© Ricardo Bufolin

BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 6, 2022 – U.S. acrobats posted top-five finishes in the 13-19-year-old mixed pair and women’s pair finals to close out the 2022 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Age Group Competitions Sunday at the Milli Gimnastika Arenasi in Baku, Azerbaijan. The California-based duo of Jaylen Ivey and Amaya Rogers (WestCoast Training Center) punched their tickets to the 13-19 mixed pair final Saturday, while qualifications for the 13-19 women’s group and women’s pair competitions concluded Sunday ahead of their respective finals.

Ivey and Rogers finished fifth with a 26.720, while Israel’s Yonatan Fridman and Amy Refaeli topped the podium with a 29.400. The Israeli duo outpaced runners up Luis Ferreira and Beatriz Mota of Poland (27.950) by nearly one and a half points. Artemii Petrovskii and Alina Vasilevskaia of the Russian Olympic Committee (27.680) took third.

The U.S. pair of Willow Rose Noble and Sydney Padios (Moreno Valley, Calif./Realis Gymnastics Academy) edged teammates Mo Arthur of Rolla, Mo., and Ariana Katsov of Owensville, Mo., (Mid America Acro Tumbling) by one-hundredth of a point (52.650-52.640) during qualifications to secure their spot in the 13-19 women’s pair final. They finished fifth with a 26.660. The Russian Olympic Committee’s Iuliia Litvinkova and Varvara Roguleva (28.140), Israel’s Rony Cohen and Maya Velner (27.760) and Kazakhstan’s Anzhelika Boboshko and Valeriya Muravkina (27.440) rounded out the women’s pair podium. Only one group or pair may advance to a division final.

The trio of Gia Calo and Sarah Wilson of Annapolis, Md., and Grace Wright of Harwood, Md., (International Elite) scored a 24.450 in the balance exercise during Sunday’s 13-19 women’s group qualifications. They finished 18th overall with a 50.940. In the final, Azerbaijan’s Leyla Bashirova, Nazrin Farmanova and Mansuma Mammadzada led the way with a 28.930. Groups from Belgium (28.650) and the Russian Olympic Committee (28.400) were second and third, respectively.