European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships - Sofia 2014 : seniors qualifications

Today’s competition was dedicated to the Senior gymnasts; they competed today to know the qualifiers for the team final that will be held on Saturday May 24th (competition IV) and for the apparatus finals of Sunday May 25th (CIII).

Great Britain leads the qualification with the highest team total on floor, pommel horse and high bar. Russia scored the highest total of all events with a huge 46.399 on rings. They also topped vault. Ukraine was the best on parallel bars. 

Great Britain had few mistakes which is crucial to the 3-up 3-count scoring system.

Russia had some mistakes and will look to better their performance on Saturday in the team final. If they want to close the gap of almost 3 points they can't afford any mistakes.

Surprises: weak showing by German team advancing only as 7th to team final and only Hambuechen on high bar in event finals.

Strong performance by Dutch team. First time they advance to team finals. Also qualified to vault, parallel bars and high bar event finals.

Biggest surprise 2 Armenians in a very strong rings final! 

 

Some details...

Subdivision 1

The format for the seniors’ qualifications is the following one : 5 gymnasts in the team, 3 gymnasts at each apparatus and 3 scores count.

The Subdivision 1 features gymnasts from Norway, Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, Slovenia, Hungary, Austria, Ireland, Slovakia, Sweden, Iceland, The Netherlands and Serbia.

After the first subdivision The Netherlands are leading with 258.661 ahead of Hungary (243.754) and Ireland (239.225)

Deurloo (NED) leads the all-around with 85.098. Konecny (CZE) is in second, and Hidvegi in third.

Event leaders are: Wammes (NED) on floor with 14.933, Berki (HUN) on pommel horse with 15.500, Van Gelder (NED) on rings with 15.500, Schmidt (NED) on vault with 14.733, Petkovsek (SLO) on parallel bars with 15.633 and Zonderland (NED) on high bar with 15.866

 

This second subdivision is composed of the following nations: LAT, MON, FIN, POL, BEL, LTU, CRO, GEO, CYP, MKD, BUL, DEN, GRE, TUR

After the second subdivision The Netherlands still leads with 258.661. Belgium moves into second (250.829) and Finland into third (247.402).

Event leaders at this stage are: Shatilov (ISR) on floor with 15.233, Ude (CRO) on pommel horse with 15.666, Petrounias (GRE) on rings with 15.566, Schmidt (NED) on vault with 14.733, Petkovsek (SLO) on parallel bars with 15.633 and Zonderland (NED) on high bar with 15.866.

 

3rd and last subdivision:

Great Britain is first in qualification with 267.076 ahead of Russia (264.304) and Ukraine (261.277).

Advance to team final: GBR, RUS, UKR, BLR, FRA, NED, GER and ROM

Unofficial all-around winner is Verniaiev (UKR) with 88.590. Second is Likhovitsky (BLR) 86.898, third Deurloo (NED) 85.098

Floor finalists: Whitlock, Purvis, Shatilov, Belyavskiy, Kosmidis, Abliazin, Capelli and Barkalau

Pommel horse finalists: Whitlock, Ude, Berki, Bertoncelj, Kuksenkov, Verniaiev, Likhovitsky and Mikhalitsyn

Rings finalists: Abliazin, Balandin, Tovmasyan, Petrounias, Van Gelder, Vahagn, Radivilov, Ait Said

Vault finalists: Abliazin, Radivilov, Verniaiev, Schmidt, Medvedev, Tuuha, Meier and Wammes

Parallel bars finalists: Verniaiev, Berbecar, Petkovsek, Zonderland, Tsarevich, Muntean, Belyavskiy and Kuksenkov

High bar finalists: Zonderland, Hambuechen, Hegi, Schroe, Oldham, Sabot, Thomas and Semiankiv

 

To follow the competition nearly in real time with some more technical comments on these Championships we recommend you to follow us on our social networks and especially on the UEG Twitter Account.

To find all the pictures of these Championships, please visit our UEG Facebook page or the Championships’ album.

 

We will be back tomorrow for the Juniors’ all-round competition (CII) and Saturday for the Seniors’ team final and finally on Sunday for the apparatus finals of the Juniors and Seniors.

 

Text : T. Gerets – Adpat. O. Do Rosario/UEG

Photo : V. Minkus/UEG – KONECNY Martin/CZE