European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships - Sofia/BUL : kick off of the competition

These 30th European Championships started today with the competition I - qualifications - of the juniors.

The competition this afternoon finished revealing the final result for the team ranking, representing at the same time the qualifications for the all-round competition (CII) that will take place on Friday May 16th and the apparatus finals (CIII) foreseen for Sunday May 18th.

 

Hungary won Subdivison I

The Hungarian juniors were the stars of the first subdivision at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships, winning by more than 11 points and standing out particularly on uneven bars.

Zsofia Kovacs, representing Hungary, currently leads the all-around with consistent performances across all four events. Her teammate, Boglarka Devai, is second with a particularly strong performance on the vault in the first rotation. Casey Bell of Ireland is third.

Ireland did well on floor exercise and vault, but simple routines on uneven bars saw them falling behind.

The Irish coaches said that they were very happy with their gymnasts' performances, particulary on vault and floor. One Irish athlete was injured on floor exercise in the first rotation, but it is believed to be minor.

The Irish also said that were very happy with the organization of these championships and that they thought the UEG and the organizational committee were doing a great job.

 

Belgium Takes the Lead, Vasilyeva Captivates on Floor Exercise

Belgium has taken the lead in the junior team competition as well as the top three spots in the all-around after the second subdivision. Belgian national champion Axelle Klinckaert is first, with Rune Hermans second and Nina Derwael third. However, only two gymnasts per country can qualify to the all-around final. The Belgians had their best performances on vault and floor exercise and finished their competition with a solid beam rotation.

Bulgaria also competed in the second subdivision. They started strong with a good vault performance, but could have been better on uneven bars and balance beam. In the final rotation they had a great competition on floor exercise. Elizabet Vasilyeva was the final gymnast on floor, and her spectacular performance captivated the entire audience.

Swedish gymnasts and sisters Ellen and Emmy Haavisto also had a good competition, scoring well on uneven bars and floor exercise in particular.

After subdivision 2 Belgium leads with 160.029 ahead of Hungary (151.296) and Spain (144.754). Finland, Norway, Belarus, Bulgaria and Israel round up the top 8

 

Switzerland Second after Subdivision 3

The Swiss juniors shone in the third subdivision today. They had a good first three rotations on floor exercise, vault and uneven bars, but lost concentration on the balance beam, where they recorded three falls.

In the end, it was not enough to catch Belgium, who remains in first place with Switzerland in second. Giada Grisetti is fourth in the all-around behind three Belgians; her teammate Anja Schwartz is just behind in fifth.

In addition, Schwartz and Grisetti have managed to capture the top two spots respectively on uneven bars for after three subdivisions.

 

Gold to Russia, Great Britain Wins First-Ever Team Medal

The top five teams of the junior women's competition were all in the fourth subdivision. Russia won the gold by a fairly wide margin of more than three points (168.262), but the race for the silver was down to the wire. In the end, Great Britain took second (165.005) over Romania by .033 (164.972).

Places 4 to 8 go to Germany, Italy, Belgium, France and Switzerland

Junior all-around qualification: Melnikova leads with 56.699 ahead of teammate Tutkhalyan 56.332 and Jurca 55.641.

junior all-around places 4 to 8: Downie, Lyons, Alt, His and Bondareva

Russia was led by junior national champion Angelina Melnikova and runner-up Seda Tutkhalyan, who grabbed the same spots in the all-around qualification. Their strong vaults were key to Russia's win. Melnikova also had the highest uneven bars score of the day, while Tutkhalyan was third on the floor exercise.

Great Britain started off fantastically on the floor exercise, then continued their momentum with an amazing rotation on the vault. They made a few mistakes on uneven bars and weren't perfect on beam, but they managed to hold on and win silver in the end. It is the first team medal for British Gymnastics at a junior European championship. Elissa Downie and Catherine Lyons both qualified to the all-around final in fourth and fifth places respectively. Downie was first on the vault.

Laura Jurca led Romania's third-place team effort, qualifying third to the all-around and to three event finals. Andreea Iridon also performed well for Romania; despite a mistakes she will be in the all-around, balance beam and floor exercise finals.

Germany, led by Tabea Alt, finished fourth, while Italy was fifth.

 

Text : official website of the event - www.sofiagymnastics2014.com - Adapt. O. Do Rosario/UEG

Photo: V. Minkus/UEG