The Dutch federation has asked the Dutch gymnasts to choose between competing at the European Championships or at the European Games. For the Euro team, four gymnasts will be selected: three based on named selection criteria and one to be selected directly by the Federation.
The following six gymnasts are fighting for a spot in the EC-team:
– Reina Beltman
– Noël van Klaveren
– Isa Maassen
– Dyonnailys Supriana
– Eythora Thorsdottir
– Sanne Wevers
The first qualification meet (March 14, 2015 in Waddinxveen) was won by the elegant Eythora Thorsdottir (53.500). It looks like Eythora has set her program and is now trying to get it more and more consistent towards the EC. She only added a new element on bars (Shaposnikova ½ ) on which she fell. Due to another fall on bars she only scored 10.85 here. On the other three events she scored 14+.
Noël van Klaveren came second (53.250). Noël showed a whole new bars routine including a toe on-Tkatchev to Pak salto, a Shaposhnikova – free hip to handstand combo and a double twist dismount. Unfortunately she fell oh her toe on – 1/1. On beam Noël started wobbly and then fell after her switch leap 1/1. After the fall it was a really clean beam set including a new dismount (back handspring step out – back handspring -5/2 twist). Floor and vault were great. She added a whip trough triple twist to her floor routine and has a new second vault. It looks like she is aiming for another EC vault medal!
The third place was for Reina Beltman(51.550). Reina was a great youth gymnast and then got off the tracks for a while. Recently there was an interview on the site of her club (de Hazenkamp) where she told us she got mentally affected after she won the Youth championships in 2009. After family and personal issues she also switched gyms; she fought her way back to the national team and hopes to get qualified for a big international meet soon. Her third place in the first qualification may be a good first step. She has good D-scores on all four events, but lacks some consistency. She had three falls yesterday (one on bars and two on beam) and said after the meet she is confident and knows where she needs to work on towards next week.
Also aiming for a spot for the EC is veteran Sanne Wevers who is known for her great pirouetting skills on beam. Sanne and her sister Lieke are having a rough time after their father and coach (Vincent Wevers) ended the working relationship with their home club TON-Almelo. Since TON-Almelo hired a new head coach (Frank Louter) the two are not allowed anymore to train with their own coaches (Vincent Wevers and Ton Leenders) in the TON-Almelo gym at the same time that Frank is training with the other gymnasts. The time left to train is not manageable to combine with their education schedules which means they now wander around at several gyms to make their training hours.
Sanne only did bars (12.450) and beam (13.450) and had mistakes on both events. One of the mistakes was a fall on her new double layout bars dismount. On beam she had, with a 6.4, her highest D-score ever.
The two first-years-seniors Dyonaillys Supriana and Isa Maassen placed fourth (51.100) and fifth (50.750).
Dyonaillys is a powerfull gymnast with clean form, but is also most of the time very inconsistent. Though, she had a good vault, bars and floor routine Saturday. On beam she fell on her twistsalto and had wobbles after almost every other skill, including her double pike dismount.
Isa looked a bit insecure overall. She is normally a more explosive looking gymnast. She had low landings on her DTY, double twist and double pike on floor and even had a fall in her last series (2.5 twist). She also had a nasty fall on her double pike beamdismount in the warm-ups, but she showed character and landed it very well in the competition.
Overall Dyonaillys and Isa look promising for the future with some big skills already, but it also looks like they need some more time to get more confident in the seniorfield.
Limits to be selected for the team were reached in this first qualification meet by Eythora Thorsdottir (AA, BB and FX) and Noël van Klaveren (AA, VT and FX). Next week the second qualification meet is planned. After this meet the team will be chosen and announced on March 24, 2015.
Find the results of the meet here.
Videos of the competition can be found here (credit for the videos goes to the Dutch Gymnastics Newssite Gympower).
Article by: Eef van Leeuwen
Photo Cover: Nadia Boyce
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