CALGARY, Alberta – California men's gymnastics alumnus Aidan Li and rising sophomore Matteo Bardana found themselves in familiar territory Friday night, finishing off the Canadian Championships with a bang as they posted standout performances at the University of Calgary's Olympic Oval to climb the podium a combined four times.
 
Li, the reigning NCAA pommel horse runner-up and Elite Canada champion, retained his 2024 Canadian title with the best performance of his career (14.700), a .334-point improvement from Session I and one full point above the night's No. 2 performance from Elite Canada all-around champion Elel Baker (13.700). The Ottawa, Ontario, native finished with a two-day total of 29.066 – 1.5 points ahead of fellow Senior National Team member Jayson Rampersand (27.566).
 
Bardana, who won four titles at Elite Canada, was named the Senior Next Gen parallel bars champion after posting a score of 12.633, which, combined with his Session I score of 12.266, gave him a winning total of 24.899. He also reached the podium on floor (12.600 Session II, 26.166 total) and rings (12.500 Session II, 24.400 total), earning bronze in each, while also recording improvements on vault (12.500 to 12.600), high bar (11.733 to 11.933) and all-around (74.131 to 74.232).
 
Save for any potential national team assignments for Li or Bardana, Cal's next gymnast to compete this summer will be Theodor Roald Gadderud, who represented Norway at the European Championships earlier this week and is now training for the Norwegian Championships on June 14-15.
 
STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Cal men's gymnastics, please follow the Bears on X/Twitter (@CalMGym), Instagram (@CalMGym), Facebook (@Cal Men's Gymnastics) and TikTok (@CalMGym).