Canada's Ana Padurariu soars to gymnastics World Cup silver
Simone Biles finishes well ahead of competition for all-around gold medal
Canada's Ana Padurariu used a brilliant beam performance to bring home silver at the all-around gymnastics World Cup on Sunday in Stuttgart, Germany.
Padurariu, the Whitby, Ont., native, ended the event with 55.132 points. American superstar Simone Biles won gold with 58.800 points, while Germany's Elisabeth Seitz took bronze with a score of 54.399 points.
Padurariu's day started slowly as she finished the vault portion of the competition tied for last. An impressive uneven bars performance launched the Canadian into fourth before she earned the top beam score of the day (14.333 points) to jump into second place.
To finish the competition, the 16-year-old earned the second-best floor score to solidify her silver medal.
From the mixed zone: Ana Padurariu's song in Stuttgart after she performed was "Dancing Queen," which she chose herself, because, as she explained, she loves dancing and she'll be 17 this year. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cute?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cute</a>
—@rockergymnastix"This was such an awesome experience. The crowd was amazing, the equipment was good, everything about it was such a good experience and it was just great competing out there," said Padurariu.
"The highlight today for me was floor and beam. Staying on the beam is always a plus, and I loved competing this floor routine and having so much fun out there."
Padurariu has experienced success on the beam before, winning silver at last year's world championships. The World Cup event was Padurariu's first but she said she didn't really battle nerves.
"I wasn't as nervous as I thought and I was really happy about that because I know I've worked really hard with my coaches to be able to just go out there and do what I do in training," said Padurariu.