Led by Kelowna’s Danielle Gruber, Canada won the gold medal in the women’s double mini trampoline team event on Saturday at the 2015 trampoline gymnastics world championships in Odense, Denmark.
Gruber, 17, recorded the highest score among all competitors in the five-team final, with the Canadians claiming the top spot on the podium with 103.900 points. Great Britain took silver with 103.400 points and the United States claimed the bronze with 103.00.
Other members of the Canadian team were Arden Oh of Calgary, Tamara O’Brien of Coquitlam and Karine Dufour of Laval, Que.
“I was having trouble landing my pass on my feet in the warm up, but it ended up working out,” said Gruber, who on Sunday finished seventh among the eight finalists in the women’s individual DMT competition on Sunday.
A member of the Okanagan Gymnastics Centre, Gruber finished second among the 29 competitors after the individual preliminaries with a score of 69.300. The leader was Andreia Robalo of Portugal with 69.300 points, while Lina Sjoeberg of Sweden is third going into Sunday’s final with 69.000 points. Erin Jaunch of the United States went on to take the gold in Sunday's finals.
Gruber, a Grade 12 Kelowna Secondary School student, went into the her first senior world championships with a modest goal of finishing in the top 10 in the double mini competition and “gaining experience.”
The youngest member of the Canadian team, Gruber has competed in three world age group championships, placing second in 2013, fifth in 2011 and ninth in 2014.
She is coached by Jamie Gardener of the OGC and Rusty Pierce of Flip City in Langley, who is also Team Canada’s DMT coach.
Joining Gruber at the world championships is Kelowna’s Trevor Stirling, also a member of the OGC. The UBC Okanagan student, competing at senior worlds for the first time, placed 85th among 123 competitors in the senior men’s individual trampoline.
The 20-year-old is also coached by Gardener, while he too travels to the Lower Mainland to train with Curt DeWolff of the Shasta Trampoline Club in New Westminster.
Meanwhile, three OGC members are in Odense preparing for the world age group trampoline and tumbling championships next week.
Adele Lefevre, another KSS student, will compete for Canada on the double mini in the 17/18-year-old category on Dec. 4, while Emily Welsh will compete on Dec. 6 in the 15/16-year-old synchro trampoline event.
They’ll be joined by OGC teammate Jordyn Yendley, who will compete in the 13/14-year-old synchro competition (Dec. 6). She will also take part in the individual trampoline event on Dec. 4 and the double mini on Dec. 6.
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