Things are looking up for Guelph native Quinlan Perron.
The 22-year-old just competed in his second Canadian gymnastics championship last month in Richmond, BC. He qualified for two of the events in the senior 21+ division, and found some success, finishing in top spot in the vault competition with a score of 27.350.
"It was quite the experience (overall)," the John F. Ross high school grad said. "We got to compete with the guys that are on Team Canada, and they're off to the Pan Am Games right now. It was super cool to see their gymnastics and I felt I was pretty close to their level.
"It all went well, and I was honestly very surprised at how I did, but not too surprised."
The warm up, he admits, didn't go too well. But Perron said he was able to pull himself together for the attempt, while his fellow competitors cheered him on.
He's come a long way after finding the sport as a high energy kid in Guelph.
"I was doing flips and stuff everywhere, my parents were scared I was going to hurt myself, so they wanted to put me in something where I could do it and not hurt myself," Perron said.
Naturally, he also had a trampoline in his backyard, which helped him hone his craft.
Since then, he's trained out of clubs in Burlington and Oakville.
Now living in Waterloo, he trains out of Kitchener-Waterloo Gymnastics four hours a day, five days a week.
"Usually we'll do about three events in a day," Perron said. "Usually on each event, we do about three skills plus a dismount kind of thing, and we'll do a big warm up at the beginning, like a half hour warm up."
There's also a conditioning aspect for the last hour, which he said differs on the day.
It's a lot of work to put in, but the Conestoga College graduate still finds time to work in stone masonry on the side.
"Me and my mom were going to different colleges, and it was one of the few programs that interested me," he said. "I always liked doing physical work."
And while he puts the work in on his day job, Perron has eyes on the next level in his gymnastics career.
"I'd love to compete internationally," he said. "So either one day compete at worlds or the Pan Am Games or something of the sorts. That'd be great."
How about the Olympic Games?
"Potentially, yeah," he answered. "That would be the coolest thing.
"But (there is) a lot of work to do before that."
