2024 maybe less then three months old, but it has already been a very good year for 13-year-old gymnast Samantha Couture.

The Tumblers Gymnastics Centre member placed seventh overall in the junior high-performance division at the Elite Canada meet in Langley, B.C. last month, which included a third place performance on beam.

She followed that up with an 11th place performance competing as the second youngest athlete in the Challenge Gymnix category at an international Gymnix meet held in Montréal earlier this month.

As a result of her performance in Langley, Couture was invited to compete at the German Gymnastics Team Challenge event in Stuttgart, Germany on March 15-17 as part of Canada’s junior women’s team and helped them place fourth overall. Canada’s senior team also placed fourth.

Although the meet is a team event with male and female teams from different countries competing against each other at the senior and junior levels, there is also an individual component where the top eight athletes on each apparatus compete for individual medals.

Couture competed on the balance beam where she placed second, earning her first international medal. Fellow Canadian Stella Letendre placed second on floor and Lia Remick finished fourth on vault and sixth on uneven bars.

It’s a remarkable achievement for Couture who only joined the Tumblers last September after several years training and competing at Unigym in Gatineau.

Couture’s coach, Stéphane McNicoll, who is also a Unigym transplant, can’t say enough about Couture’s progression since the two started working together just six short months ago. Since joining Tumblers, Couture has had to learn new routines and adapt to new training methods, all of which she has done at a truly extraordinary level.

 

Tumblers gymnast Samantha Couture wears her silver medal as she is flanked by her coach Stéphane McNicoll and fellow Tumblers WAG coach Anic Bellerose Daneault. FRED SHERWIN PHOTO

 

According to both athlete and coach, Couture was hoping a change of scenery and coaching methods would take them to the next level.

Remarkably, Couture and McNicoll only started working together after they had both joined Tumblers. It was purely serendipitous.

“Coaching Sam is not very difficult, to be honest,” says McNicoll, who feels fortunate indeed to be working with Couture. “It’s a gift. It’s like a nice Christmas present.”

Couture’s next big meet will be the Canadian senior and junior championships which will be held in Gatineau from June 3-9, where she will be hoping to improve on her 15th place overall performance at last year’s nationals. In 2022, Couture placed third overall and won the beam event competing in the novice division.