Chelmsford family sends Edmonton athlete into the air with a gift

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Thanks to his relatives from Chelmsford, Tristan Bloom, who now lives in Edmonton, was able to win medals in gymnastics for Canada at the international level last year.

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Fernande and Marcel Poulin, his maternal grandparents, and Bloom’s uncle Marc Poulin bought Bloom his first trampoline when he was about nine years old.

And since then, Bloom has literally only looked up and around.

“I fell in love with it,” says Bloom, who competes for the Phoenix Gymnastics Centre in Edmonton.

“I like jumping and overcome my fears when I do somersaults. The competitive feeling is also really fun, so it’s the perfect sport for me.”

Before he started gymnastics, he tried parkour – this mixture of running, swinging and jumping over everything.

He had already tried football, climbing and martial arts such as judo.

But something always drew him to gymnastics.

One wonders if there is something in the water?

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Angele, Tristan’s mother, originally comes from the Chelmsford-Azilda area, where Denis Vachon also lives. Vachon, world champion in trampolining and floor exercise, became Olympic coach in artistic gymnastics in 2020.

Then there was Bloom’s natural inclination towards gymnastics. He had tried out a gymnastics program in Toronto based on the Little Tots model.

Once in Edmonton, Angele had Tristan do gymnastics, first in a rhythmic program and then, after he liked it very much, in a 360-degree program in which the athletes learned to move on all the apparatus.

After two years, Bloom wanted to jump on a trampoline.

He attended an audition, was selected for the competitive program and began competing in the disciplines of double mini trampoline, trampolining and floor exercise.

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After his best season ever, he will compete as a senior next year.

He placed first in the double mini trampoline (DMT), floor exercise and trampolining at Elite Canada, which qualified him to compete in Portugal. He won the DMT and placed second in the floor exercise at the Portuguese event.

Last April he won gold in the DMT at the Pan Ams in Peru. At the national championships in Gatineau he won a full set of medals.

“I feel really good,” he says about his season. “And I feel like I can definitely achieve a lot more in the future.”

He achieved his goal of being better in his second year as a junior.

“I focused a lot on doing it well. Lots of visualization. I slept pretty well. I ate well and stayed consistent with everything.”

When he moves up to the senior class in January this year, he will utilize his more difficult skills, in some cases literally doubling the number of spins.

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It has two goals.

For next year he would like to qualify for the age group world championships in tumbling and trampolining in the double mini trampoline.

“The competition is fierce. In Canada, many seniors are currently driving Double Minis.”

Bloom competes in floor exercise events, but mostly for fun. He loves DMT, but his favorite form remains trampolining.

But this year, Canada had no male trampoliner at the 2024 Olympic Games. Sophiane Méthot was the only Canadian trampolining representative. She won bronze in the women’s trampolining event, joining stars Rosie MacLennan, Karen Cockburn and Jason Burnett – all Olympic medalists. MacLennan is the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion.

Bloom’s ultimate goal is to compete at the international level and possibly represent Canada in trampolining at the Olympic Games.

He will take his first steps on his path to the future this fall when he starts Grade 11 at Vimy Ridge Academy, the sports school he attends in Edmonton. Until the season break, he trained three hours a day, five times a week.

“I think I should definitely focus more on the trampoline here. And I’m talking to my coaches about whether I can possibly train more. Rest days are important, of course, but I think I could train more hours (a day),” he says.

To follow his flights, training and workouts, visit him on Instagram @bloombeast.

“Personal Best” runs regularly in “Star”.

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