UPDATE: Lauren Mitchell is out and will be replaced by Georgia Wheeler who compete all 4 events and Jenny Pinches is also out and will be replaced with Niamh Rippin competing vault, beam and floor. Other changes: Halina Ivanets and Elsa Garcia are not competing, Jiang Tong has been added to the Chinese team (vault).
This is the 10 - 11 April and it actually looks like there is going to be some competition! Some of the most notable entries are below:
Lauren Mitchell - Bars, Beam and Floor
Larissa Miller - Bars
Emily Little - Vault, Beam, Floor
Halina Ivanets - All 4 Events
Bruna Leal - All 4 Events
Dominique Pegg - All 4 Events
Brittany Rogers - All 4 Events
Wu Liufang - Bars, Beam
He Kexin - Bars, Floor
Huang Quishuang - Vault, Beam, Floor
Ana Maria Izurieta - Bars, Floor
Youna Dufournet - Vault, Bars, Beam
Marine Brevet - Floor
Pauline Morel - Bars, Beam, Floor
Becky Downie - Bars, Beam
Jenny Pinches - Vault, Beam, Floor
Beth Tweddle - Bars, Floor
Valeriya Maksiuta - Vault, Beam
Elsa Garcia - All 4 Events
Ramilya Musina - Vault, Beam, Floor
Aliya Mustafina - Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor
Adela Sajn - Beam, Floor
Luisa Galuilina - Bars, Beam, Floor
Jessica Lopez - All 4 Events
There are some interesting new Seniors competing:
Wu Liufang who won Beam and Floor at the Doha World Cup last weekend, unfortunately she is not set to compete on floor but she will still be one of the favourites:
Jenny Pinches - She is one the of the new hopes for Team GB and is coached by Amanda Kirby the same coach as Beth Tweddle. I hope she can be competitive at Worlds this year so it will be interesting to see how she does here. She has 2 good vaults as long as she hits, a nicely presented floor routine with some upgraded tumbles and big skills on beam if she puts them in.
Aliya Mustafina- She is replacing Anna Dementyeva who was supposed to compete. She is stogon all 4 events and my favourite of hers is floor:
Emily Little - She is powerful gymnast and has a big chance of making the vault final and perhaps medalling depending on what her 2nd vault is.
Apart from the new senors against the older seniors there will also be some other interesting battles including He Kexin vs Beth Tweddle who are both competing on bars and floor, as well as Larissa Miller who will be looking for medals on bars. Lauren Mitchell, Huang Qiushuang and Youna Dufournet will be fighting with new seniors for medals on beam. And finally the vault competition will have a lot of young talent including Youna Dufournet, Brittany Rogers, Dominique Pegg and Ramilya Musina.
Friday 26 March 2010
Thursday 25 March 2010
Doha Videos Day 2
A few videos of the floor final are up on youtube. I really like Wu Liufangs floor routine, her choreography and performance really suprised me. She just needs to upgrade her tumbling but she has shown she can perform under pressure winning both the Beam (14.700) and Floor (13.975) finals.
Huang Qiushuang won the silver medal on floor (13.850) but fell apart on beam scoring only a 12.600. I think she is one of those gymnasts who cannot perfrom consistently under pressure as was the case last year at Nationals which I think is why she was left off the worlds team. I hope she improves or I think she won't be given a chance at bigger meets when the Chinese have other gymnast who have proven to perform under pressure. Her floor routine was nicely performed but lacked difficulty.
Goksu Uctas from Turkey won the bronze on floor (13.700) which was the first World cup medal for a Turkish woman. She actually had the highest difficulty on floor (5.4) with a tucked full in, double pike, double tuck and 1 1/2+front layout full. I'm happy to see different nations starting to come through in the International scene as it can only improve the sport.
Huang Qiushuang won the silver medal on floor (13.850) but fell apart on beam scoring only a 12.600. I think she is one of those gymnasts who cannot perfrom consistently under pressure as was the case last year at Nationals which I think is why she was left off the worlds team. I hope she improves or I think she won't be given a chance at bigger meets when the Chinese have other gymnast who have proven to perform under pressure. Her floor routine was nicely performed but lacked difficulty.
Goksu Uctas from Turkey won the bronze on floor (13.700) which was the first World cup medal for a Turkish woman. She actually had the highest difficulty on floor (5.4) with a tucked full in, double pike, double tuck and 1 1/2+front layout full. I'm happy to see different nations starting to come through in the International scene as it can only improve the sport.
Tuesday 23 March 2010
Doha Videos
There are 2 videos on Noursalehgym's youtube account of Wu Liufang and Huang Quishuang's bar routines. Both look really good and if they can perform under pressure they should take the top 2 medals in finals and hopefully move onto bigger things. They were close in qualification with Quishuang scoring 15.250 just beating Liufang with 15.025. Liufang also qualified 1st on beam (14.525) and 6th on floor (12.950). Quishuang was 1st on floor (13.575) and 4th on beam (13.325). Jennifer Khwela from South Africa qualified in 1st on vault (13.700). Overall I thought the scores on Vault and Floor were particularly low with no score over 14.00.
