On Sunday, March 3, Saint-Lazare's Samuel Dion helped the Sud-Ouest win its first medal on the second day of competition at the Jeux du Québec in Sherbrooke.

The young gymnast climbed to the top of the podium in the men's gymnastics vault event. "It started well, but I injured my shoulder during the rings event. I stayed focused, telling myself I was good on vault compared to the guys here. I had set myself a medal target and it turned out to be gold, so that's a bonus," says the young athlete in his second appearance with the Bleu et Vert delegation.

Teammate Lucas Drennan from Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot was also pleased with his sixth-place finish on the rings. "I scored 13 points and I'm proud of my day overall. I injured my knee two weeks ago, so I'll take anything positive. I'm happy to have done all the events," adds the man who trains at Gymini in Vaudreuil-Dorion.

Their coach Jonathan Tsambasis says his two protégés did well in the Université de Sherbrooke gym. "They gave it their all and I'm extremely proud of them. It's great preparation for the Quebec Championships in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield in May, and for the Canadians in Gatineau in June," he says.

Figure skating inspiration

Earlier in the day, former Sud-Ouest skater Maxime Deschamps provoked positive reactions by his mere presence at figure skating competitions.The 30-year-old from Vaudreuil-Dorion coaches Léana Allen from Saint-Lazare, who was performing on Sunday afternoon. He visited his protégée to offer some advice."It's fun to be back at the Games, it brings back memories and I'm proud of what Léana has done," says the man who represented the same delegation in 2001, 2003 and 2005.

Many figure skating fans were keen to take self-portraits with the sharp-bladed legend and shake hands with the man who will be taking part in the World Pairs Championships in two weeks' time, along with his partner Deanna Stellato-Dudek, a skater originally from Chicago."My coach suggested I try pairs and I fell in love with the discipline.I suggest that young people try it, try things," says the man who would like to see more boys representing the South West in the figure skating cohort."It's a cycle, and I'm convinced it'll come back soon," concludes the man aiming for gold at the Worlds in Montreal.

Mixed results

Elsewhere, in field hockey, the boys, who had started the tournament well with a 7-4 win over Lanaudière the day before, lost 5-2 to Estrie. They will therefore have to play for an 11 th place on Monday at 11 a.m. at the Complexe Sportif Thibault GM.

In ringette, the girls, who had dominated their two opponents by seven-goal margins in each game on Saturday, did the same on Sunday against Montreal, winning 7-1.However, they fell 3-1 to Bishop's University in the afternoon.They play their quarter-final match at 9:10 a.m. Monday against Rive-Sud.In wheelchair basketball, the Aigles won their first duel of the day 14-8 over Estrie, but were easily defeated 30-15 by the powerhouse Capitale nationale.Nevertheless, in this setback, the 15 points obtained represent the highest total awarded in the entire tournament by the Capitale nationale.

Finally, in badminton, a seemingly interminable day didn't produce any easy wins for the players from the South-West.They did, however, achieve their goal of improving for their next participation.On Monday, day three, we'll also be keeping an eye on the girls' performances on the gymnastics stage and wheelchair basketball in the semi-finals from 11am.