Ljubljana World Challenger cup was an interesting meet with some World and European top gymnasts attending. It was somewhat a surprise compared to some past editions. This meet seemed either crammed too close to Euros or geographically too remote from other spring World Cups to make it easy for the gymnasts to travel to. But this edition was timed much better, after Cottbus and Jesolo, resulting in a higher level overall.
Here are five things to take in at the end of the competition:
Isabela Onysko was a triple event medalist: with two gold medals (bars and beam) and silver (on floor), Onysko was the most successful gymnast of the competition. Her difficulty-packed routines added to the excitement of each event final: Maloney, van Leeuwen, full pirouette to Tkatchev, Hindorff to Pak salto (although a bit wild) for a 6.3 bars difficulty; flic – flic – layout to two feet, aerial walkover – aerial walkover – ilusion, split leap to Auerbach, for a 6.0-6.1 on beam, while on floor she has a full in, 1 1/2 to double back, Memmel turn and double pike – for a 5.6 D score. Onysko has started to compete internationally for Canada in 2014 to instant success: she was selected for the Canadian Commonwealth and World teams. But her climb has not ended. Her achievements in Ljubljana indicate that this year, Isabela has become one of Canada’s top athletes.
Watch here: Isabela Onysko wins beam in Ljubljana
Eythora Thorsdottir was stunning and won floor: We had already seen great things from her earlier this season. In the Dutch Euro qualifying competitions she succeeded two exquisite beam routines. She impressed not necessarily through the difficulty of her elements – although she has a few acro skills rated D and some difficult pirouettes (Y turn, illusion), but rather through the way in which she flows from one element to the next, without pause, without rushing. In Ljubljana she was indeed a bit more nervous than in the home meets and missed on beam both days (on the same combo – Onodi to illusion turn); hopefully this was a good learning experience before Euros. Eythora still managed to showcase her elegance and artistry on floor, winning the event title despite easier acrobatics.
Watch here: Eythora’s gold winning performance on floor
Rebeca Andrade’s senior international debut happened: As we have come to find out over the past years, from impressive training and competition videos, Rebeca is headed to achieve greatness for herself and for team Brazil at the next World Championships and Olympic Games. For this, she needs to keep working, stay healthy and confirm her impressive junior potential. But at this level, the course of a career can change in a matter of seconds. Thus we breathed a common sigh of relief when Andrade’s debut as a senior previewed great things. Although she only competed on one event, bars, she managed to qualify in first position for the respective final. She flew between bars with ease and great rhythm demonstrating good potential to upgrade – the speed of her twisting of the full in dismount could indicate further upgrading to a double-double. Rebeca placed 3rd in the bars final, behind Isabela Onysko and Jonna Adlerteg.
Watch here: Rebeca’s uneven bars routine in qualifications
Brazil’s next generation is looking good: but the wonderful gymnast mentioned above is not the only one emerging from Brazil. The beam final at Ljubljana demonstrated that everybody in Brazil is working very hard. From Lorrane dos Santos’ brave pike front mount, her aerial walkover to split leap to sheep jump to Julie Kim Sinmon’s interesting choreography, good rhythm and confident acrobatics, these are indicators that Brazil’s future is a bright one. Dos Santos placed 2nd while Sinmon was third in the beam final.
Watch here: Lorrane dos Santos, beam, event finals
Sanne Wevers continues to be spectacular on beam: Sanne is a uniquely, fantastically talented beamer. Too bad her discontinuous training has never allowed her to reach her potential on this event. She came really close in the event final at Ljubljana when she managed to hit her impressive spins and connections: double L turn, side aerial to side aerial, triple turn, L turn to full turn to double turn, only to fall on a Kochetkova (?) attempt. It was a remarkable routine up to that point and hopefully she will manage to hit it in its entirety when it will count the most.
Watch here : Sanne’s beam final routine (she finished 4th)
If you want to discover further, watch the event finals videos here, or the qualifications videos here.
Complete results can be found here.
Article by: Bea Gheorghisor
Photo Cover by Nadia Boyce
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