Vancouver gymnast wins her first international title

With a soaring effort performing a vault that few gymnasts attempt, Jordan Chiles launched herself to the most significant result of her career.

On March 19 in Jesolo, Italy, the Prairie High School freshman won the all-around title in the junior competition at the City of Jesolo Trophy meet. It was her first international title in her third international meet as a member of the United States junior national team.

“My coaches have said this will really help me having this meet to remember when I compete in the future,” Chiles said.

She was briefly back at Naydenov Gymnastics last week before heading to another national team camp Wednesday through Monday at the USA Gymnastics training center near Houston.

Chiles is too young to compete for a spot in the Rio Olympics this year. She turns 15 on April 15 and in 2017 will be eligible to start competing at the senior level.

Because this is an Olympic year, the main focus for USA Gymnastics is its senior gymnasts. The United States is not sending a junior team to the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Champiionships, which will take place April 8-10 in Everett, so Chiles will not be competing there.

Her performance in Italy came on the heels of competing in Montreal, where she won the vault to help the United States to the Junior Cup team gold at the Gymnix International Meet.

The March 5 meet in Montreal was the first time she performed her vault, known as an Amanar, in a major competition.

“It helped me a lot,” she said of starting the competition with that vault. “After that I just felt relieved.”

She followed with scores of 14.10 on the uneven parallel bars, 14.30 on the balance beam and 14.10 on her floor exercise.

“After my last tumbling pass on floor I almost started crying,” Chiles said. ” I felt very emotional because I knew I had done it. And it’s been a while since I’ve been on an international assignment.”

Chiles was the only gymnast at the Jesolo meet to qualify for all four individual event finals. The day after her all-around triumph, she won the vault with a 15.75. She also placed third that day on the bars.

“In Italy, it couldn’t have gone any better,” Bakacs said. “I was so happy.”