Highlights of #AeroPesaro2021

Hosting a marathon of 3 European Gymnastics events in a row, the VitriFrigo Arena in Pesaro first welcomed over 300 gymnasts from 22 countries for the Aerobics Europeans. Both juniors and seniors battled for continental glory in Individual Men, Individual Women, Mixed Pairs, Trios and Groups with a Team title awarded to the country performing the best over all these categories.

Here are some of our most remarkable moments … in no particular order!

 

Dazzling Darina

Third at the 2019 Europeans and second at the World Championships in June, Bulgaria’s Darina Pashova qualified in 1^st place to the Individual Women final where she set the standard early on, posting 21.700. 2015 junior European Champion Teodora Cucu (ROU) came close, just 1 tenth short. Last up, Tatyana Konakova (RUS) scored 21.650, enough to overtake Cucu, but not enough to reach Pashova’s height.

The return of the Master

Absent from the Individual men’s competition for several years, 2017 European Champion and 2016 and 2018 Vice-World Champion Daniel Bali made an overwhelming return at these Europeans. The Hungarian topped the qualification round and performed fabulously in the final, scoring a huge 22.700. Only defending European Champion Roman Semenov (RUS) put up a challenge. His 22.550 secured the silver medal ahead of Pesaro crowd favourite Davide Nacci (ITA).

Bulgaria’s mixed pairs success

First, juniors Hristo Manolov and Borislava Ivanova took advantage of their top qualifying position, earning the mixed pairs title for Bulgaria. Then, seniors Ana-Maria Stoilova and Antonio Papazov held off defending Champions Fanni Mazacs and Daniel Bali for their first European title. Bulgaria’s mixed pairs success is guaranteed for the future.

Romania rules the groups

Romania, the defending European and reigning World Champion, excelled in the group final. Gabriel Bocser, Teodora Cucu, David Gavrilovici, Mihai Popa and Daniel Tavoc scored 22.533 to surpass top qualifiers Italy. Hungary, to the tunes of the popular Tetris game, added the bronze to their collection.

The unbeatable trio

Bulgaria’s gold rush wasn’t over yet! World Champions Darina Pashova, Antonio Papazov and Tihomir Barotev confirmed they are the ones to beat with a superb exercise in the trio final. With a score of 22.827, they were simply in a league of their own. Romanian trio Teodora Cucu, Daniel Tavoc and David Gavrilovici beat the Russian trio Aleksei Germanov, Petr Perminov and Anton Kolobov by just 0.033 for the silver medal.

Junior starlets to watch

In the junior Individual Women final, two rising stars emerged. France’s Maelys Lenclos added her personal style, performing a gorgeous ballet-inspired routine to clinch the title while top qualifier Lola Lawrence (GBR) burst with energy taking the silver medal.

History written for the host nation

Traditionally an excellent Aerobics nation, hosts Italy excelled during senior qualifications, topping the Groups, ranking second in Individual Men, Mixed Pairs and Trios and tying for third in Aero Dance. This combined effort resulted in them clinching the European team title! Italy’s success story continued with Andrea Colnago easily winning the junior Individual Men’s title. 4 more medals, 1 silver and 3 bronze, followed!

Aero Dance battle

The Russian men were eager to regain their Aero Dance title after losing it to Azerbaijan in 2019. With a cool basketball themed routine, Russia scored 18.100, only to be tied with Hungary. As Hungary posted the better execution score, they returned home with the gold medal. Romania edged Italy for the bronze.

Shooting stars Miquel Mane and Teodora Cucu

Crowned junior European Champion in the individual women category back in 2015, Teodora Cucu had injuries which required surgery and forced her to quit Aerobics. However, her passion for the sport remained and three years later, when she turned 18, she decided to have another go, training under head coach Maria Fumea. Last May she competed at the World Championships in Baku where she placed 4^th individually and returned home with a complete set of medals: gold with the group, silver with the team and bronze with the trio. Here in Pesaro, Cucu collected another set: gold with the group, silver with the trio and the team and bronze individually.

Spain’s Miquel Mane is a true rising star in the aerobics community. At just 18 years old, he’s already won the World title in individual men.  Coming from Calafell in Catalonia, Mane rose through the ranks of the Age Group Competitions, winning the 2018 World title and placing second at the 2019 junior Europeans. Known for his creativity, Mane participated in the 2019 edition of the Spanish TV show ‘Got talent Espana’ with the aim of promoting the sport: “I came here so people could discover my sport and to try and get it into the Olympic programme.”  In Pesaro, Mane finished fourth individually and fifth with the group.  

Grazie Pesaro, Grazie Italia! The VitriFrigo Arena provided an excellent home for Aerobics this week!