Wu Liufang Bars Qualification:
Huang Quishuang Bars Qualification:
Wu Liufang Bars Qualification:
Huang Quishuang Bars Qualification:
Saturday 20 March 2010
GBR - ROM - GER Friendly
This weekend there us a friendly in the UK and today was the senior competition. They had a 5 day training camp before the competition which was used to prepare for the European Championships. Results of the Team Competition:
1. Romania 221.850
2. Great Britain 221.600
I'm glad to see the British Seniors showing their potential finally and I hope they are this close to the Romanians at Euros this year. Germany only had 3 Seniors competing as Marie-Sophie Hindermann sustained a slight injury during Fridays training. Results of the AA:
1. Diana Chelaru 56.800
2. Ana Porgras 56.050
3. Niamh Rippin 54.650
4. Raluca Haidu 54.300
5. Elisabeth Seitz 54.100
6. Amelia Racea 54.000
Beth earned the highest scores on Bars (15.700) and Floor (15.050).! Her bars was much better than at the English Championships, she hit all of her difficulty, I saw a few short handstands and pirouettes but she ended with a stuckj full in dismount. Her floor was good, she added a split jump after her double pike arabian and her leaps are definetely improved from last year.
Becky Downie competed and seems in better shape than at the english. Don't think she did all around though there are videos o her yurchenko 1 1/2 with nice form and
Jenny Pinches competed her Handspring tuck 1 1/2 on vault that she slipped on at the British Champs last year and it looked good, hopefully we will see it at Europeans. She had trouble on floor with her whip to double arabian pass which she sat down but she successfully landed her 1 1/2 to 3/1.
Ana Porgras looks ok I'm sure she will improve further before the Europeans. She is still performing a yurchenko full but it was very well done with stuck landing. She had trouble on bars where she fell on her jeager and took a big step on her double layout dsmount. On beam she perfored fre walkover+sheep jump, flick+flic+layout 2 feet, a very nice switch ring, free cartwheel, split change+tuck back, full spin in split, side somi and flicks to a double pike dismount (chest low). Overall the routine seemed easy for her and she is definetely heading for more medals on beam this year. Her floor has not been upgraded (full in, 2 1/2+front layout, dbl tuck, dbl pike) and I think lacks a little difficulty (I would like to see a triple twist) but she definetely makes up for it with her artistry!
Amelia Racea - I liked her floor lively music with a nice mix of leaps and tumbles including full in, triple twist, 2 1/2+front tuck and double pike. On beam she had a new intersting combination of free cartwheel+tuck back as well as free walkover+flick+pike back, split change+side somi and double tuck dismount. Definietely a big improvement on form for these 2 pieces.
Diana Chelaru - She looks like her form is bette nd she mus have improved as she won the AA with 56.800. Beam was solid with a tucked full, free walkover+tuck back and dbl tuck dismount. Nothing really exciting though and choreography was average.
Cerasela Patrascu competed afer being injured for 2 years,she looks like shes getting there but she still has a little way to go. Beam was good, she missed a few connections but she did have a nice yang bo and split change+side somi connection.
Raluca Haidu - I love this gymnast and hope she does wel this year. There are not many videos of her from this weekend but on beam she had some cute choreography with improved form and an excellent double pike dismount.
Niamh Rippin best of GB in the all around showed a impressive floor routine including a stuck piked double arabian, 1 1/2 to 3/1, 2 1/2+front layout and double pike. She looked really good and has a better chance than I originally thought of making the Europeans team.
I'mgoing to mention Jocelyn Hunt again, although lacking the difficulty of others her style and form is beautiful and in her floor routine she performed a stuck triple twist and full in with knees locked together just needs to upgrade the other passes.
Nicole Hibbert - She was a completely different gymnast than a coulpe of weeks ago and she has definetely upped her game and was taking it much more seriously. I have never been a fan of her floor but she now has new music and performed this with great first 2 tumbles both a piked and tucked full in. I really enjoyed her performance:
Thanks to youtube user PavLiukin for all the videos.
Sunday is the Junior competition it will be interesting to see how the British Juniors compare to the top Romanians of Larisa Iordache and Diana Bulimar.
1. Romania 221.850
2. Great Britain 221.600
I'm glad to see the British Seniors showing their potential finally and I hope they are this close to the Romanians at Euros this year. Germany only had 3 Seniors competing as Marie-Sophie Hindermann sustained a slight injury during Fridays training. Results of the AA:
1. Diana Chelaru 56.800
2. Ana Porgras 56.050
3. Niamh Rippin 54.650
4. Raluca Haidu 54.300
5. Elisabeth Seitz 54.100
6. Amelia Racea 54.000
Beth earned the highest scores on Bars (15.700) and Floor (15.050).! Her bars was much better than at the English Championships, she hit all of her difficulty, I saw a few short handstands and pirouettes but she ended with a stuckj full in dismount. Her floor was good, she added a split jump after her double pike arabian and her leaps are definetely improved from last year.
Becky Downie competed and seems in better shape than at the english. Don't think she did all around though there are videos o her yurchenko 1 1/2 with nice form and
Jenny Pinches competed her Handspring tuck 1 1/2 on vault that she slipped on at the British Champs last year and it looked good, hopefully we will see it at Europeans. She had trouble on floor with her whip to double arabian pass which she sat down but she successfully landed her 1 1/2 to 3/1.
