4th in vault and 2nd in bars positioned Capretta for a top finish heading into her final event, the beam.

Despite a fall during her beam routine, Capretta still managed to finish 10th in the event.

“I was shocked,” she said. “Then afterwards I was very happy.”

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This year was Capretta’s first competing in the Level 8 classification. The St. Francis Xavier High School Grade 9 student attributes her success to harder training of typically 20 hours a week and greater focus during competitions this season.

Thanks to her 1st place finish at the Ontario Championships, she’ll move onto the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Eastern Championships held at Durham College, May 11-13.

WAG all-around medals

Kanata Gymnosphere

Grace Kelly – L8 A14 (bronze)

Samantha Stafford = L6 A10 (tie-gold)

Ottawa

Grace Norman – L7 16+ (silver)

Sophie Oleskevich – L6 14B (silver)

MAG all-around medals

Ottawa

Eric Gauthier – Open A14+ (gold)

Ben Astorga – Open A14+ (silver)

Andy Fast – L4 AU13 (silver)

James Doucete – L4 A13+ (gold)

Max Parker – L4 A13+ (silver)

Carter McNamee – L3 A13-17 (gold)

Riley Gonzalez – L3 A10-12 (gold)

Tumblers

Jacob Newton – L2 A12-13 (silver)

Joseph Gaudreau – L2 A12-13 (bronze)

Artemy Kharitonov – L1 A9 (bronze)

Samuel Cain – L1 A8 (gold)