USask engineering student sets sights on Olympics

The 20-year-old University of Saskatchewan (USask) engineering student and national team gymnast from Saskatoon won double gold for Canada at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, July 23 to Aug. 2. It was Carroll’s biggest event on the international stage and his proudest moment representing his family, his province, and his country.

“Absolutely, this is the biggest competition that I have been to so far and it’s also the best I have ever performed outside of the country,” said Carroll. “So I stood up to the moment and it was pretty special. I have never been prouder to be from Saskatchewan and to be Canadian and I feel like everyone from home is so supportive and I was so proud to show them how strong our province and our country is.”

His Commonwealth Games gold medals have also further fueled his fire to qualify and compete in the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, just two years away.

“I have worked my whole life towards this,” said Carroll. “I have imagined myself competing in the Olympics and I have dreams about it. And to see that become a reality would be pretty special.”

For Carroll, winning two gold medals was the culmination of years of dedication in the gym, and his introduction to major international competition after winning gold at the 2023 Canada Summer Games. Carroll began this year’s Commonwealth Games by helping Canada’s gymnasts finish first in the team competition on July 24. He followed that up by winning gold on pommel horse on July 27 with a superb score of 15.000. Carroll combined a 9.000 execution score with the highest difficulty score of 6.000 out of all the competitors, to help Canada win its first Commonwealth Games men’s team gymnastics gold medal in two decades.

“The Commonwealth Games are huge and it has a lot of fans and is televised, and I did what I had to do and brought home two golds, so it was awesome,” he said.

Carroll carried on the family tradition of competing at the highest level, following his sister Sydney, a USask education student who was part of the Canadian artistic swim team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. His mother Mary also won Commonwealth Games gold in diving in 1990, while his father Steve won a gold medal at the Canada Summer Games in 1985, with both now coaching Canadian Olympians with the Saskatoon Diving Club.

Following in the family footsteps made the moment even more memorable for Carroll.

“Knowing my family was watching made it even more special, one hundred per cent,” he said. “I think the biggest motivator for me is my sister. When she was going to the Olympics, I said I want to do that to. I want to succeed in sport, I want to win gold medals, and I want to go to the Olympics like her. So she is probably my biggest motivator.”

Watching Jordan win double gold was also a proud moment for the Carroll family.

“My daughter (Sydney) and I had a watch party together at home in front of the TV while my husband (Steve) was in Glasgow cheering the team,” said his mother Mary, who also competed for Canada in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. “After his routine in the team event, I was so full of pride for him. He had done his job, day one, hit your routine for the team. Check mission accomplished!

“The apparatus final was his added bonus. After his individual event, our house got pretty loud with non-stop cheering. After his score, it was even louder. I was and still am bursting with joy! Absolutely loved watching Jordan perform at his best, and watching him cheer on the competition. A proud and special moment for sure.”

As he prepares to enter his second year of studies at USask, focused on electrical engineering, Carroll balances a busy class schedule with training six days a week in the gym, as well as time away travelling for major competitions. He points to his coach and to his professors for their help in allowing him to successfully juggle athletics and academics.

“I couldn’t do it without my coach, and I have the most flexible training schedule of anyone I know,” Carroll said. “If I call him and say I have an assignment or I have to go to a class, can I come to the gym three hours late, he says no worries. Also, some of the professors are very helpful too, with extending assignments or moving dates and I couldn’t do this without their support, too.”

With the fall semester just weeks away, Carroll is also preparing for the next step on the road to the Olympics, with the national team trials scheduled for September 10 in Montreal, followed by the 2026 world artistic gymnastics championships in the Netherlands from Oct. 17-25 when Canada will try to qualify for the 2028 L.A. Olympics.

“I have been wanting this since I was a kid, and it is looking good, but I have to keep working hard and keep pushing myself,” he said. “The first thing that we need to do is qualify as a team for the Olympics and then I need to produce a certain score (on pommel horse) to help the team. But this has been my dream for a long time. It’s everything I have been working for and I can’t wait.”