Canadians soar to six gold medals at trampoline World Cup

ALBACETE, Spain — Canadian trampolinists ruled the roost at a trampoline World Cup meet on Sunday, winning six gold medals, including both the men’s and women’s individual titles in senior trampoline.

In individual trampoline Mariah Madigan of Toronto and Keegan Soehn of Red Deer, Alta., swept the men’s and women’s titles while Keevin Madigan, Mariah’s younger brother, and Lexi Geisbrecht of Calgary, earned double gold in the junior men’s and women’s double mini trampoline events.

“I came here definitely looking for gold and this will give me a big boost looking ahead to the world championships,” said Soehn, a surprise winner at this year’s Canadian championships when six-time winner Jason Burnett crashed out in the preliminaries.

“I’ve been training pretty rigorously since nationals and it showed with my performance. Winning here gives me the confidence to know that I can do well internationally.”

Geisbrecht also led the women’s junior trampoline team to a silver medal and added individual bronze to cap an impressive performance for the two-event competitor.

“I find trampoline much more stressful than double mini, so competing in both kind of balances things out for me,” said Geisbrecht. “Double mini is more relaxed so I like doing both events.”

Like most other Canadians at the meet, Geisbrecht is getting ready for the world trampoline championships this fall in Birmingham, England.

In the women’s senior double mini competition, Gillian Bruce of Calgary led Canada to team to gold and topped the field in the individual event, including her teammate and reigning world champion Corissa Boychuk of Airdrie, Alta.

“In the finals I did my passes the best I’ve ever done them,” said Bruce. “They were really, really good and winning was just a bonus.

Janelle Desmarais-Moen of Airdrie, Alta., took the silver medal and Boychuk, who is gearing up to defend her world double mini title in November, ran into trouble on her second pass and had to settle for fourth place.

In the men’s senior double mini competition, Luke Friesen of Kelowna, B.C., led Canada to team silver and placed fourth in the individual final.