Aerobic World Championships and World Age Group Competition - Portugal

Both events were held co-currently in Guimarães – a city in northern Portugal, renowned for its well preserved medieval architecture – with the World Age Competition running from May 25-27, followed by the World Championships from June 1-3.

The Australian team, led by Team Manager Pam Behan, consisted of 16 athletes, three coaches and two judges across both competitions.

World Championships

An extremely strong field converged on Guimarães for the World Championships, with Australia fielding three athletes in the Individual Women’s and Women’s Trio categories.

The Individual Women’s competition was tense throughout, with a logger-jam of tight results making it difficult to break into the top eight spots to qualify for the finals.

When all was said and done Victoria’s Olivia Feaver finished the best of the Aussies in 27^th position, with a score 18.950, closely followed by New South Wales’ (NSW) Deborah Greenbaum in 29^th, scoring 18.900. With both girls putting in consistent, high energy routines.

Olivia and Deborah were joined by NSW’s Annabel Muttdon for the Women’s Trio’s, rounding off their campaign by finishing 21^st with a score of 19.241.

World Age Group Competition

The World Age Group Competition – which is held for Junior elite-level gymnasts - is separated into two age categories, being Age Group 1 made up of athletes aged 12-14, and Age Group 2 for athletes aged 15-17. It is the premiere competition for emerging international Aerobic Gymnastics talent.

Taking part in this year’s competition were 13 girls from across the country, who all added vital international experience to their development as competitive gymnasts.

Queensland’s Annabelle Mitchell was the highest placed individual finisher for Australia in Age Group 1, achieving a respectable 24^th placing with 18.200, and Matilda Narvo from NSW scored 17.000 in Age Group 2 to top the Australian ranks in that category.

Rounding out event was the AeroDance group in Age Group 2, who came painfully close to making the finals after finishing in 9^th place with 15.950, just one place outside qualification.

Results

World Championships

Individual Women:

27^th Olivia Feaver VIC 18.950

29^th Deborah Greenbaum NSW 18.900

Trio:

21^st Olivia Feaver, Deborah Greenbaum & Annabel Muttdon 19.241

World Age Competition

Age Group 1

Individual Women:

24^th Annabelle Mitchell QLD 18.200

35^th Alex Young NSW 17.650

Trio:

16^th Annabelle Mitchell, Alex Young & Mya Ward 18.150

Age Group 2

Individual Women:

38^th Matilda Narvo NSW 17.000

43^rd Elyse Palmer WA 15.950

Trio:

31^st Elian Jabbour, Madison Swan & Matilda Rolfe-Narvo 16.675

AeroDance:

9^th Tiana Yan, Madison Rogers, Georgia Fragiadakis, Elisabeth Kidane, Casey Rogan & Taylah Woods 15.950