Sixteen-year-old Lia-Monica Fontaine clinched a silver medal at the artistic gymnastics world championships held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Hailing from Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec, Fontaine secured the second spot in the vault event, achieving a score of 14.033 points. The gold medal was claimed by neutral athlete Angelina Melnikova, scoring 14.466 points, while American Joscelyn Roberson secured the bronze with 13.983 points.
Fontaine expressed her surprise and excitement at winning silver in her debut world championships, stating, “Coming into these worlds, like I know I’m pretty good on vault, so I was looking forward to doing the final, but I did not know that getting a medal would be possible.” Fontaine now joins Shallon Olsen as the second Canadian to win a medal in the women’s vault, following Olsen’s silver medal in 2018.
This achievement adds to Fontaine’s impressive season, marked by a successful debut at the senior level. At the 2025 Pan American Championships in June, Fontaine amassed four individual medals, including silver in the all-around and vault, gold in floor exercise, and bronze on uneven bars.
In other results from the championships, Aidan Li of Canada, a newcomer to the world stage, finished eighth in the men’s pommel horse final, while Felix Dolci placed 16th in the men’s all-around final earlier in the week. The championships will wrap up on Saturday with five more apparatus finals.
Canadian athlete Ellie Black, aged thirty, qualified in fourth place for the women’s beam final in her ninth appearance at the world championships. Black’s previous successes include a silver in the beam at the 2022 worlds, where she also contributed to Canada’s team bronze. Additionally, Black secured an all-around silver at the 2017 worlds in Montreal.