Sam Zakutney

Biography

Sam Zakutney finished third in the all-around competition at the 2024 Canadian Championships, securing his spot on Canada’s first Olympic men’s artistic gymnastics team since 2008. 

In May 2023, he ruptured his left pectoralis major muscle while performing an iron cross on the rings just before the start of competition at the 2023 Pan Am Championships in Colombia. The injury required reattachment surgery and five months of rehab. He returned to full fitness just a few months before the 2024 Canadian Championships. The injury was particularly tough as he had only recently returned to all-around competition after rupturing his ACL and sustaining multiple tears in the meniscus of his right knee in August 2021. 

In April 2024, after returning to full fitness, Zakutney was back in Colombia and competing at the 2024 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships in Cali, from which he came home with a silver medal from the team event, gold on horizontal bar, and bronze on floor exercise.

Zakutney competed at the 2022 FIG World Artistic Gymnastics Championships where he finished in the top-30 in the world on his best two apparatus – the parallel bars (23rd) and the horizontal bar (26th). He helped Canada to a 10th place finish in the team event. 

In 2019, he was crowned the senior all-around champion at the Canadian Championships, where he also won gold on vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar, as well as a silver on floor exercise. At the 2019 Pan American Games, he helped the team to a bronze medal and finished just off the podium in fourth in the horizontal bar final.

Zakutney made his world championship debut in 2018 in Doha, Qatar. Earlier in 2018, he won his first individual international medal at the FIG World Challenge Cup in Mersin, Turkey, capturing silver on the horizontal bar. He also finished sixth in the parallel bar final.

While competing collegiately for Penn State University, Zakutney was a four-time NCAA All-American, 2019 Big Ten champion on parallel bars, a finalist for college gynmnastics’ highest honour – the Nissen-Emery Award – in 2020, and the Big Ten freshman of the year for 2017. 

A Little More About Sam

Getting into the Sport: Started in gymnastics at age 5 and began competing provincially at age 8… Outside Interests: Enjoys going on bike rides, playing disc golf, and going to the beach when not competing…  Completed a double bachelor’s degree in biomedical and mechanical engineering at Pennsylvania State University in the fall of 2020… Plans to pursue a career in medical instrumentation, specifically in the cardiovascular domain, once he retires… Odds and Ends: Collects competition pins and trades team gear with other competitors… Father Tim was a member of Canada’s bronze medal-winning team at the 2000 World Ultimate Frisbee Championships… Sister Alexandra played volleyball for the University of Wisconsin…