Canadians O'Neill and Hopfner-Hibbs collect silver at gymnastics World Cup
May 15, 2008TIANJIN, China - Brandon O'Neill of Edmonton and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs of Toronto each won a silver medal in Thursday's event finals at a gymnastics World Cup competition.
On men's floor, Uchimura Kohei of Japan took the gold with a 15.925 score edging O'Neill in second at 15.850. Da Silva Gael of France was third at 15.750. ONeill was the silver medallist on floor at the 2005 world championships and has three medal performances this season in the event.
''It was a very close competition," said Jeff Thomson, men's program director for Gymnastics Canada. "Brandon had a couple of landings that could have been better otherwise it was a perfect routine. The difference was Kohei was perfect on his dismounts."
Jared Walls of Edmonton was in the rings final and placed eighth at 14.650. Chen Yibing of China became the first male gymnast to post a 17 point score earning 17.000 for the gold.
In women's competition, Yang Yilin of China won the gold medal on uneven bars at 16.925 with Hopfner-Hibbs second at 15.350 and Afanasyeva Ksenia of Russia third at 15.075. Kristina Vaculik of Oshawa, Ont., was eighth at 14.075
It was Hopfner-Hibbs' third World Cup medal this season on uneven bars. She won gold last month in Slovenia and bronze at the Doha, Qatar stop.
On vault, Hopfner-Hibbs was fifth at 13.875 and Nansy Damianova of Montreal sixth at 13.850. On floor, Damianova was sixth at 14.275 and Vaculik seventh at 13.970. Vaculik was also sixth on beam at 15.000.
The opening draw for the Olympics gymnastics competition was also announced on Thursday.
In men's competition, Canada is in subdivision two with China, Russia and Japan while the women are in subdivision 1 with China and Romania.
