Abbotsford gymnasts shined at the 2020 BC Winter Games in Fort St. John over the weekend.
Locals gymnastics athletes cleaned up, collecting three individual gold medals, three individual silver medals, four individual bronze medals and one team gold medal.
Abbotsford’s Hayden Isfeld took home four individual medals at the event, winning gold in the L3 men’s pommel horse, silver in the all-around male and bronze in both the men’s high bars and the vault. Isfeld and Abbotsford’s Jonathon Ko also won gold in the L3 men’s team division.
Ko matched Isfeld with four medals, winning gold in the L3 men’s high bars, silver in the men’s rings and bronzes in the men’s pommel horse and for all-around male. Abbotsford’s Emily Phillips also won gold in the JO8 women’s beam. Vienna Howes added a silver in the JO7 women’s beam.
Outside of the gymnastics competition, Abbotsford judo athletes also had a great weekend. Locals collected one gold, two silver and two bronze.
Nathan Thiel won gold in the men’s under 34 kilogram division, while Jordyn McRory (women under 44 kg) and Katrina Da Silva (women under 57 kg) earned silver. Lola Paller (women under 52 kg) and Asher Fershau (men over 73 kg) both won bronze.
The only other individual medal was won by Jasmine Archie, who took home bronze in the girls two day aggregate barebow archery competition. She also narrowly missed out on a medal in the girls match play barebow archery event, placing fourth.
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In team action, Abbotsford’s Izzabelle Tsang was part of the Fraser Valley’s bronze medal winning girls karate team. Also taking home bronze as part of a team was Brook Aleksic, who helped the Fraser Valley girls curling team finish third.
The Fraser Valley zone, which consists of athletes from Abbotsford, Agassiz, Aldergrove, Chilliwack, Clayburn, Harrison, Hope, Langley, Maple Ridge, Mission and Pitt Meadows earned a total of 10 gold, 12 silver and 22 bronze for a total of 44 medals and finished sixth out of the eight zones at the Games.
The event saw over 1,000 athletes compete in 15 sports. During the closing ceremonies of the Games on Sunday, the BC Games flag was passed to Mike Keenan, president of the Maple Ridge 2020 BC Summer Games that will take place July 23 to 26.