Ana Porgras looks ok I'm sure she will improve further before the Europeans. She is still performing a yurchenko full but it was very well done with stuck landing. She had trouble on bars where she fell on her jeager and took a big step on her double layout dsmount. On beam she perfored fre walkover+sheep jump, flick+flic+layout 2 feet, a very nice switch ring, free cartwheel, split change+tuck back, full spin in split, side somi and flicks to a double pike dismount (chest low). Overall the routine seemed easy for her and she is definetely heading for more medals on beam this year. Her floor has not been upgraded (full in, 2 1/2+front layout, dbl tuck, dbl pike) and I think lacks a little difficulty (I would like to see a triple twist) but she definetely makes up for it with her artistry!
Amelia Racea - I liked her floor lively music with a nice mix of leaps and tumbles including full in, triple twist, 2 1/2+front tuck and double pike. On beam she had a new intersting combination of free cartwheel+tuck back as well as free walkover+flick+pike back, split change+side somi and double tuck dismount. Definietely a big improvement on form for these 2 pieces.
Diana Chelaru - She looks like her form is bette nd she mus have improved as she won the AA with 56.800. Beam was solid with a tucked full, free walkover+tuck back and dbl tuck dismount. Nothing really exciting though and choreography was average.
Cerasela Patrascu competed afer being injured for 2 years,she looks like shes getting there but she still has a little way to go. Beam was good, she missed a few connections but she did have a nice yang bo and split change+side somi connection.
Raluca Haidu - I love this gymnast and hope she does wel this year. There are not many videos of her from this weekend but on beam she had some cute choreography with improved form and an excellent double pike dismount.
Niamh Rippin best of GB in the all around showed a impressive floor routine including a stuck piked double arabian, 1 1/2 to 3/1, 2 1/2+front layout and double pike. She looked really good and has a better chance than I originally thought of making the Europeans team.
I'mgoing to mention Jocelyn Hunt again, although lacking the difficulty of others her style and form is beautiful and in her floor routine she performed a stuck triple twist and full in with knees locked together just needs to upgrade the other passes.
Nicole Hibbert - She was a completely different gymnast than a coulpe of weeks ago and she has definetely upped her game and was taking it much more seriously. I have never been a fan of her floor but she now has new music and performed this with great first 2 tumbles both a piked and tucked full in. I really enjoyed her performance:
Thanks to youtube user PavLiukin for all the videos.
Sunday is the Junior competition it will be interesting to see how the British Juniors compare to the top Romanians of Larisa Iordache and Diana Bulimar.
Saturday 13 March 2010
Cottbus Finals Results
The first day of finals were today and the results are below:
Vault
1. Oksana Chusovitina 13.875
2. Kristina Vaculik 13.787
3. Renata Toth 13.625
Bars
1. Kristina Vaculik 14.050
2. Anysia Unick 13.775
3. Maria-Sophie Hindermann 13.750
Kristina Vaculik had a good day and she definetely looks like shes almost back to her best. Her bars routine included a high tkatchev, some really nice handstands and lines and finished with a stuck double front dismount. She performed 2 clean vaults (8.950 & 8.825 execution) both with 1 large step on the landing which were a Yurchenko full and a Yurchenko 1/2 on front pike off.
Marie-Sophie Hindermann had some really nice bar work with high realeases and beautiful form and would have scored a lot higher if she had not caught her pak too close to the bar.
Tatiana Solovyova could not repeat her excellent qualifying performance and had problems straight away on her first full piroutte and then had a fall on her double front dismount (12.700). I hope she can put that behind her and show what she is really capable of other wise I have a feeling that it is going to damage her European Championships hopes.
Renata Toth is a first year senior from Hungary. She performed a very nice handspring front pike 1/2 with an almost stuck landing (13.725) and yurchenko full with ok form (13.525). She also made the bars finals and performed a good routine but had problems on the double front dismount.
Oksana Chusovitina won vault with a good handspring pike front full and a fall on her tsukahara 1 1/2 because she had so much more difficulty than the rest of the competitiors. Credit to her for still being able to compete these vaults though and hope she cleans up for Euros.
Vault
1. Oksana Chusovitina 13.875
2. Kristina Vaculik 13.787
3. Renata Toth 13.625
Bars
1. Kristina Vaculik 14.050
2. Anysia Unick 13.775
3. Maria-Sophie Hindermann 13.750
Kristina Vaculik had a good day and she definetely looks like shes almost back to her best. Her bars routine included a high tkatchev, some really nice handstands and lines and finished with a stuck double front dismount. She performed 2 clean vaults (8.950 & 8.825 execution) both with 1 large step on the landing which were a Yurchenko full and a Yurchenko 1/2 on front pike off.
Marie-Sophie Hindermann had some really nice bar work with high realeases and beautiful form and would have scored a lot higher if she had not caught her pak too close to the bar.
Tatiana Solovyova could not repeat her excellent qualifying performance and had problems straight away on her first full piroutte and then had a fall on her double front dismount (12.700). I hope she can put that behind her and show what she is really capable of other wise I have a feeling that it is going to damage her European Championships hopes.
Renata Toth is a first year senior from Hungary. She performed a very nice handspring front pike 1/2 with an almost stuck landing (13.725) and yurchenko full with ok form (13.525). She also made the bars finals and performed a good routine but had problems on the double front dismount.
Oksana Chusovitina won vault with a good handspring pike front full and a fall on her tsukahara 1 1/2 because she had so much more difficulty than the rest of the competitiors. Credit to her for still being able to compete these vaults though and hope she cleans up for Euros.
