A New Westminster-born gymnast has guaranteed the city at least one medal from the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
Sydney Turner claimed bronze with Canada's national women's artistic gymnastics squad on Sunday, Oct. 22.
The 18-year-old was so consistent in all four disciplines of the team competition - vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise - that all her scores were used to get the red and white to the podium.
Turner was on a five-person team that faced off against eight other countries. Canada finished third with a combined score of 154.230 behind the United States (165.196) and Brazil (161.564).
In each event, the top four athletes' scores from each nation were used towards their final tally.
Turner did not win any of the contests, but rallied to impressive point totals without a single penalty to help Canada get one of its first medals in artistic gymnastics.
The University of Iowa NCAA Div. I commit's best finish was second in floor exercise among her teammates with a score of 12.500, good enough for 11th individually out of 48 athletes.
Turner's other results were as follows:
- Vault = 12.966 (fourth among Canadian teammates)
- Balance beam = 12.633 (third among Canadian teammates)
- Uneven bars = 11.000 (fourth amnong Canadian teammates)
Her performances this past weekend may likely help make her case to land an official spot with Canada's Olympic team bound for Paris in summer 2024.
Turner helped the Canadians qualify after winning a team bronze medal — the first in program history — at the 2022 world championships in England last November.
Turner is currently based in Port Coquitlam representing TAG Gymnastics for club events.
Last month, she was named the 2023 high performance athlete of the year by Gymnastics BC.
She's one of five New West athletes in Chile at the Pan American Games alongside field hockey midfielder Brenden Bissett, hammer-thrower Kaila Butler, rugby sevens player Caroline Crossley and long-distance runner Addy Townsend.
