INDIANAPOLIS, June 11, 2021 – The Senior Pan American Championships continue this weekend with the rhythmic and trampoline & tumbling competitions June 11-13 at the Parque Olimpico – Arena Carioca in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Senior Pan American Championships serve as the continental championships for North and South America.
Rhythmic Senior National Team members Lennox Hopkins-Wilkins of Puyallup, Wash./Evergreen Rhythmics, Alexandria Kautzman of Westlake Village, Calif./California Rhythms and Victoria Kobelev of Ormond Beach, Fla./Rhythmic Art will represent the U.S. in the individual competition. The Senior National Group – which consists of Isabelle Conner of Manhattan Beach, Calif./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center, Camilla Feeley of Wheeling, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center, Yelyzaveta Merenzon of Buffalo Grove, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center, Lili Mizuno of Northbrook, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center, Elizaveta Pletneva of Wheeling, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center and Nicole Sladkov of Vernon Hills, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center – will also be in action with an opportunity to qualify a U.S. spot in the rhythmic group competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
The Senior Pan American Championships will award team, all-around and event medals for individual rhythmic gymnastics, and all-around and event medals for group gymnastics. The all-around competition and qualification for apparatus finals will take place June 11-12. Event finals will be held June 13.
U.S. men’s trampolinists are also set to compete and will be led by National Team members Cody Gesuelli of Huntsville, Ala./Merino Trampoline Gymnastics Academy, Jeffrey Gluckstein of Atlantic Highlands, N.J./Elite Trampoline Academy and Ruben Padilla of Bluffdale, Utah/Wasatch Trampoline & Tumbling. Padilla will also compete in the 17-21 Age Group division alongside U.S. teammates Changa Anderson of Washington, D.C./Silver Stars Gymnastics, Zachary Ramacci of St. John, Ind./TwistStars Tumbling & Trampoline and Jace Williams of Cave Creek, Ariz./North Valley Gymnastics. Gesuelli and Padilla are set to compete in the senior men’s synchronized trampoline competition.
If a U.S. senior men’s trampolinist wins gold this weekend, he will secure a country quota spot for the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games. Additionally, gymnasts competing in the 17-21 Age Group division have an opportunity to qualify up to two spots for the 2021 Junior Pan American Games, which will be held in Cali, Columbia later this year.
Qualifying for senior men’s trampoline will take place June 11, followed by qualifying for the 17-21-year-old division June 12. Senior men’s finals will also take place June 12 with finals for 17-21 Age Group athletes slated for June 13. Synchro qualification and finals are set for June 13.
Prior to their departure for Brazil, U.S. trampolinists held a training session at World Champions Centre in Spring, Texas to prepare for the event.