Sixteen-year-old Lia-Monica Fontaine secured a silver medal at the artistic gymnastics world championships held in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Friday. Hailing from Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec, Fontaine clinched the second spot in the vault event, scoring 14.033 points. The gold medal was claimed by neutral athlete Angelina Melnikova with 14.466 points, while American Joscelyn Roberson took home the bronze with a score of 13.983.
Expressing her surprise and joy at winning silver in her debut world championships, Fontaine mentioned, “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’s achievement marks her as only the second Canadian to secure a medal in the women’s vault, following Shallon Olsen’s silver win in 2018.
Fontaine’s recent success adds to her impressive track record in the sport. Competing at the senior level for the first time this year, she amassed four individual medals at the 2025 Pan American Championships in June. These included a silver in the all-around and vault, a gold in floor exercise, and a bronze on uneven bars.
In another event today, Aidan Li of Canada, also a newcomer to the world championships, finished eighth in the men’s pommel horse final. Earlier this week, Felix Dolci placed 16th in the men’s all-around final. The championships will draw to a close on Saturday with five more apparatus finals.
Ellie Black, a 30-year-old Canadian, secured the fourth spot in the women’s beam final in her ninth appearance at the world championships. Black previously won silver in the beam at the 2022 worlds and contributed to Canada’s team bronze. She also achieved an all-around silver at the 2017 worlds in Montreal.