Haven Swarts went to Kamloops to conquer the Canada Cup, and certainly did so over the weekend.
The local pint-sized, power tumbler captured junior women’s gold at the 2015 Canada Cup.
“I went to the Canada Cup prepared and wanting to win,” Swarts said. “Although I didn’t do exactly what I wanted to do, I pushed through some passes and managed to come out first.”
Swarts had two qualifying passes, with scores of 24.400 and 25.800, with a degree of difficulty of 4.5. Those scores gave her the best qualifying scores.
On her first pass in the finals, the Simcoe Composite School student scored a 27.000, with a degree of difficulty of 4.3, giving her the best score of the event. She followed that up with a 26.700, and 4.1 degree of difficulty.
Her total of 123.300, beat Burlington’s Devon Haimes, who ended up in second place with 120.800, with Alexandra Jubenville, of Winstars Gymnastics Training Centre earning the bronze.
“My coaches were very proud of me from the weekend,” Swarts said. “My expectations we’re huge for this weekend and getting first was exactly what I wanted.”
Despite the solid effort, Swarts, who trains at the Oakville Gymnastics Club, said there’s always room for improvement.
“I didn’t exactly do the passes I planned, so my goals are to go back and get them all ready for nationals,” Swarts said. “I had tons of fun there also. I got to climb a huge mountain, so that was cool.
The weekend not only got Swarts another gold medal, it also qualified her for the World Age Group Championships in Denmark, which will take place in December.
So with a spot on Team Canada already clinched in the middle of the tumbling season, Swarts said it’ll be all about preparing for the provincials and nationals.
“It was also a world trial, which means I had to hit a certain score at this competition to qualify for worlds,” Swarts said. “It was great that I did it because now I don’t have to worry about qualifying during nationals in Alberta.
“Now I can perform better because I’m not under so much stress.”
Norfolk News