Two Bronze for Shewfelt at World Cup

COTTBUS, Germany—Kyle Shewfelt of Calgary won the bronze medal on men’s floor Saturday at a World Cup gymnastics competition.

In the gold medal final, Evgeni Sapronenko of Latvia scored a 9.412 to defeat Jordan Jotchev of Bulgaria who posted a 9.000. Shewfelt, seventh in the preliminary round, scored a 9.337 for the third best score in the first part of the final. The top-two in the first part of the final then playoff again for the gold.

Jotchev cameback to win the rings gold while Marius Urzica of Romania was the victor on pommel horse for the second straight year at this event.

The other two men’s finals are on Sunday. Shewfelt qualified fourth for the vault final while David Kikuchi of Halifax qualified sixth in parallel bars.

Kikuchi had been expected to qualify on rings (he was 14th at the 2001 World Championships), but did not receive credit for one of his strength skills, resulting in a low start value and a 12th place finish. This is the first World Cup event for Kikuchi.

Shewfelt, 19, was ranked eighth on floor during the 2000 World Cup season in which he also competed at the Sydney Olympics and placed an impressive 12th.

Canada's Kyle Shewfelt continues to demonstrate his world class caliber on Vault taking his second Bronze medal from this world Cup in Cottbus. With a 9.413, Kyle narrowly missed the silver medal which went to Ioan Silvio Suciu of Romania who scored 9.444 in the first final. The Gold was won by 2001 World Championship Bronze Medallist Charles Leon Tomayo of Cuba. David Kikuchi was 8th on Parallel Bars.

On both his vaults in the final, Shewfelt was unable to land them perfectly taking a step forward each time. He missed a berth in the super final and an opportunity to go for gold by a mere 0.031 points.

"Kyle’s been competing against the top guys in the worlds the past couple of years and he showed this weekend that he fits in," said Shewfelt’s coach Kelly Manjak of Calgary. "Actually he was a bit disappointed because he didn’t quite stick the vaults. He’s a perfectionist."

On parallel bars, Yann Cucherat of France was the winner with triple world championship medallist Ivan Ivankov of Russia second and double Olympic medallist Jordan Jovtchev of Bulgaria third. David Kikuchi of Halifax, in his World Cup debut, placed eighth.

Shewfelt, 19, was ranked eighth on floor during the 2000 World Cup season in which he also competed at the Sydney Olympics and placed an impressive 12th.

The next World Cup event is in October in Paris.