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Russia
defends Title
Russia took another European junior team final
after an exciting last round of competition.
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Starting
on vault, all three gymnasts nailed their attempts with Svetlana
Kliukina drilling a double twisting Yurchenko as anchor.
Their
first gymnast on bars, Kristina Pravdina, fell on a Tkachev
while Yulia Lozhechko topped the field on the event with a
fantastic performance displaying great lines and a nifty inside
stalder-inside stalder full-Tkachev-Pak combo.
Beam
saw wories with Nadezhda Ivanova starting her routine before the
green light, resulting in a deduction of 5 tenths.
“Nadezhda is a very young gymnast and I didn’t tell her off
for doing it,” coach Marina Bulashenko commented.
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Yulia Lozhechko - best in All-around |
Romania
vaulted and tumbled solidly but had two falls on bars
(Rodica Marinescu on her double front dismount and Steliana
Nistor on her Jaeger) where their routines looked
somehwat laboured.
Nistor came off beam on a front aerial to back tuck.
Three strong floor routines weren’t enough for Romania to
catch the Russians.
Vanessa Ferrari (ITA)
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Steliana Nistor
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Italy
had lost their top junior Giorgia Benecchi to a fractured
foot prior to the competition and started with a fall on beam but made
up for it the rest of the competition.
Dynamic Vanessa Ferrari
won many fans with her excellent work that includes a
ff-tucked full on beam and a Comaneci on bars. The team lost a possible
silver when Ferrari crashed her dismount on bars.
Great
Britain had looked truly great throughout the evening with
excellent gymnastics from all-arounder Aisling Williams and an eye
opener from Rhian Pugh on bars. The team clocked the highest total of
all teams on bars and were second on floor. Pugh qualified to bars in
second place and looks on track for a medal.
France competed calmly and solidly
for fourth place with some very nice 1 ½ twisting Yurchenkos capping
off their night’s competition. Cheered on by an estatic home crowd,
the Netherlands cruised to sixth place led by spunky Renee de Wit.
Ukraine
was led by a strong Daria Zgoba who chipped in some of the
best bars of the night, but suffered from inconsistency and low scores
from their lead off gymnasts.
The
surprise of the team competition was surely Croatia in eight
place. Competing in the third subdivision of four, their three
competitiors displayed great basics and a total command of their
programme. They may not have competed a high level of difficulty, but
their consistency definitely paid off, beating Greece and Germany.
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Final Results, Junior Teams |
