Canadian wins silver at gymnastics World Cup

Canada's Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs completed a very successful European trip with a silver-medal performance on balance beam on Saturday at a World Cup gymnastics competition in Glasgow.

Lyudmila Grebenkova of Russia won the gold medal earning 15.475 points to edge Hopfner-Hibbs, who received a 15.300 score from the judges.Dariya Zgoba of Ukraine was third at 15.200.

''It's exciting to be consistently in the medals at this level but the most important things are the points I've earned towards a potential Olympic selection,'' said Hopfner-Hibbs, 18, of Toronto.

''In my routine I was most proud that I did two aerial layouts successfully and stuck my dismount.''

Hopfner-Hibbs' coach Carol-Angela Orchard said it was one of her pupil's best international performances.

''I would say this was a better performance than when she won bronze at the worlds [in 2006],'' said Orchard.

''I liked the way she attacked and transferred that energy for a strong performance. She's also one of the few gymnasts that combine artistry and athleticism in her beam routine and the judges like that.''

Earlier Saturday, Hopfner-Hibbs placed sixth in the uneven bars final.Steliana Nistor of Romania won the gold medal at 15.200, Zgoba was second at 15.050 and Krystina Palesova of the Czech Republic placed third at 15.000.

Hopfner-Hibbs hit her foot on the bar executing one of her maneuvres and was sixth at 14.425.

Hopfner-Hibbs won an historic bronze medal for Canada on beam at the 2006 world championships and has continued to shine internationally this year.

On this European trip, she won gold on uneven bars and was third all around at the Arthur Gander Memorial in Switzerland.At the Internationaux de France earlier this season she was third on beam and uneven bars and placed fourth all around at the American Cup.

Nansy Damionova of Montreal also made twofinals Saturday, placingeighth in both floor and vault.