YAOUNDÉ, CAMEROON — Team South Africa has delivered a commanding performance at the 19th African Artistic Gymnastics Championships, securing multiple podium finishes and crucial World Championship qualifications in a historic week for the sport on the continent.
Hosted in Yaoundé, the continental showpiece marks a special milestone as Cameroon welcomes a major international gymnastics competition for the first time. The event carries profound significance for the host nation, which has spent the past eight years developing its international program with limited resources. Thanks to this week’s championships, Cameroon has acquired state-of-the-art equipment that will leave a lasting legacy for its athletes in the years to come.
With the stakes higher than ever, the first round of competition served as the team final, the individual all-around final, and the direct qualifier for the World Championships set to take place this autumn in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Under the current international qualification system, African nations were fighting for just one Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) team spot and five individual all-around berths.
South African Olympian Caitlin Rooskrantz led the charge for the national squad in the Women’s All-Around competition, capturing the silver medal with a formidable overall score of 50.266. She was joined at the top of the leaderboard by the dynamic sister duo of Naveen and Zelme Daries, who secured impressive fourth and fifth-place finishes, respectively. Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour claimed the all-around gold, while her compatriot Djenna Laroui took home the bronze.
These stellar individual performances propelled the South African women’s squad to a silver medal in the overall WAG team standings. Algeria claimed the team gold and the sole continental team ticket to Rotterdam, while Egypt rounded out the podium with the bronze.
While Team South Africa narrowly missed out on the coveted team qualification for the World Championships, their dominance in the individual standings ensured they will still be heavily represented in the Netherlands. South Africa remarkably placed three athletes in the continental top five, Rooskrantz, Naveen Daries, and Zelme Daries. Both Rooskrantz and Naveen have successfully booked their automatic individual tickets to the World Championships, while official confirmation is still pending on whether Zelme will join them, awaiting final clarification on international per-country quota limits.
For Rooskrantz, the podium finish and World Championship qualification serve as the latest powerful indicators of her steady return to top form following her post-Olympic injury comeback. Her evolution into a seasoned, highly composed competitor has been evident on the floor. Reflecting on her journey during her return to the global stage last year, she noted, “My confidence and style have changed a lot. I’ve proved what I’m capable of, and that translates into my gymnastics now.”
This measured confidence is central to her long-term strategy. Rather than rushing her sights toward the next Olympic cycle, Rooskrantz has built her comeback around specific, intentional milestones. “My biggest goal for now is the Commonwealth Games and the trials leading up to it,” she explained recently. “That’s where my focus is, one step at a time.” Her dominant silver-medal performance in Yaoundé proves she is hitting those crucial checkpoints exactly as planned.
In the Men’s Artistic Gymnastics (MAG) division, the South African team also showcased their continental pedigree, fighting their way to a hard-earned bronze medal. Egypt claimed the men’s team gold, with Algeria taking the silver.
With the team and all-around events concluded, the championships will now transition into the highly anticipated individual apparatus finals on Saturday and Sunday. The weekend sessions will see the continent’s best gymnasts go head-to-head as they vie to be crowned individual African champions across the respective apparatuses.
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