Thursday 11 March 2010
Russian Junior Championships
After watching the videos user RussianCup2009 posted on Youtube, I was really impressed with the Russian Juniors. There is so much talent and depth in the Juniors that competition for Junior Europeans this year is going to be fierce!
For the team this year Viktoria Lomova is obviously a lock but the other main contenders are Anastasia Grishina, Violetta Malikova, Eleonora Goryunova, Yulia Belokobylskaya, Anastasia Sidorova, Kristina Sidorova. Other possibles are Maria Paseka and Anna Rodionova. There are only 5 spots available and at the moment everyone seems reasonably healthy and injury free!
Anastasia Grishina
I really love her gymnastcs she has such good form and presentation and I would say she is definetely going to Junior Europeans this year. On Vault she performed a new yurchenko 1.5 which was good until she fell as she was a little under rotated. Her bars has lots of pirouetting and beautiful handstands and she had also added a piked tkatchev into pak salto connection and a toe on to handstand full piroutte into afull in dismount. Beam was a little shaky with a fall on her double spin and some balance checks but everything was done really clean and she still scored 14.450 (6.2 D Score). I really like her illusion turn into full spin connection. Floor was nicely presented with some complex spins and leaps and she stuck a triple twist! (unfortunately it wont let me embed any of her routines)
Eleonora Goryunova
Another likely member of the Junior Europeans Team. She seemed a lot better than last year, her floor routine had improved presentatin and she showed a 1 1/2 step out into doubel tuck and 2 whips into a triple twist. On vault she performed an almost stuck yurchenko 1.5 which good form in the air. Her beam routine was also improved and included a round off layout 2 feet, free walkover+sheep jump and roundoff+flick+double pike dismount.
Anna Rodionova
One of the lesser known little Russians, but she has some really great skills on beam (arabian, free walkover+onodi) just needs to clean her form up but I really like her. I thought her floor routine (below) was beautiful just needs to sort the landings out!
Violetta Malikova
Another strong contender forJunior Europeans! She had a few issues on beam and bars, but overall she showed polished skills and I love how she attacks her beam routine! She also had a very nice double twisting yurchenko.
Anastasia Sidorova
She also as a good chance of making the team, and seems to have grown in height a lot since last year. Her difficulty on beam is impressive and she normally hits, unfortunately she fell this time on her layout step out connection. She is really powerful and has good vault anf floor difficulty as well.
Kristina Sidorova
She has areally nice style and I especially like her bars and floor routines. Floor has been upgraded with a full in and 2/1 front layout and all her tumbling is sky high. Bars is really clean and she has great potential.
Yulia Belokobylskaya
I really hope to see her at Junior Europeans this year she is one of my favourites. she seemed to be haveing a off day on bars and the routine was a bit of a mess with a fall on her jaeger and a near fall on her dismount. Her beam was excellent though she has great difficulty and her form has improved so much. Her floor is also one of my favourites I think the choreography is clever and she performs it well.
Ekaterina Shtronda
She is not age eligible for Junior Europeans but I just used this opportunity to post her beautiful floor again!
For the team this year Viktoria Lomova is obviously a lock but the other main contenders are Anastasia Grishina, Violetta Malikova, Eleonora Goryunova, Yulia Belokobylskaya, Anastasia Sidorova, Kristina Sidorova. Other possibles are Maria Paseka and Anna Rodionova. There are only 5 spots available and at the moment everyone seems reasonably healthy and injury free!
Anastasia Grishina
I really love her gymnastcs she has such good form and presentation and I would say she is definetely going to Junior Europeans this year. On Vault she performed a new yurchenko 1.5 which was good until she fell as she was a little under rotated. Her bars has lots of pirouetting and beautiful handstands and she had also added a piked tkatchev into pak salto connection and a toe on to handstand full piroutte into afull in dismount. Beam was a little shaky with a fall on her double spin and some balance checks but everything was done really clean and she still scored 14.450 (6.2 D Score). I really like her illusion turn into full spin connection. Floor was nicely presented with some complex spins and leaps and she stuck a triple twist! (unfortunately it wont let me embed any of her routines)
Eleonora Goryunova
Another likely member of the Junior Europeans Team. She seemed a lot better than last year, her floor routine had improved presentatin and she showed a 1 1/2 step out into doubel tuck and 2 whips into a triple twist. On vault she performed an almost stuck yurchenko 1.5 which good form in the air. Her beam routine was also improved and included a round off layout 2 feet, free walkover+sheep jump and roundoff+flick+double pike dismount.
Anna Rodionova
One of the lesser known little Russians, but she has some really great skills on beam (arabian, free walkover+onodi) just needs to clean her form up but I really like her. I thought her floor routine (below) was beautiful just needs to sort the landings out!
Violetta Malikova
Another strong contender forJunior Europeans! She had a few issues on beam and bars, but overall she showed polished skills and I love how she attacks her beam routine! She also had a very nice double twisting yurchenko.
Anastasia Sidorova
She also as a good chance of making the team, and seems to have grown in height a lot since last year. Her difficulty on beam is impressive and she normally hits, unfortunately she fell this time on her layout step out connection. She is really powerful and has good vault anf floor difficulty as well.
Kristina Sidorova
She has areally nice style and I especially like her bars and floor routines. Floor has been upgraded with a full in and 2/1 front layout and all her tumbling is sky high. Bars is really clean and she has great potential.
