SOFIA, BUL (November 12, 2017) – Sophiane Méthot of La Prairie, QC achieved the best score of her career on Sunday at the 2017 FIG Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships to take the bronze medal in the women’s individual trampoline finals.
Méthot, who qualified in 14th place for Sunday morning’s top-24 semi-final, scored 54.720 points to advance to the event final in the eighth and final position. In the final, Méthot was the first gymnast to compete and stuck her routine to achieve her best score of the Championships, scoring 55.490 points including the highest execution score of the final at 17.000.
“My goal for today’s competition was to finish in the top-15, so to qualify for finals and finish third was unexpected but I’m so happy,” said Méthot, who took home a gold medal in the 17-18 age group from the 2015 World Age Group Competitions. “I don’t think I could have done better, it was my personal best performance on the world stage so I’m really pleased with the results. My goal now is to go home and work hard to improve my routines and work on getting more height to improve overall.”
The bronze medal was the highlight to a very successful first World Championships for Méthot who also finished in fifth place in the synchronized and team trampoline events.
“It’s really great, I don’t even know what to say, it’s just incredible,” said Méthot’s coach Karina Kosko. “This was beyond our expectations, we were hoping she would make the semi-finals and maybe advance to the finals but for her to make the podium is very exciting.
Canadian teammate and World Championship veteran Samantha Smith of Toronto, ON finished 16th overall in the women’s trampoline semi-final with 53.270 points.
“The bronze medal from Sophiane Méthot here in Sofia is a nice surprise. It reminds me of the first medal won at a World Championships from Rosie MacLennan 10 years ago,” said Gymnastics Canada’s high performance director for trampoline gymnastics, Stéphan Duchesne. “Sophiane entered the finals and had a personal best result to put pressure on the rest of the field. This is the result of a great effort from her coaching staff, including the Institut National des Sports in Montreal, with the support provided by Own The Podium.”
Canada’s top age group athletes in trampoline gymnastics are now set to descend on Sofia with the World Age Group Competitions running from November 16th to 19th.
For full World Championships results and a detailed schedule, click here.