Rosannagh MacLennan trains at the Skyriders Trampoline Club in Richmond Hill. (Photo by Peter Power/The Globe and Mail)pmpPeter Power/The Globe and Mail
Canada's Karen Cockburn and Rosannagh MacLennan have earned their first medal at the world trampoline and tumbling championships, and they have a good shot at adding to their haul before the weekend is over.
Cockburn and MacLennan teamed with fellow Toronto native Samantha Smith to win bronze in the women's team trampoline event Friday. China finished first and Great Britain second.
MacLennan and Cockburn will also be going for gold on Saturday in the synchro competition, while both have a chance at another medal Sunday in the individual finals.
MacLennan and Cockburn each earned a berth at the 2012 Olympics by qualifying for the individual finals.
In other events Friday, reigning women's world double mini trampoline champion Corissa Boychuk of Airdrie, Alta., took the first step towards defending her title placing first in the qualification round.
"I'm relieved," Boychuk said. "I was very nervous because I am not as well prepared as I was last year."
Boychuk also led teammates Gillian Bruce of Calgary, Chelsea Nerpio of Richmond, B.C., and Mariah Madigan of Toronto into the team final on Sunday, qualifying third behind Portugal and Russia.
On the men's side Canada qualified fourth for the double mini team final while veteran Denis Vachon of Burlington, Ont., and world championship rookie Keegan Soehn of Red Deer, Alta., advanced to the eight-man individual final.
Vachon, in his first appearance at a world championship since 2007 after coming out of retirement this year, qualified seventh and Soehn eighth in a field of 33 competitors.
Canadian double mini champion Alex Seifert placed 13th and Jonathon Schwaiger of Calgary finished 32nd.
In tumbling, perennial Canadian champion Emily Smith of Burlington, Ont., qualified fifth for the women's individual final, setting up another chance to win her first world championship medal.
No Canadians reached the individual final in men's tumbling, but Seifert, Schwaiger, Vincent Lavoie and Jocelyn Charpentier-Leclerc, both of Drummondville, Que., squeaked into the team final.