Yulia Belokobylskaya
I really hope to see her at Junior Europeans this year she is one of my favourites. she seemed to be haveing a off day on bars and the routine was a bit of a mess with a fall on her jaeger and a near fall on her dismount. Her beam was excellent though she has great difficulty and her form has improved so much. Her floor is also one of my favourites I think the choreography is clever and she performs it well.
Ekaterina Shtronda
She is not age eligible for Junior Europeans but I just used this opportunity to post her beautiful floor again!
Wednesday 10 March 2010
Russian Championships 2010
Everyone is posting the results so I thought I would just post some of my thoughts and routines of interest instead. All routines can be seen on RussianCup2009's Youtube channel as they can not be embedded here.
Viktoria Komova
She is definitely heading for medals at the Junior Europeans this year and her 6.5 D Score on Bars is the reason why the Romanians will have trouble beating her in the All Around because they can not come close to that. She doesn't have a weak piece and seems to have solved the consistency problems on beam. I also like her floor routine better as well now.
Tatiana Nabieva
Only her bars is posted (6.5 D Score, 15.400) but she seems to have cleaned up her form a lot since last year and hopefully this is the case on all events. Not sure if she is injured and didnt compete AA or not?
Ksenia Semonova
I'm happy to say she looks in much better shape and has recovered from her injuries from last year. i still love her floor routine, she watered down her first pass but the rest were good (14.425). Vault was a Yurchenko 1.5 which was clean enough, her Bars which I have never been a fan of was good maybe better than last year apart from the Deltchev and dismount (5.70, 14.400). Beam was very good, definitely her best event (5.6, 14.675).
Ksenia Afanasyeva
Unfortunately she does not look like she is completely back from injury yet. She had problems on bars (13.200) and her floor although it had beautiful dance the tumbling was weak and watered down (4.3, 13.125). I don't think she competed all around so lets hope thay are just saving her body and letting her heal before major competitions.
Anastasia Novikova
She is a new senior for this year and showed a nice bars routine with some good pirouttes for a 13.950 and on beam she had an interesting connection of flick into front somi off one leg.
Anna Pavlova
She looks in excellent shape and I'm impressed at how quickly she is back performing competitive routines. She competed All Around (53.800) but with some watered down dismounts. Bars looks good she obviously had time to work on them while her knee was recoverig, she is just not ready to dismount yet. Her floor was impessive she is actually back o tumbling a double pike and triple twist and beam is almost back to full difficulty. She is obviously wanting to compete Internationally if not at Europeans definitely at Worlds this year.
Anna Myzdrikova
Her floor routine (14.700) is back to what it was at Worlds and she has improved her 3rd tumbling pass that she had trouble on last year. It is interesting to compare Beth Tweddle and her on floor they both had similar scores (Beth 14.850) and apart from the landing and the dance there is not much between them. Beth has better landings and Anna is definetley better at the artistic part and the choreography. I have always preferred Anna's but am British so will always support Beth!
Ekaterina Kramarenko
She is making a comeback and it seems like she is doing well as she came 4th in the AA with 55.250. There are 2 videos available: her bars and were really clean routine with some nice transitions (5.7, 14.500) and beam was really nice until she fell on her double tuck back dismount where she overrated onto her back (5.3, 13.650).
Viktoria Komova
She is definitely heading for medals at the Junior Europeans this year and her 6.5 D Score on Bars is the reason why the Romanians will have trouble beating her in the All Around because they can not come close to that. She doesn't have a weak piece and seems to have solved the consistency problems on beam. I also like her floor routine better as well now.
Tatiana Nabieva
Only her bars is posted (6.5 D Score, 15.400) but she seems to have cleaned up her form a lot since last year and hopefully this is the case on all events. Not sure if she is injured and didnt compete AA or not?
Ksenia Semonova
I'm happy to say she looks in much better shape and has recovered from her injuries from last year. i still love her floor routine, she watered down her first pass but the rest were good (14.425). Vault was a Yurchenko 1.5 which was clean enough, her Bars which I have never been a fan of was good maybe better than last year apart from the Deltchev and dismount (5.70, 14.400). Beam was very good, definitely her best event (5.6, 14.675).
Ksenia Afanasyeva
Unfortunately she does not look like she is completely back from injury yet. She had problems on bars (13.200) and her floor although it had beautiful dance the tumbling was weak and watered down (4.3, 13.125). I don't think she competed all around so lets hope thay are just saving her body and letting her heal before major competitions.
Anastasia Novikova
She is a new senior for this year and showed a nice bars routine with some good pirouttes for a 13.950 and on beam she had an interesting connection of flick into front somi off one leg.
Anna Pavlova
She looks in excellent shape and I'm impressed at how quickly she is back performing competitive routines. She competed All Around (53.800) but with some watered down dismounts. Bars looks good she obviously had time to work on them while her knee was recoverig, she is just not ready to dismount yet. Her floor was impessive she is actually back o tumbling a double pike and triple twist and beam is almost back to full difficulty. She is obviously wanting to compete Internationally if not at Europeans definitely at Worlds this year.
Anna Myzdrikova
Her floor routine (14.700) is back to what it was at Worlds and she has improved her 3rd tumbling pass that she had trouble on last year. It is interesting to compare Beth Tweddle and her on floor they both had similar scores (Beth 14.850) and apart from the landing and the dance there is not much between them. Beth has better landings and Anna is definetley better at the artistic part and the choreography. I have always preferred Anna's but am British so will always support Beth!
