×Citation:
B&B’s Senior Qualifications Summary
Biggest surprise of the day – team: France – an unexpected fifth place. Yes, they are an experienced team but, compared to their latest verification (against Romania), they have managed to increase their score by seven points. Their best event was beam, on which they had the third team total with three marks over 14. Also Youna Dufournet, although not in top shape yet, managed to qualify for beam and uneven bars finals.
Biggest surprise of the day — individual: Hanna Whelan: She has been one of the top gymnasts all around at Europeans for a few years now. But she managed a stellar meet yesterday, placing 3rd in the unofficial all around ranking. She also qualified for beam finals (14.9- fourth place) nailing her original combination of aerial walkover to switch leap to Onodi to sheep jump. Went on to floor, and did the best routine I’ve ever seen from her in Brussels (14.333, 5.8 -also in fourth place)
Standout routines of the day…
Vault: Oksana Chuchovitina for her fabulous two vaults, none of which is a Yurchenko (she does a Rudi and a 1 ½ Tsukahara). Sandra Izbasa was very good too but Chusovitina had the extra difficulty that in the end made the difference.
Bars: Ruby Harrold – great routine for her, and those Bhardwaj and Khorkina transitions stand out and are very well executed. She qualified fourth for event finals (14.533/6.1).
Beam: Catalina Ponor – her routine started brilliantly with her best switch ring leap, well controlled double turn, Onodi to flic-flac to layout to two feet. In the middle of the routine she lost her concentration a little bit (on her layout step-out and on her Omelianchik) but continued with great poise and got the highest E score of the day on the event (9.233).
Floor: Marya Livchikova – it was a beautiful piece, with difficult tumbles and fantastic dance (although I don’t particularly care for the music) which put her in the event finals. A nice way to recover after suffering two falls on balance beam.
Breakout star of the day:
Rebecca Tunney: because she has proven herself as an essential member of the British team. On her first year as a senior, Tunney contributed with a well executed double twisting Yurchenko (the only one of the team) and on floor, which she opens with a fabulously executed Arabian double front
Gymnast most deserving of a redo:
Livchikova’s balance beam: her aerial walkover connected (truly connected) to a front tuck that she does so beautifully and press handstand to Arabian belong in the event final.
Most unexpected fall: Mustafina on floor– her routine started very well with one of the best Arabian double fronts out there. The fall on the second pass came as a shock.
We totally saw that coming: Iordache’s unofficial all around first place and breaking the 60 points barrier again.
Longines Prize for Confidence: Romania – for managing twelve clean routines out of twelve. Their score, 177.472, would have secured a silver medal at worlds. It will be interesting to see how their D scores in the two meets compare because on a superficial analysis I discovered that they were very similar. The confidence made the difference between Romania in Tokyo and the team that outperformed Russia in Brussels.
Longines Prize for Poise: Viktoria Komova on bars. She had started the day tentatively on balance beam, the whole team missed their floors, then on bars, Mustafina had big mistakes again right before her. There was still a lot to prove and very little time. Through her great routine, the last impression that Vika left was that despite bad days Russia can never be counted out.
Coach of the day: The Irish coaches who were very supportive and encouraging throughout the competition. The female coach especially was touching – she gave Sophie McCoo, their only gymnast that competed on floor, a very sincere big hug at the end of her routine.
Article: Bea Gheorghisor