Buoyed by Félix Dolci’s seventh-place standing in the all-around event of artistic gymnastics, Canada placed third in Olympic men’s gymnastics qualifying in the first of three subdivisions Saturday in Paris.
The 22-year-old’s best disciplines for placing were the floor exercise and horizontal bar in which he was fifth, scoring over 14 points in each.
Last October, Dolci was the first Canadian to win Pan Am artistic gymnastics gold since Wilhelm Weiler in 1963.
Dolci made an impact at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, earning silver in the team event and floor exercise while placing fourth in individual all-around.
A year earlier, he brought home vault silver and bronze in team, all-around and floor from the Pan Am Championships.
In 2018, Dolci represented Canada at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he was the first Canadian to win a gymnastics medal (silver in rings).
The following year, he became the most decorated athlete in Canada Games history in 2018, compiling 11 medals over two appearances.
WATCH | Dolci collects individual all-around Pan Am gold in 2023:
Félix Dolci of Laval, Que., captured the Artist Gymnastics all-around gold medal Monday at the Pan Am Games in Chile.
Canada had two other athletes crack the top 10 in all-around, with René Cournoyer of Repentigny, Que., ninth (80.798) and Samuel Zakutney 10th (79.698) behind Dolci (81.498) at Bercy Arena.
Great Britain surged to an early lead with a team total of 256.561 to finish ahead of the United States.
The Americans, who finished third at the 2023 world championships ahead of Great Britain, dealt with issues on high bar and pommel horse to finish second at 253.229.
Canada was third with 247.794 points, highlighted by a 42.699 performance on parallel bars.
The U.S. arrived in Paris believing it had a legitimate chance to medal in the team competition for the first time since earning a bronze in Beijing 16 years ago.
There is work to be done after the British put on a largely mistake-free clinic across six rotations. Jake Jarman (84.897) and Joe Fraser (84.666) posted the top all-around scores and six-time Olympic medalist Max Whitlock provided a jolt with an electric pommel horse routine â his signature event â that left the 31-year-old looking relieved.
Whitlock’s 15.166 trailed only American Stephen Nedoroscik, a specialist whose 15.200 likely earned him a spot in the event finals and gave his teammates some early momentum.
Qualifying continues later Saturday, with longtime rivals and gold medal favourites Japan and China competing in the second of three subdivisions. The top eight team finishers advance to the team finals on Monday.
Source Agencies