Ekaterina Kramarenko
She is making a comeback and it seems like she is doing well as she came 4th in the AA with 55.250. There are 2 videos available: her bars and were really clean routine with some nice transitions (5.7, 14.500) and beam was really nice until she fell on her double tuck back dismount where she overrated onto her back (5.3, 13.650).
International Gymnix - Junior Cup Review
This competition was interesting and I was impressed with the Canadians their gymnasts have improved a lot. The results of the Junior Cup team competition were:
1. Russia 208.825
2. Canada 1 206.300
3. Canada 2 203.075
4. Canada 3 193.700
5. Romania 161.100
AA Results:
1. Madeline Gardiner 54.225
2. Riley Cholod 54.050
3. Mariya Karpova 53.725
The Romanians were disappointing overall, Larisa Iordache appeared to be injured and watered down her floor and beam routines. She didnt seem like herself at all having a falls on beam and floor in the team competition. But she came back in Event Finals to get 2nd place on beam (14.025) which can be seen here. All I can say is I hope she recovers in time for Europeans so she can do herself justice. Diana Bulimar had an ok competition and the highlight for me was her gold medal winning floor routine from event finals (13.800) I just love that she seems to enjoy performing and hope she does well at Europeans.
I was impressed with the young inexperienced Russian Team during the team competition, unfortunately they seemed to fall apart during the event finals. I posted a few of my favourite routines below:
Ekaterina Shtronda - She has a new floor routine which I like because she is so elegant and has really solid landings, just needs to upgrade the tumbling. Below is her floor from the Team cup (13.525):
Ekaterina Baturina - Below is her beam routine which was really amazing she hit everything and finished it off with a stuck dismout to score 13.775. Unfortunatley she must have had some major problems during event finals as she only scored 11.350 and is going to have to improve her consistency in the next couple of years.
Riley Cholod - She really impressed me with her consistency, she placed 2nd AA (54.050), 4th beam (13.500), 5th floor (12.925) and won bars in event finals (13.250) and she actually scored better than that during the team competition (13.675). She has real potential on bars just has some minor form errors.
Jordyn Pedersen - She has some impressive tumbling for a 13 year old especially her first pass which is front layout into double front!. Her form and presentation need to be improved but she definetely has some talent.
1. Russia 208.825
2. Canada 1 206.300
3. Canada 2 203.075
4. Canada 3 193.700
5. Romania 161.100
AA Results:
1. Madeline Gardiner 54.225
2. Riley Cholod 54.050
3. Mariya Karpova 53.725
The Romanians were disappointing overall, Larisa Iordache appeared to be injured and watered down her floor and beam routines. She didnt seem like herself at all having a falls on beam and floor in the team competition. But she came back in Event Finals to get 2nd place on beam (14.025) which can be seen here. All I can say is I hope she recovers in time for Europeans so she can do herself justice. Diana Bulimar had an ok competition and the highlight for me was her gold medal winning floor routine from event finals (13.800) I just love that she seems to enjoy performing and hope she does well at Europeans.
I was impressed with the young inexperienced Russian Team during the team competition, unfortunately they seemed to fall apart during the event finals. I posted a few of my favourite routines below:
Ekaterina Shtronda - She has a new floor routine which I like because she is so elegant and has really solid landings, just needs to upgrade the tumbling. Below is her floor from the Team cup (13.525):
Ekaterina Baturina - Below is her beam routine which was really amazing she hit everything and finished it off with a stuck dismout to score 13.775. Unfortunatley she must have had some major problems during event finals as she only scored 11.350 and is going to have to improve her consistency in the next couple of years.
Riley Cholod - She really impressed me with her consistency, she placed 2nd AA (54.050), 4th beam (13.500), 5th floor (12.925) and won bars in event finals (13.250) and she actually scored better than that during the team competition (13.675). She has real potential on bars just has some minor form errors.
Jordyn Pedersen - She has some impressive tumbling for a 13 year old especially her first pass which is front layout into double front!. Her form and presentation need to be improved but she definetely has some talent.
English Championships Videos
Some of the routines are now available to watch here on BGtv. After watching all the routines of the senior girls I've got to say I'm not impressed at all. The only gymnast who showed any routines that are going to be competitve at Europeans was Beth who I have already talked about in my earlier post. I know it is still earlier in the season but still accounting for that I was disappointed especially with a lot of the gymnasts attitudes and focus. Becky Downie for example who was obviously not in shape which is fine but she fell on her beam mount which was a straddle press to handstand! Nicole Hibbert performed a good bars routine until her double front dismount where she fell and got up and was smiling and laughing like it didn't matter and I think that sort of thing is why Great Britain is that successful as a whole in gymnastics. Our gymnasts don't want to win enough and are not made to fight for their position on the National Team like they are in the US because of our lack of depth which has caused GB gymnasts to be lazy annd have bad attitudes.
Anyway moving on! The only other gymnast (apart from Beth) who I think has potential to be competitive at Worlds and Europeans if she hits is Jenny Pinches. Unfortunately this weekend she wasn't at her best but overall I think Amanda Kirby has done a good job with her. On floor she has upgraded and performed a whip connected to a double arabian and also had a full in as her 3rd pass and I know she is capable of more difficulty. She had also upgraded beam to add 2 flicks into a straight back which she had trouble with but she still scored 13.500 with a fall. What I liked most was her presentation and attitude and I wish her success at the Europeans.
