Today was the last day of competition at the 2006 Pan American Championships held in Monterrey, Mexico. The finals saw victories from Canadians Karen Cockburn and Jason Burnett. These two gold medals for Team Canada echoed the two gold medals won by Canadians Sarah Charles and Bryan Milonja two years ago at the 2004 Pan American Championships held in Tampa Bay (USA).
In the men's, Jason Burnett (CAN - pictured on the left) stepped up his difficulty to 15.40 pts and delivered the cleanest routine of the final. He captured the 2006 Pan American Champion title with a score of 38.90 pts. It is a new very good performance for Burnett in 2006 after his bronze medals at the Krasnodar World Cup and and at the Pacific Alliance Championship as well as his 2006 Canadian Champion title. Burnett's main rival in Monterrey, Chris Estrada (USA), who was competing right after Burnett, finished 0.20 pts short of Burnett. The 2-time U.S. Championm, who was also a finalist at the 2006 Krasnodar World Cup, took the silver medal in Monterrey with 38.70 pts (15.60 pt tariff). Ryan Weston (USA) took the bronze medal with 36.70 pts (15.10 pt tariff). Rafael Andrade (BRA) was 4th with 36.10 pts, despite a lower tariff than most of his rivals (13.50 pts). Martin Myers (CAN) finished 5th. Adrian Salas (MEX), Dario Arias (ARG), and Rodrigo Lima (BRA) could not successfully complete their routines in the final.
In the women's, former World Champion and 2-time Olympic medalist Karen Cockburn (CAN) triumphed with a comfortable margin. She took the 2006 Pan American Champion title with a 14.10 pt tariff that scored 37.30 pts. It is a new great performance for Cockburn this year after her medals at the Ghent World Cup, Krasnodar World Cup, and Pacific Alliance Championship, as well as her 2006 Canadian Champion title. Brittany Dircks (USA - pictured on the right), the 2006 U.S. nationals silver medalist, took a new silver medal in Monterrey. Dircks performed a nice routine that scored 35.70 pts (12.90 pt tariff). Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN), who had the lead after the preliminaries and was thus competing last in the final, struggled in her routine (13.80 pt tariff). She finished with 35.50 pts due to below average execution marks. MacLennan nonetheless finished with the bronze medal. Amanda Bailey (USA) finished 4th with 34.90 pts (12.20 pt tariff). Jovana Matheus (BRA) was in 5th place with 33.60 pts (11.20 pt tariff). Maria Fernanda Reynaud (MEX), Viviana Ramirez (MEX), and Veronica Lorenza (ARG) followed.
The men's youth final saw the triumph of Philip Barbaro (CAN), who trains with Karen Cockburn and Jason Burnett under the orders of coach Dave Ross at the Skyriders Trampoline Place near Toronto. Barbaro won with a significant margin thanks to superior difficulty (14.40 pt tariff). He took the gold medal with a score of 36.40 pts. Philip Devine (USA) took the silver medal with 34.70 pts (11.80 pt tariff). Kyle Soehn (CAN) was 3rd with 33.20 pts (13.10 pt tariff) due to below average execution marks. Vinicius Oliveira (BRA) and Rodrigo Pacheco (BRA) did well, finishing respectively 4th and 5th with 33.00 pt s (12.20 pt tariff) and 32.80 pts.
As expected, the women's youth final saw an easy victory for 14-year-old Nani Vercruyssen (USA - pictured on the left), the only gold medal for the U.S. at these Pan American Championships. Vercruyssen performed a tariff substantially higher (13.20 pts) than her rivals. She finished with 34.50 pts. Kailey McLeod (CAN) took the silver medal with 32.80 pts, whereas Dakota Earnest (USA) finished 3rd with 31.80 pts. Joana Perez (BRA) was only 0.10 pts behind Earnest as she finished 4th. Samantha Sendel (CAN) struggled with her routine (12.20 pt tariff), and her disappointing execution marks compromised her chances to win a medal. She finished 5th with 30.70 pts.
Thanks to Stephan Duchesne, T&T High Performance Director with the Canadian Gymnastics Federation for sending us the detailed results and the pictures of the event.
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