Australia and Canada crowned new national champions this week. Daria Joura won Australia’s all-around title Friday and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs won Canada’s all-around Thursday. Joura performed solidly on Day 1 of the all-around competition, scoring 57.775 and notching three first place finishes in individual events (vault, beam, floor). Second after Day 1, Naomi Russell was the top finisher on Day 2 with a 56.750. Russell could not top Joura’s 113.250 total (which included a meet-high 14.925 on floor exercise) and finished with the all-around silver medal. Georgia Bonora finished third. Hayley Wright and Olivia Vivian rounded out the top five, respectively. World all-around bronze medalist Monette Russo did not compete in the championships. Hopfner-Hibbs unveiled a new balance beam routine en route to the Canadian national championship. Seventh at last year’s championships, Hopfner-Hibbs’ 60.000 was nearly three points higher than silver medalist Gael Mackie. Nansy Damianova finished third and Alyssa Brown of Gymnastics Mississauga finished fourth. |