Hugh Smith and Jillian Langille impress hometown Halifax crowd at 2016 Elite Canada Competition

Gymnastics Canada Release - HALIFAX, NS (February 6, 2016) – Hugh Smith from the Halifax Alta Gymnastics Club used the energy of the hometown crowd to his advantage Saturday night at the Elite Canada competition in artistic gymnastics to win two gold medals in the apparatus finals.

After a fourth place finish in the senior men’s all-around competition on Friday, Smith took gold in the floor event with a score of 14.200, and on vault with a score of 14.950. He also finished second on rings with a score of 13.950.

“It was so nice to compete at home with so many of our club teammates and families here so it was great to be home and I’m happy with my performance for sure,” said Smith following the awards ceremony. “My family had never seen me compete in gymnastics so it was awesome to have them here and it just gave them that extra boost I needed, I couldn’t let them down.”

Also winning gold medals in the senior men’s apparatus finals were Thierry Pellerin from Gymnamic’s club on the pommel horse with a score of 14.200, René Cournoyer from Gimnika on rings with a score of 14.150, Samuel Zakutney from the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre on parallel bars with a score of 15.050, and Scott Nabata from the Kamloops Gymnastics Trampoline Centre on high bar with a score of 13.250.

In the junior men’s apparatus finals, the newly crowned 2016 Elite Canada junior men’s all-around champion Anthony Tawfik from Futures Gymnastics, continued to pile-up the hardware winning gold on the pommel horse with a score of 13.600, rings with a score of 14.050, and parallel bars with a score of 13.700. He also finished second in the floor event with a score of 13.200. But with all his success, Tawfik knows that there’s still more work to be done to reach his goals.

“I’m feeling really great, but I know that there’s still work that I have to put in. There’s still a lot to do in the gym getting more skills and becoming more consistent,” he said. “I’d like to use all of this and all of my determination and hard work and be able to go to the Olympics – it’s been a big dream of mine so I’m going to keep pushing and working hard and hopefully I can make it there.”

Ryan Oehrlein from Gold Medal Gymnastics also won a gold medal on the vault with a score of 13.900, and on floor with a score of 13.450. William Émard from Laval Excellence took the gold on the high bar with a score of 13.550.

The novice women’s competition also wrapped up Saturday with Leah Tindale of Manjak’s Gymnastics taking the all-around title with a total score of 107.150. Jillian Langille of TAISO Gymnastics (Lower Sackville, NS) finished second with a total score of 106.475, and Rachel Grenko from the Ortona Gymnastics club finished third with a total score of 106.350.

Competition wraps-up Sunday with apparatus finals for the senior and junior women starting at 11:00 AST.

For full results, please visit: http://www.sportzsoft.com/meet/meetWeb.dll/MeetResults?MeetId=377