Tri-City gymnasts had a strong outing in Vernon for the BC Winter Games.
And none was more successful than Clara Fretwell, as the Port Coquitlam product flipped and tumbled her way to a region-high four medals from the four-day event (March 25–29).
In total, 28 athletes from Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody and Anmore racked up 29 medals in eight different sports — 25 individual honours and four from team competition.
This included nine gold, 11 silver and nine bronze.
As well, 10 local youths won two or more pieces of hardware from the biannual contest, which was rescheduled from early 2022 due to wildfires, floods and then safety concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inside the Priest Valley Gym, Fretwell spun with skill and precision to claim gold in the uneven bars for her category.
That was one of three individual accomplishments, adding a beam silver and floor bronze to her collection from the weekend, as well as a silver from the all-around team event.
Gymnastics and archery were the sports that the Tri-Cities shined the brightest in North Okanagan, recording seven medals in each discipline.
Coquitlam archer Elizabeth Khrisanova stayed sharp all the way to winning gold in match play and two-day aggregate.
She was the only Tri-Cities athlete at the BC Winter Games to reach the top of the podium more than once.
The Fraser River region, known as Zone 4, and consisting of all of but one of the 47 participating Tri-Cities athletes, won the most medals at the games with 99 (35 gold, 37 silver and 27 bronze).
The winning athletes were as follows (in alphabetical order):
Anmore
- Aletheia Urstad, artistic gymnastics
- Silver, team competition
Coquitlam
- Elika Aghaei, judo
- Silver, team competition
- Jasmine Atkins, artistic gymnastics
- Silver, team competition
- Andrew Baker, curling
- Bronze, team competition
- Adema Bolzhobekova, judo
- Silver, team competition
- Bronze, under 48 kg women
- Ilonna Chen, figure skating
- Silver, pre-novice women
- Harper Dai, badminton
- Gold, doubles girls
- Harrison Hrynew, curling
- Bronze, team competition
- Jasper Jung, judo
- Silver, team competition
- Bronze, under 55 kg men
- Elizabeth Khrisanova, archery
- Gold, girls match play barebow
- Gold, girls two-day aggregate barebow
- Maksym Klymenko, judo
- Gold, under 50 kg men
- Silver, team competition
- Anika Kong, judo
- Silver, team competition
- Tianna Li, figure skating
- Silver, juvenile women
- Eden Liang, badminton
- Gold, doubles boys
- Dylan Santelli, archery
- Silver, girls two-day aggregate barebow
- Bronze, girls match play barebow
- Chloe Su, badminton
- Gold, doubles girls
- Matthew Yun, judo
- Gold, under 73 kg men
- Silver, team competition
- Audrey Zhang, badminton
- Bronze, singles girls
- Daniel (YuXuan) Zhang, badminton
- Silver, singles boys
Port Coquitlam
- Megan Antosh, judo
- Silver, under 44 kg women
- Silver, team competition
- Clara Fretwell, artistic gymnastics
- Gold, uneven bars (CCP 8 women)
- Silver, beam (CCP 8 women)
- Silver, team competition
- Bronze, floor (CCP 8 women)
- Luke Halmrast, curling
- Bronze, team competition
- Alina Kisselev, rhythmic gymnastics
- Gold, provincial stream individual choice
- Silver, provincial stream all around
- Silver, provincial stream individual free
- Sophia Marr, figure skating
- Bronze, juvenile women
Port Moody
- Ethan Chiu, curling
- Bronze, team competition
- Isaac Chu, archery
- Gold, boys two-day aggregate barebow
- Hannah De Carvalho, wheelchair basketball
- Bronze, mixed team competition
- Vancouver-Coastal Zone 5
- Bronze, mixed team competition
- Sam Groves, archery
- Silver, boys two-day aggregate barebow
- Bronze, boys match play barebow
