University of Minnesota Athletics – GopherSports.com

The University of Minnesota gymnastics team has added Ava Stewart to the program, the team announced Wednesday.

Stewart, who represented Team Canada at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, graduated from high school in the spring of 2023. The 2024 Paris Olympic hopeful will join the Gophers after she completes her training and potential participation in the Olympics and prior to the 2025 NCAA season.

"We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Ava to our program," head coach Jenny Hansen said. "She brings a tremendous amount of international competitive experience and incredible skill level that will make her an instant standout in the NCAA."

Stewart trains at Gemini Gymnastics and is coached by 1980 Olympic All-Around Champion Elena Davydova.

Stewart, who was born in Lebanon, Tenn., moved to Bowmanville, Ontario at the age of four. She has been competing for Team Canada since 2020 and made her international debut at the 2021 Olympic Games when she was 15. Since then she has competed at the 2022 City of Jesolo Stewart Trophy, where she helped Canada finish third in the team competition. Individually she qualified to and finished fifth in the uneven bars event final. In July of 2022, Stewart competed at the Pan American Championships where she helped Canada finish third as a team.

At this year's Canadian National Championships, she was the Bars National Champion while also finishing second in the all-around. Stewart will look to qualify to the 2023 World Championships this fall before her quest to make the 2024 Olympic Team for Canada.

"I chose Minnesota because the team felt like home, and the place felt like somewhere I could grow as a person," Stewart said.

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University of Minnesota Athletics - GopherSports.com