Comments
(International Gymnast) :
2nd day: PRODUNOVA
DOUBLES UP IN GLASGOW (source: Intl.Gymnast)
Women, floor: The Glasgow Grand Prix
concluded today with Russia's Yelena Produnova taking home her second Glasgow gold.
Produnova, who yesterday earned vault gold, today topped the floor standings with a 9.825,
followed by Chinese beauty Dong Fangxiao. Produnova's teammate Svetlana Khorkina was
third.
FLOOR: 1. Produnova (9.825); 2. Dong (9.762); 3. Khorkina (9.637)); 4. Viktoria Karpenko,
Ukraine
(9.612); 5. Trudy McIntosh, Australia (9.575); 6. Huang Mandan, China (9.55); 7. Jana
Komrskova,
Czech Republic (9.362); 8. Joanna Skowronska, Poland (9.075)
Beam: Khorkina's Glasgow difficulties
came to an end on beam where she redeemed her bars debacle of the day before with gold.
Also making waves were Aussies McIntosh and Allana Slater who earned silver and
bronze, respectively.
The men continued to spread their medals
around, with three new winners today (a different man won each
event yesterday).
Vault went to China's Xiao Junfeng, who
bested Leszek Blanik (Poland) and Valery Pereshkura
(Ukraine) for the win. As has become the custom, men's vault finals saw some major
disasters with athletes
going for ultra-difficult 10.0 Start Value vaults and frequently coming up short.
VAULT: 1. Xiao (9.699); 2. Blanik (9.624); 3. Pereshkura (9.512); 4. Alexei Nemov, Russia
(9.393); 5.
Yevgeny Sapronenko, Latvia (9.356); 6. Sergei Fedorchenko, Kazakhstan (9.35); 7. Thierry
Aymes,
France (9.093); 8. Lu Yufu, China (8.881)
P-bar: Slovenia's Mitja Petkovsek, who has
had quite a bit of success on this year's Grand Prix/World Cup
circuit, topped the parallel bars standings alongside two-time world champ Ivan Ivankov
(9.775 each).
Huang Xu of China was third. Andreas Wecker (Germany), who won p-bars in prelims, fell
(literally) to
8th, scoring a meager 8.875.
P-BARS: 1t. Petkovsek (9.775); 1t. Ivankov (9.775); 3. Huang (9.725); 4. Aljaz Pegan,
Slovenia (9.7); 5.
Igor Vihrov, Latvia (9.6); 6. Sergei Kharkov, Germany (9.525); 7. Yevgeny Podgorny, Russia
(9.512);
8. Wecker (8.875).
High bar was high flying with Ivankov adding
his second title, a bit of revenge after the trouble he had on this
event at the '99 worlds. (Then-defending champ Ivankov withdrew from the all-around after
falling twice.)
Pegan, always exciting on pipe, settled for second by a hair (9.75 to 9.725). Third went
to Hungary's Zoltan
Supola with former world champ Jani Tanskannen (Finland) in fourth.
HIGH BAR: 1. Ivankov (9.75); 2. Pegan (9.725); 3. Supola (9.7); 4. Tanskannen (9.65); 5.
Podgorny (9.625);
6. Pereshkura (9.537); 7. Eric Poujade, France (9.487); 8. Nemov (9.050).
1st day: With the first half of finals complete at the
Glasgow Grand Prix on Saturday -- men's vault, parallel bars high bar, beam and women's
floor will be decided on Sunday -- current and former world champs are stealing the show.
Men:
FLOOR: For the men, reigning world floor champ Alexei Nemov
(Russia) topped Bulgaria's Jordan Jovtchev, 9.775 to 9.712. Third went to up-and-comer
Kyle Shewfelt from Canada. Shewfelt is traveling the world cup circuit in hopes of
convincing the Canadian Olympic committee that his standard is high enough to
warrant an Olympic berth. (Currently, only world high bar medalist Alexander Jeltkov meets
their minimum
requirements for Olympic competition, though Canada earned two men's berths at the '99
worlds.)
Shewfelt's finish, amidst tough competition, should help make an impression.
POMMEL HORSE.... went to former world champ Marius Urzica of Romania, who
opted out of his country's
international to compete. Urzica's closest competition was, surprisingly, Icelandic
entrant Runar
Alexandersson. Pommel horse pro Eric Poujade (France) was forced to settle for third with
a 9.725.
RINGS... went to Hungarian stalwart Szilveszter Csollany, who is going to
need a truck to get all the Grand
Prix and world cup qualifying medals he's won on this event recently back to Hungary.
(Previously, Csollany
lived and coached in the U.S.) Ivankov and Jovtchev, played catch up, finishing second and
third,
respectively, though it seems out that the two-time world champ could best the bulbous
Bulgarian.
On the women's side, powerhouse Elena
Produnova topped the vault standings, best Czech Jana
Komrskova by a tenth (9.512 to 9.412). Third went to Kazakhstan's best Irina Yevdokimova,
who
scraped past home country fav Lisa Mason for the bronze. The bottom half of the field all
made major
misses.
UNEVEN BARS ... brought Karpenko back into top form, where she edged
Chinese star Huang, Mandan for the title by a slim margin (9.65 to 9.6). Produnova picked
up her second straight medal, finishing third, while Russian teammate and bars goddess
Svetlana Khorkina tumbled all the way to 8th with a fall. But that doesn't mean Karpenko's
victory was a fluke, she has topped Khorkina in head-to-head competition already this
year, the first person to best her on this event in recent memory.
(source: International
Gymnast)
Der Grand Prix in
Glasgow vom 14.-16.April 2000 war der vorletzte Weltcup der Serie
1999/2000
nach dem
Weltcup "Le Duel"/Montreux
(17.-19.März) und dem
Grand Prix "Internationales Turnier der Meister",
Cottbus (24.-26.März).
Es folgt noch der Weltcup in Ljubljana/SLO (- nur Männer) Anfang Juni.
Auch das Weltcup-Finale findet
in Glasgow statt:
08. - 10. Dezember, Kunstturnen gemeinsam mit Rhythmischer Sportgymnastik. |
