Dedication pays off for Samantha Harvitsidis with gold at Australian aerobic gymnastics championships

A DONCASTER teen is taking the aerobic gymnastics world by storm after winning her event at the Australian championships in May.

Samantha Haravitsidis performing at the national championships in May.

A DONCASTER teen is taking the aerobic gymnastics world by storm after winning her event at the Australian championships in May.

Samantha Haravitsidis represented Victoria at the three-day competition in Bendigo, where she competed in the level 6 senior individual category.

To make her way to the championships, Haravitsidis won two state trials, notching a qualifying score to earn her spot on the Victorian team.

The national championships saw her come up against the 10 best athletes for her category from around Australia.

The competition was broken into a preliminary round and then a final performance, with the top eight from the preliminary round winning through to the finals.

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Haravitsidis finished second after the preliminary competition, easily earning her spot in the finals where she delivered her gold medal-winning performance.

The Ivanhoe Grammar School student juggles her year 12 studies with a training regimen that includes a minimum commitment of about 10 hours a week.

Haravitsidis said she usually felt nervous before a performance but at the championships she endured an anxious few seconds to see her score.

“After I performed the butterflies swelled up in my stomach as I waited for my score to pop up on the screen to see where I placed,” she said.

Haravitsidis said emotion got the better of her when she found out she had won.

“All the long drives to Mulgrave and Port Melbourne, the early 6am starts, and training day in day out had paid off,” she said.

“I’ve been competing in aerobic gymnastics for the past seven years and have only made the Victorian state team on four occasions.

“At previous nationals, the highest I have placed was third and therefore to have won the level 6 senior individual category was a massive achievement.”

Haravitsidis said she was grateful to her coaches at the Advantage Gym Sports Aerobics Club.

Samantha Haravitsidis is a 2018 Leader Local Sports Star junior nominee. CLICK HERE to nominate someone in your community. Local Sports Stars is supported by Sportsmart and Gold 104.3.