Athletes look to Tokyo after historic medal win in gymnastics

Female gymnasts continue to make history for Mexico.

Dafne Navarro Loza and Melissa Flores Garza won bronze medals in synchronized trampoline during the 2018 Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships.

It was the first time Mexico has won a medal at the competition.

The competition took place last week in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the medals were “a reflection of many years of work,” Flores said, adding that communication with Navarro, her partner, was key during the training process.

“[It was important] to be in communication with my partner because we were able to achieve this synchronicity despite [each] training in different places. We’ve gone to four competitions together . . . and we only train together when we are the event we’re about to compete in,” she continued.

The rest of the time, the gymnasts rely on timing their routing and studying each other’s jumps on video. Navarro is based in Guadalajara, Jalisco , while Flores is in Monterrey, Nuevo Léon.

After some time off, Navarro and Flores will return to training with the goal of being the first Mexican gymnasts to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Six world cups are scheduled for 2019, all of which will give the gymnasts the opportunity to score more points and advance.

Navarro made history on her own in St. Petersburg when she became the first Mexican to qualify for the semifinals in singles trampoline in a world cup, ranking 16th overall.

Source: Milenio (sp)