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.