West Australian Daria Joura is well placed to defend her national all-around crown after an impressive display on the opening day of the Australian Gymnastics Championships at Vodafone Arena in Melbourne.

In the men’s all-around competition, Sam Offord won his first national title and in doing so became the first South Australian to win the senior men’s all-around title for 27 years.

In a see-sawing battle, Offord, 21, began strongly but lost the lead to Sam Simpson in round four after the Queenslander produced a sensational performance on vault that scored an impressive 15.950.

Offord regained the lead after the penultimate rotation, entering the final round with a slender .2 margin. His final round floor routine earning 14.100 to Simpson’s 13.250 on horizontal bar to confirm his victory.

Queensland’s Thomas Pichler finished third, reaching the podium at the senior level for the first time.

Defending champion Josh Jefferis (AIS) returned to competition after shoulder surgery but was never in contention for the title after only completing three of the six apparatus.

Offord achieved a long held dream in capturing the senior title.

“It’s always been a goal, I actually wanted to win this title in all age groups but I missed out on the under 17 title, but this makes up for that.”

“To win this title is great, but this is just the first step in being the pioneering team to qualify for the Olympics,” Offord said, in reference to the Australian men’s team goal to qualify a team for Beijing by finishing in the top 12 at the world titles in September.

Earlier in the day, Joura, 17, scored a personal best total of 60.200 in the team’s competition to lead after the first day. Rapidly improving teammate Lauren Mitchell lies in second with 58.950 with Queensland’s Commonwealth Games champion Chloe Sims and AIS teammate Melody Hernandez tied for third on 56.900.

The scores from Friday night’s apparatus finals will be added to determine the overall all-around champion. Joura’s performance, along with that of Mitchell, led Western Australia to the team’s title for the first time in more than a decade.

Joura recovered from a shaky start to her title defence. After falling on beam, her opening apparatus, she completed her routine to score 14.475, before a more polished display on floor (15.350). On her third apparatus, Joura unleashed her now not-so-secret weapon, the double twisting Yurchenko, successfully completing the move for the first time on Australian soil to score 14.950 on vault, her best ever result.

Another impressive display on uneven bars contributed another 15.325 points to her total 60-plus point’s score. The total eclipsed her all-around total of 59.875 achieved in finishing fifth at last year’s world titles in Denmark.

Mitchell, 15, announced herself as a strong contender for the world championships team with an outstanding display to be in second place with 58.950 – also a personal best.

Australian women’s head coach Peggy Liddick, was most excited by the breakthrough performance of Mitchell.

“I’m ecstatic (with Lauren’s performance) but I expected it. I watched her training in Perth a few weeks ago so knew it was coming, but you have to do it out on the podium, which she did today.”

Liddick was also pleased with Joura’s work on vault, forecasting that there was still improvement expected both Friday night and in the lead-up to the September world titles.

“We’ve been working on that vault for over a year. She has upgraded on beam tremendously, she’s only about 80% on floor right now, and she has a lot more she can do.”

“She scored a 60, which is point two more than she did at worlds last year and she hasn’t even peaked yet, so I’m really happy with her,” explained a proud Liddick.

After the competition, Liddick named the six-person team to take on China in the team competition tomorrow night. With Joura, Mitchell, Sims and Hernandez joining West Australia Olivia Vivian and Victorian Shona Morgan selected.

The 2007 Australian Gymnastics Championships continue Friday night with the completion of the women’s all-around, to be held in conjunction with the Australia versus China team competition at Vodafone Arena. 

Gymnastics Australia