Former Olympian Courtney McGregor made her return to elite gymnastics in style at the XP 2025 Gymnastics Championships in Auckland, claiming the all around women’s artistic title on the opening day before comfortably taking out her specialist vault event as competition concluded on Saturday.

Having retired after a career that included appearing at the 2016 Rio Olympics as a 17-year-old and a four-year stint on the United States collegiate circuit, the 26-year-old has returned to the sport and is targeting selection for next year’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

“It’s going well,” McGregor said of her comeback.

“It has only been four months back training so it is cool to be back at a high level and competing at nationals with all the girls. It has been really fun.”

A fifth-year medical student with aspirations to be a surgeon, McGregor was one of several veteran gymnasts to demonstrate their elite pedigree by claiming national titles in Waitakere.

Now over a year removed from major shoulder surgery, 34-year-old two-time Olympian and five-time Commonwealth Games representative Misha Koudinov claimed a comfortable victory in his favoured parallel bars event, finishing well clear of fellow Aucklanders Daniel Stoddart and William Fu Allen.

Koudinov also claimed the horizontal bar title, seeing off Waikato’s Keegan Greene, with Stoddart claiming third.

“Physically I am better than pre-surgery,” Koudinov said,

“I’m really happy with the progress that I’ve made. I tested out the two pieces that I’m going to be doing at the world championships. The parallel bars was one my of highest scores yet. The high bar – I’ll be honest I’m pushing it. I’m doing things I haven’t really made in training yet. But I’ve always been like that. I like to be pushing the difficulty because for me it’s such a special, high-flying piece. The crowd love it and the athletes love it.”

Rhythmic crowd favourite Havana Hopman ended a stellar season that saw her rack up an impressive number of air miles competing on the international circuit.

The 21-year-old was one of the star attractions in Auckland, sweeping all four rhythmic disciplines to finish well clear of her nearest rival, Wellington’s Neala Wicomb.

“This was my 12th nationals and it was just after world champs, so there was no rest period just yet,” Hopman said.

“I’m really proud how it turned out. I think I reached my peak at the right time. I had my whole team here supporting me so it was good fun.”

Hopman now plans to take a holiday with her mother before refocusing on world championship and Olympic qualification.

“It’s just about getting some experience at the moment and adding difficulty to my routines.”

With Olympians Dylan Schmidt and Maddie Davidson competing overseas, the highlight of the trampoline events was the form of Gymsports Manukau pair James Dougal and Rachel Schmidt in the mixed synchronised event.

A relatively new discipline, mixed synchronised trampoline is being considered for Olympic inclusion as part of a push to include more mixed gender events.

Dougal and Schmidt saw off four teams from Canterbury to claim the national title.

Other notable performances over a three-day championship that featured over 1000 competitors across the artistic, rhythmic, trampoline and aerobics disciplines included Fu Allen’s strong showing on the floor and women’s artistic stars Jun McDonald and Alisa Wada carrying over their strong form from international competitions.

“There were some great performances across all of the disciplines,” Gymnastics New Zealand head of gymnastics David Phillips said.

“There are a number of athletes that are gunning for Commonwealth Games selection next year. In women’s artistic we saw some great performances from Jun McDonald and Alisa Wada who have both represented New Zealand at world cups and world university games and made finals. They were really strong this week.

“And William Fu Allen in the men’s artistic disciplines had a stellar day on Saturday with a great floor exercise. He’s in a strong position to gain a Commonwealth Games nomination if he keeps up that form.”

ENDS

Rights free video and still images available. The release includes competitive action, B-Roll and interviews with Courtney McGregor, Havana Hopman, Misha Koudinov and GNZ head of gymnastics David Phillips.

Full results for the event can be accessed using these links:

• Artistic (WAG & MAG)): bit.ly/ARTscores
• Rhythmic (RG): bit.ly/RGscores
• Trampoline (TRA): bit.ly/TRAscores
• Aerobics (AER): bit.ly/AERscores

For more information please contact:

Steve Deane 021 975 150

Steve@smashnz.com