Another few things to take note of were Danusia's beam routine which had nice presentation but just not the difficulty. Niamh Rippin seemed well prepared and had nice form throughout but again lacks difficulty and the same comment also to Jocelyn Hunt who has a lovely style.
Anyway moving on! The only other gymnast (apart from Beth) who I think has potential to be competitive at Worlds and Europeans if she hits is Jenny Pinches. Unfortunately this weekend she wasn't at her best but overall I think Amanda Kirby has done a good job with her. On floor she has upgraded and performed a whip connected to a double arabian and also had a full in as her 3rd pass and I know she is capable of more difficulty. She had also upgraded beam to add 2 flicks into a straight back which she had trouble with but she still scored 13.500 with a fall. What I liked most was her presentation and attitude and I wish her success at the Europeans.
Another few things to take note of were Danusia's beam routine which had nice presentation but just not the difficulty. Niamh Rippin seemed well prepared and had nice form throughout but again lacks difficulty and the same comment also to Jocelyn Hunt who has a lovely style.
Monday 8 March 2010
Fu Bo Bars - Houston National Invite
She doesn't have a lot in her routine but it was done with really good form. I especially liked her dismount I had never seen in before: Score 14.8001st place
Another Little Star!
I'm still reviewing all the routines from the many competitions this weekend! But while I was watching the Northern Lights Classic Event Finals on Gymnastike I came across this tiny gymnast and just had to post this routine. Norah Flatley is 9 years old and trains at salto gymnastics and she qualified for the beam final for level 8. I was really impressed with her routine and she seemed so confident and focued for such a young gymnast, the judges were impressed too she scored a 9.85 for 1st place!
Sunday 7 March 2010
Beth Tweddle & English Championships
On Saturday she competed at the English championships on Bars and Floor. Bars (14.850) was going well until her shaposhnikova 1/2 which she left out, I just hope Bars doesn't start becoming a problem for her and she can leave her problems at Worlds behind her. Floor (14. was actually better than last year, she downgraded her last pass but she probab;y not completely fit yet. She also added a split jump after a tucked double arabian pass and the leaps as a whole were better. Still don't like the choreo though and please change that end position!
The All Around competition this weekend was dominated by new Seniors who will be hoping to compete at the Europeans in Birmingham this year and I think all 3 have a good chance:
1st Danusia Francis 54.250
2nd Jenny Pinches 53.500
3rd Nicole Hibbert 52.950
Looking at the actual scores apart from Danusia 14250 on beam, Jenny 14.00 on Vault and Nicole 14.150 on Vault, the rest of the scores were in the 13s and I really think they need to do better to be competitive at European and World level. Lets hope there are upgrades before then. Becky Downie and Rebecca Wing did not compete all around but from their scores they are not in competition shape.
There are no other videos yet but I will post when they appear (should be on BGtv).
The All Around competition this weekend was dominated by new Seniors who will be hoping to compete at the Europeans in Birmingham this year and I think all 3 have a good chance:
1st Danusia Francis 54.250
2nd Jenny Pinches 53.500
3rd Nicole Hibbert 52.950
Looking at the actual scores apart from Danusia 14250 on beam, Jenny 14.00 on Vault and Nicole 14.150 on Vault, the rest of the scores were in the 13s and I really think they need to do better to be competitive at European and World level. Lets hope there are upgrades before then. Becky Downie and Rebecca Wing did not compete all around but from their scores they are not in competition shape.
There are no other videos yet but I will post when they appear (should be on BGtv).
Thursday 4 March 2010
WOGA - Future Stars
Recently on WOGAs official youtube channel BADurfee has been adding lots of videos of this years WOGA Classic and Gymnastike also had videos from the Pikes Peak Cup so I thought I would post a few of WOGAs future stars to look out for.
Emily Zeng - She competed in the 8 - 11 years Level 8 division. She only did Bars but she won with a 9.90! Check it out below. Last year she also won level 7 states and scored a 10.0 on bars so she is definetely someone to look out for.
Lauren Farley - She also competed in the 8 - 11 years Level 8 division. I was impressed with her form and performance especially on floor where she scored 9.600 for 3rd place. She is coached by Valeri Liukin so he obviously thinks she has a lot of talent.
Ava Verdeflor - I have liked this gymnast for a while she has excellent form and leaps and nice flexibility. She came 3rd in the Level 8 8-11 years division scoring 38.250 and won beam with 9.775. There is no video of beam yet but her floor is just as good (9.600 2nd place), I really like her music choice:
Alyssa Baumann - She competed level 9 Junior at the Pikes Peak Cup where she won the AA with 37.675. She didn't even have her best competition as she fell on beam (still scored 9.45!) an on floor on a high double pike (9.025). She has excellent form and I'm looking forward to her hopefull competing elite in the future. Last year she won the Level 8 state and region 3 championships and placed in the top 3 on every event.
Emily Zeng - She competed in the 8 - 11 years Level 8 division. She only did Bars but she won with a 9.90! Check it out below. Last year she also won level 7 states and scored a 10.0 on bars so she is definetely someone to look out for.
Lauren Farley - She also competed in the 8 - 11 years Level 8 division. I was impressed with her form and performance especially on floor where she scored 9.600 for 3rd place. She is coached by Valeri Liukin so he obviously thinks she has a lot of talent.
