What are the best in Europe doing? - Senior Beam

Unlike bars there are a lot more gymnasts with high difficulty scores on beam, so I only included gymnasts who have proven this year that they are also able to get high execution scores. From reviewing the scores from this year I think gymnasts would need a score of mid to high 14s to make the final which low to mid 15s probably taking the medals.
The best gymnast on beam is obviously Ana Porgras and if she can hit I don't think anyone can beat her. I believe her highest score this year is 15.250 (D Score: ) at the Romanian International.
Second Place I think will go to the other Romanian qualifier whoever that may be. It's mostly likely to be Amelia Racea or Raluca Haidu, although Diana Chelaru is also capable and has more experience. Amelia Racea scored a 15.150 at the Romanian International and Raluca Haidu scored a 14.90 and if they perform up to their potential they are more than capable of winning a medal.


Another medal contender is definetley Youna Dufournet. Although I don't like her on this event and hate her Onodi! She has proven to be consistent and has a lot of difficulty (D Score: 6.1 - 6.4). Top Score this year: 15.150 at a Euro Trial. Below is her routine from the FRA/GBR/ROU meet Score 14.90:

Ksenia Semenova is also still capable of scoring well on this piece which I think is now her best piece. D Score: 5.80 Top Score this year 14.675 (Russian Championships) which can be seen here.
Last years European Beam Champion Yana Demyanchuk who is injured should still be able to make it to the final as she scored a 14.850 earlier this year at the Ukraine Cup.
Other gymnasts who should make the final include:
Elisabetta Preziosa who made the World Beam Final last year with her extreme flexibility and excellent leaps. Top Score this year 14.90 (Serie A2, D Score: 5.90):

Vanessa Ferrari is still coming back from injury but we all know she is able to fight and perform under pressure. This year she has put up some impressive performance her best being a 15.00 (Serie A2, D Score: 5.80):

Vasiliki Millousi suprised everyone by qualifying in first place for the beam final at last years Euros but unfortunately could not keep it together in the finals. She could be capable of better this year and has already had a string of good performances this year her best score being in Greece (14.60, D Score 5.70 - 6.10). Below is her routine from Paris finals Score: 14.250:

Sanne Wevers: I would love to see her and her spins make a major final! It always impresses me how easily she spins whereas nearly every other gymnast has problems with just their one spin. Top Score this year 14.550 (Euro Trial, D Score: 5.70). Check out her 3 spin combo below:

Valeriia Maksyuta: She made the final last year but has had very inconsistent performances this year with scores ranging from 12.30 to her top score of 15.10 at the Zakharova Cup. So depending on which gymnast turns up will determine if she makes the final. Below is her routine from the Cottbus final which kind of highlights her so far:

My last mention for this bean final is Aliya Mustafina who has only been able to score 14.20 this year because of injuries but I'm hoping she has recovered as I want to see as much of her gymnastics as possible!

What are the best in Europe doing? - Senior Bars

I decided to do a series of post on the best gymnasts in Europe on each apparatus for Seniors and Juniors in the lead up to this years Europeans in Birmingham.

SENIOR BARS

Below in no particular order are the gymnasts I think have the best chance to make the bars finals and/or medal as well as some outsiders who could sneak in:

Beth Tweddle - D Score 6.80

Youna Dufournet - D Score 6.90

Aliya Mustafina - D Score 6.60 (with potential for more if adding her new dismount)

Tatiana Nabieva - D Score 6.50

Natalia Kononenko - D Score 6.40

Ana Porgras - D Score 6.30

Serena Licchetta - D Score 5.80

Others with a chance:

Laura Svilpaite - D Score 5.80
Becky Downie - D Score 6.10 (if she can hit)
Ksenia Semenova - D Score 5.90 (I would think she needs Nabieva or Mustafina to mess up in order for her to make the final but it is possible)
Ekaterina Kurbatova - D Score 6.00 (probably needs to improve her form a lot to beat the others on her team but she has the D Score needed)
Vanessa Ferrari - D Score 5.80
Pauline Morel - D Score 5.80
Celine Van Gerner - D Score 5.80
Marie-Sophie Hindermann - D Score 5.60
Raluca Haidu - D Score 5.50
Amelia Racea - D Score 5.60?
Aagje Vanwalleghem - D Score 6.10
Elisabeth Seitz - D Score 5.70

Romanian International Videos

Videos are available on Ecorn1x's Youtube Channel. For the Seniors young star Raluca Haidu won the AA scoring 58.150. She actually performed a DTY (14.700) which is impressive for someone so tiny. Beam was solid with just a few wobbles but landed her tuck back full fine (14.900) and can be seen here. Her floor routine (14.350) is below:

Ana Porgras was 2nd in the AA (57.050) after yet another inconsistent performance this time it was problems with bars (13.300). Her beam (15.150) was ok a few wobbles but nothing major:
Its weird normally I watch the Romanian floor routines for the tumbling but with Porgras (14.600) it is the opposite I watch it for the spins and bits in between the tumbling:

Amelia Racea competed well apart from a low score on floor (13.250) and earned 56.700 All Around. She performed an untidy DTY to score (14.550) and apparently she was having tropuble with it in warm ups. Her beam (14.950) was nice and interesting to watch with some different combinations then we normally see:


Cerasela Patrascu seems to be getting nearer to her best with a nice performance on beam (13.700), but she still has a watered down dismount which limits her score a little:

Sandra Izbasa returned to competition with an exhibition on beam to prove all the non believers wrong!

Diana Chelaru did not have a good day with falls on bars and beam (13.700). Beam can be seen here.

Among the Juniors Diana Bulimar won the AA. She had a very exciting upgrade on floor which was a well performed double layout! She also had a 1 1/2 step out+double tuck, piked full in and double pike in the routine and never stoppped moving. I love that she performs with a smile:

Maria Balea is so cute and tiny! Her floor routine (13.500) was tiring to watch she never stopped moving and she tumbles so fast:

Larisa Iordache seemed to have many problems with 3 falls, one that did not look good was on a double twisting front layout on floor where she seemed to miss time it. Her floor along with Patrascu and Porgras performing FTYs is available here.

Credit goes to Sri Ea for all coverage, Thank You!

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.

Artistry

People say the code doesn't encourage artistry but I think coaches are just becoming lazy because it is not as highly rewarded as it used to be, however there are still routines from this year that have artistry and still score well. I have posted a few floor routines that I think are 'artistic' as well as having high difficulty. So I urge all coaches please make more effort to produce artisitc routines please for the sake of the sport!

Ana Porgras (I also love the beginning of her beam routine) - Worlds 2009 Event Finals Score 14.125 (probably under scored as well).

Aliya Mustafina - Doha Gymnasiade 2009 Score: 14.650

Viktoria Komova - Voronin Cup 2009 Event Finals Score: 14.850

Huang Quishuang - Japan Cup 2009 AA Score: 14.350