© Ricardo Bufolin

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (July 6, 2022) – Seven individual National Team members and two groups are on the ground in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 2022 Junior and Senior Pan American Championships, which will run July 7-10 at the Parque Olimpico – Arena Carioca 1.

Olympian and reigning all-around national champion Evita Griskenas (Orland Park, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center), along with 2022 U.S. medalists Erica Foster (Chanhassen, Minn./NorthWest Rhythmic) and Alexandria Kautzman (Simi Valley, Calif./California Rhythms), will represent the U.S. in the senior individual competition. Junior all-around champion Jaelyn Chin (Aventura, Fla./Bessonova’s School) will be joined by Megan Chu (San Diego, Calif./Ingenious RG), Rin Keys (Porter Ranch, Calif./Burlo Gymnastics) and Ksenia Pototski (Brooklyn, N.Y./Isadora by Matchpoint) in the individual junior division.

After earning bronze in 2021, the Senior National Group, which trains at North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center, will debut a new Pan American Championships lineup with group members Maria Bolkhovitinova (Northfield, Ill.), Gergana Petkova (Barrington, Ill.), Katrine Sakhnov (Sammamish, Wash.), Karolina Saverino (Elk Grove Village, Ill.), Hana Starkman (Plantation, Fla.) and Emily Wilson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) set to compete. The junior group from North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center comprised of Goda Balsys (Northbrook, Ill.), Annabella Hantov (Chicago, Ill.), Kristina Lee (Woodridge, Ill.), Isabelle Novoseletsky (Highland Park, Ill.) and Kalina Trayanov (Deerfield, Ill.) will also be in action and will look to add international honors to their résumé after securing a gold-medal sweep at the 2022 USA Gymnastics Championships last month in Des Moines, Iowa.

The individual senior competition will lead off with hoop and ball Thursday. U.S. gymnasts will compete in Group B at 3:40 p.m. ET. Senior group qualifications in 5 hoops will close out the day at 6 p.m. ET.

Juniors and seniors will both be in action Friday. Individual junior competitors will show hoop and ball with Group A at 8 a.m. ET, and junior groups will perform on 5 ropes at 12:20 p.m. ET. Seniors will take on clubs and ribbon at 2:30 p.m. ET with senior groups to follow in the three ribbons and two balls category 7 p.m. ET.

Senior individual all-around, group all-around and team champions will be determined Friday based on the first two days of competition. Results will impact qualification for this year’s World Championships set to take place in September in Sofia, Bulgaria. The top-eight scorers on each apparatus, limited to two gymnasts per country, will also advance to Saturday’s senior event finals.

Juniors will kick off a full competition slate Saturday with clubs and ribbon at 8 a.m. ET. Junior groups will follow on 5 balls at 12:20 p.m. ET, and senior individual and group apparatus finals will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET.

The top-eight juniors on each apparatus, adhering to the two-gymnast-per-country limit, will also qualify to apparatus finals, which will wrap up competition Sunday, starting at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Additional details and results are available on the event’s official website. Watch live on PanAmSportsChannel.com.