By William Bailey
The destinations are getting farther and farther as Samantha Couture rises higher and higher this gymnastics season.
The 13-year-old is fresh off the Gymnix International meet last weekend in Montreal, and her strong performance at last month’s Elite Canada meet in Langley, B.C. earned her an even bigger trip overseas.
The Tumblers Gymnastics Centre athlete left Tuesday for Germany, where she will soon compete alongside a Team Canada delegation.
“I’m watching a great movie unfold right in front of my eyes,” smiles Tumblers coach Stéphane McNicoll as he describes what it’s like working with an up-and-coming gymnast filled with potential.
Couture was invited to join the Canadian junior national team for the competition in Stuttgart following Elite Canada, where she placed seventh overall in the junior high-performance division and third for balance beam.
In Montreal, Couture placed 11th out of 20 as the second-youngest gymnast in the Challenge Gymnix category.
The standout results are the product of a passion that started early for the second-youngest of four sisters who all got into gymnastics.
“Since I was a kid, I’ve always had an interest for the sport,” recalls Couture. “I like the variety that gymnastics presents, where there are multiple aspects of the sport you must become good at. Being a gymnast is all about patience, but it’s also very fun.”
Couture and McNicoll were both previously based at Gatineau’s Unigym, but they didn’t start working together until their arrival at Tumblers this past September.
“She was coming from a sort of peculiar situation when I started coaching her, and so we kind of had to start her off from scratch,” McNicoll explains. “New routines, training methods and obviously a different coach.
“For most gymnasts, it would take at least two years to fully adjust to the things Sam was tasked with doing. But for her to be able to adapt nearly flawlessly in the six months or so that we’ve been working together, that is super rare.”
Both coach and athlete were surprised to be selected for the opportunity in Stuttgart. While it’s certainly a major moment in Couture’s young career, McNicoll doesn’t want her to be overwhelmed.
“We believe Samantha can perform well and has the ability to be great to eventually get herself to the Olympics,” signals McNicoll, who’s also made the trip to Germany. “But the objective has never been to put too much pressure on her. I’m here to guide her and mentor her into becoming the best she can be. The rest is up to her.”
McNicoll adds that it’s been “an absolute pleasure being a part of her journey so far.”
“It’s been incredible watching the work she has put in,” he underlines. “She’s only 13 years old, but she performs as if she’s much more experienced.”
Mackenzie Grant wants to join Team Canada next
Across town in the west end, Mackenzie Grant is also dreaming about travelling internationally for gymnastics, but at age 11, she’ll still have to wait a bit longer.
“One of Mackenzie’s biggest goals this year is to do well in nationals so she can have the chance to get selected by Gymnastics Canada for some international competitions overseas next year,” highlights Grant’s coach, Lauren Mooney.
Grant posted some sparkling results herself at Elite Canada and Gymnix in the novice division. She was consistent in each event to finish fourth all-around in B.C. – five places higher than the year before – and placed second all-around in her category in Montreal.
“It’s the biggest competition in Canada,” notes Mooney. “This was a pretty big event, as this was the first one held since COVID. It’s where a lot of Olympians go, so it was a pretty big deal for Mackenzie.”
Mooney and Grant have been working together for six years – first at Kanata Gymnosphere and now at Edge Gymnastics, a new club that was launched less than a year ago in north Kanata.
“[Edge] definitely has a lot of potential,” Mooney says. “Right now, we are basically in a temporary facility and we’re looking for a new one within the next season or two – one that will be quite large, probably around 30,000 square feet. We will be looking to designate it as a national training centre.”
While she’s not alone at the gym, Grant’s recent performances have certainly helped put Edge on the map.
“I saw a lot of potential and fire in her. Even when she was a little kid, I recall her always wanting to do extra rope climbs in the gym,” Mooney recounts. “She definitely has that really strong desire to be very good, to work hard and to keep challenging herself. […] These are character traits that I’m looking for when developing high-performance gymnasts.”
Grant’s finish at Elite Canada ensured her spot in the high-performance division for the 2024 Canadian Championships, which will take place from June 2-9 in Gatineau. Ottawa will also host the Ontario Championships this season from April 11-14 at EY Centre.
Ottawa’s Tegan Shaver of Unigym was the bronze medallist in the senior women’s vault at Elite Canada, while Ottawa native Sam Zakutney (who now represents Laval Excellence) showed he’s ready to contend for a place on Canada’s men’s artistic gymnastics team for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The 25-year-old former National Capital/Ottawa Gymnastics Centre athlete placed second in the floor standings and third on high bar.
At Gymnix, several other local athletes earned victories in their Level 9 events – TRYumph’s Annika Magneron and OGC’s Dalia Weisz, Cléante Théorêt and Alexandra Reddick.
At February’s Elite Canada rhythmic gymnastics meet in Markham, Selena Pang earned a top-10 finish in the senior division, while Kanata Rhythmic Gymnastics Club teammate Keira Agnew placed 13th in her final. Pirouette’s Portia Campbell placed 13th in novice, and Ottawa Rhythmic’s senior development group was second.