Ava Verdeflor - I have liked this gymnast for a while she has excellent form and leaps and nice flexibility. She came 3rd in the Level 8 8-11 years division scoring 38.250 and won beam with 9.775. There is no video of beam yet but her floor is just as good (9.600 2nd place), I really like her music choice:
Alyssa Baumann - She competed level 9 Junior at the Pikes Peak Cup where she won the AA with 37.675. She didn't even have her best competition as she fell on beam (still scored 9.45!) an on floor on a high double pike (9.025). She has excellent form and I'm looking forward to her hopefull competing elite in the future. Last year she won the Level 8 state and region 3 championships and placed in the top 3 on every event.
Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike
Bayley Wilson - She came 6th overall at th Pikes eak Cup but won 3rd place (9.325) with a good routine including a free walkover, flick layout and a mount I had never seen before:
Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike
Megan Tripp - She came 2nd All around (37.750) and 1st on floor with 9.625 at the Pikes Peak Cup I really enjoyed her floor routine she has excellent form and beautiful presentation.
Wednesday 3 March 2010
Nastia Liukin Cup
My view on who should be allowed to participate is anyone no matter what age who is truly up and coming and has not yet competed at major elite events. I don't think anyone who is competing in elite meets and level 10 meets at the same time should be eligible for the cup because in my mind they are not Junior Olympic gymnasts. For example gymnasts such as Lexie Priessmann, Gabrielle Douglas, and Amelia Hundley (all I really like) should not be competing in this Cup as they are obviously high-level Elite gymnasts and there primary aim this year is to compete at Nationals and make the National Team not the JO Nationals They are also competing in elite qualifiers at the same time so they are not following the JO pathway. But I can see the benefit of them getting more experience on a podium and it will make it more interesting but I just think they should change the rules for next year.
So in my mind the JUNIOR OLYMPIC gymnasts to watch out for this weekend are:
Mykayla Skinner (1996) - Although she did compete at the US Classic last year she didn't qualify for Nationals and I think she is still improving. She won vault at JO Nationals last year and was named to the National Team Training Squad this year. Below is her vault from the Fiesta Bowl this year where she won to qualify for the NLC:
Hayley Sanders - She trains at WOGA and won the recent WOGA Classic with 37.625. She has beautiful form on all events and she won floor (9.50) at the WOGA Classic with the routine below:
Hallie Benjamin (DeVeau's) - She won the 13 & under division of the Circle of Stars meet to qualify with a score of 37.275 with her highest score on floor (9.625) she has some interesting choreography and good tumbling.
So in my mind the JUNIOR OLYMPIC gymnasts to watch out for this weekend are:
Mykayla Skinner (1996) - Although she did compete at the US Classic last year she didn't qualify for Nationals and I think she is still improving. She won vault at JO Nationals last year and was named to the National Team Training Squad this year. Below is her vault from the Fiesta Bowl this year where she won to qualify for the NLC:
Hayley Sanders - She trains at WOGA and won the recent WOGA Classic with 37.625. She has beautiful form on all events and she won floor (9.50) at the WOGA Classic with the routine below:
Hallie Benjamin (DeVeau's) - She won the 13 & under division of the Circle of Stars meet to qualify with a score of 37.275 with her highest score on floor (9.625) she has some interesting choreography and good tumbling.
Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike
Nina Mcgee - She is 16 years old and trains at Gym Nation. From her floor routine style you can she is definitely going to be a star in college gymnastics. Her floor routine below scored a 9.65 and lastyear she was the JO Naional Champion on floor an you can see why. Its going to be very interesting to see her style competing against the elite gymnasts - I wonder who will come out on top?
Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike
Sarah Lokos (1994) - She trains at Hills and qualified at the Parkettes Invitational with a very high score of 37.475. She is a very clean gymnast and her first 2 releases on bars are excellent:
Kiersten Wang - I really like this gymnast and I have to mention her because she qualified at the Pikes Peak Cup with a massive 38.450! She qualified elite last year but never competed at any major meets and now she has committed to the University of Florida. Her bar routine below scored a 9.675:
Tuesday 2 March 2010
International Gymnix
There are a few other gymnasts that are competing this weekend that I think are interesting. The first is Shae Zamardi she is competing in the Junior Cup for Canadian. I like that she makes an effort with the choroegraphy on floor and I think she has potential on bars. She lives with another family while she trains at Omega gymnastics and was plagued with injuries last year so she s definetley going to get better.
Elizabeth Price - She is competing in the International Cup and trains at Parkettes. She has potential on all events and I especially like her beam. There are no videos of her yet this year but her beam from the Parkettes Invitational last year is below:
Kristina Vaculik - As there is no World Cup for women she is competing in the International Cup continuing her comeback trail after winning the Nadia Comaneci Inviational. I hope she stays healthy so she can add more difficulty and we can see her at major international meets sometime.
Elizabeth Price - She is competing in the International Cup and trains at Parkettes. She has potential on all events and I especially like her beam. There are no videos of her yet this year but her beam from the Parkettes Invitational last year is below:
Kristina Vaculik - As there is no World Cup for women she is competing in the International Cup continuing her comeback trail after winning the Nadia Comaneci Inviational. I hope she stays healthy so she can add more difficulty and we can see her at major international meets sometime.
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