The Canadians who competed in Beijing were exempted from this meet. But it was still entertaining. We’ve been waiting for this super-talented and exciting gymnast to win it all for some time. He’s a crowd pleaser.
From Gymblog’s Blythe Lawrence on IG:
After a year-long absence, Nathan Gafuik made a strong return to national competition by winning the senior men’s all-around at Elite Canada, held Saturday night in Abbotsford, B.C.
Although he competed at the 2007 World Championships and the recent Olympic test event in Beijing, Gafuik spent most of the past year recovering from injury. He missed both the 2007 Canadian Championships and the 2006 Elite Canada competition.
Gafuik, who totaled 89.900 to Ikeda’s 88.250, placed no lower than third on any event during the second night of competition. The 22-year-old from the University of Calgary turned in the highest scores of the meet Saturday night on vault (16.100), high bar (14.900) and floor exercise (15.550), and placed first on parallel bars with a combined score of 29.700.
Ken Ikeda, an Abbotsford native, placed second all-around, first on pommel horse and second on parallel bars and high bar.
Gafuik, the alternate to the 2004 Olympic team, is optimistic about the team’s chances in 2008 — if the gymnasts are healthy. At the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart, veterans Kyle Shewfelt and Adam Wong missed the competition because of injuries.
“For me and a lot of other team members it’s about getting healthy,” Gafuik said. “We’re hoping for big things, and I can only hope we compete well.”
The Canadian men placed 11th in Stuttgart to qualify a full team to the 2008 Olympics. Ikeda said that while the team was pleased with the result, it hopes to qualify for team finals in Beijing, as it did at the 2006 World Championships.
“We didn’t do as well as we were hoping we’d do [at the 2007 Worlds], but I think it works out better that way,” Ikeda said. “Hopefully by Beijing we’ll have everyone back in top form and surprise everyone again.” …
Senior Men’s All-Around
1. Nathan Gafuik (Univ. of Calgary, AB) 89.900
2. Ken Ikeda (Twisters, BC) 88.250
3. Hugh Smith (H. Alta, NS) 84.400
4. Patrick McElroy (Univ. of Calgary, AB) 83.400
5. Matt Albrecht (Oakville, ON) 81.240
6. Matthew Beller (Univ. of Calgary, AB) 80.450read the rest of this article … International GYMNAST Magazine Online
Photos of the competition by Grace Chiu & Patricia Sayer are posted on GraceClick.ca
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