Trio of Regina gymnasts get gold at Pan Am Championships, sights set on worlds

A trio of young Regina gymnasts are hoping to springboard onto the world stage after a gold-medal performance in Puerto Rico.

Katie Thompson, Maegan Kasian and Jerusha Weekes have only been a team for a little over a year, but they recently participated at the Pan American Acrobatic Gymnastics Championships in Carolina, Puerto Rico from Nov. 14-16, where they won gold for Canada.

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“It was really cool to compete internationally for the first time as the national team, because we haven’t done that before,” said Thompson, 21, at Amazing Adventure, where they train. “Seeing all the other countries there, it was really cool to see what they do with their routines.”

Thompson has worked closely with Weekes for four years, but Kasian is a new addition to the team.

The 20-year-old Kasian admitted it was a surprise to make it to the championships, given how fresh the group is to working with each other.

“It was my first year with this partnership, so I came in with not-very-high expectations and I didn’t really know what to expect, and then it was just hitting one goal after another after another to make it to Pan Ams,” Kasian said.

Weekes is the youngest of the trio at just 15, and got to experience what it was that level of competition was like for the first time.

“It was scary and stressful, but it was a really cool experience to do,” Weekes said. “It was really cool to be able to train with the whole team and get to travel and get to know them and be able to represent in that competition.”

Katie Thompson, Maegan Kasian, and Jerusha Weekes performed at the Pan American Championships in November. (Danni Roy/Submitted)

“It was really exciting,” Thompson added. “We were happy with all the prep we did and what we put on the floor, so having the gold medal after was definitely a good moment for us.”

In order to get to the Pan American Games, the trio had to put together scores at the national championships in June and then at a trial in August.

“We were really excited at nationals, because we made a lot of personal bests for our scores for each routine we did, so we were pretty excited after every routine we did, hitting the scores and then getting new best results,” Thompson said.

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Kasian said a competition in Kelowna helped motivate the team to improve.

“It wasn’t our best, and it put a fire under us to get it together and start working hard toward that goal,” Kasian said.

The Pan American Games marked the first time the three gymnasts participated in competition as a part of the national team.

“Normally we just go as ourselves and (with) our club, so we got to compete with all of Team Canada and get to train with them and get to know them, so that experience was really cool,” Thompson said. “Competing at an international event with all the best judges in the world was a cool experience for us.”

“It’s an honour to be able to represent Canada,” Kasian said. “We have been seeing the bigger clubs from Ontario represent Canada for years and years. It’s really exciting as a smaller province to be able to get to that level as well.”

Thompson said it had always been her goal to wear the maple leaf at a major event.

“I didn’t know it would ever be possible or we would ever achieve it or we would ever get to compete for Team Canada, so it was exciting that we were given that opportunity,” Thompson said.

Danni Roy has been coaching gymnastics for 18 years, and stepped up last year to coach the group.

“Our senior trio was left without a coach, and they were looking for someone to help them out for the season and I was able to do that for them,” Roy said.

Roy said it was amazing to see the three young athletes get a chance to participate as part of Team Canada.

“Their goal has been national team for so long, so it was really great to see them do that,” Roy said. “It was really rewarding, because they have put in so much work for this, so it was nice to see that pay off for them.”

Now, the three have their sights set on reaching the world championships in Italy in September.

“It would be so cool,” Thompson said. “That’s the ultimate goal: for us to be able to go to the world championships as national team members.”