- 13-year-old Lauren Bradbury, a Stouffville resident and competitive gymnast, became an Ontario Champion at her level and age group on Thursday, April 11th.
- The Ontario Championships is hosting approximately 1,200 gymnasts from across the province at Ottawa’s EY Centre this week.
- Participating athletes were judged based on four gymnastic events: the vault, uneven bars, beam, and floor routine.
- Bradbury’s final score of 37.934 surpassed those of 56 other competitors in the Level 6 – Age 14 category.
- She won three competitive gymnastics events to qualify.
Bradbury’s gymnastics journey began at age two, and she was participating in competitions by age six. She now practices for twenty hours each week at Shenderey Gymnastics in Newmarket, training at Level 6/7 with plans to reach Level 7 this summer.
To qualify for the Ontario Championships, Bradbury secured first place in three competitive sessions this season: the Milton Springer Pride Classic, Whitby’s Seas the Day, and Pickering Aim’s Rainbow Classic. The averaged score from those competitions ranked her fifth overall across the province.
Bradbury, who was home recovering today after becoming the top-ranked Ontario gymnast in her class, was surprised by her success. “I worked hard all year in the gym, and was happy with all of my competitions success, but I was not expecting to get onto the podium yesterday,” she told Bullet Point News.
Following her routine, she faced a nerve wracking wait as scores were slowly processed and corrected. “Hours later, driving in the car, I found out I received the highest overall score from both Level 6 groups of my age,” Bradbury recalled. “When I saw those results, I could not believe that I was in first place.”
