The yearly Gymnix international took place in Montreal last weekend. It was yet another strong competition, especially in the junior field:
The junior competition was “won” clearly by the team from the US, with team gold, an all around podium sweep, and vault, beam and floor gold. It was a great meet for Jordan Chiles, Gabby Perea, Deanne Soza and Emma Malabuyo. They impressed through consistency in qualifications/ all around when Perea, Soza and Malabuyo all scored in the 56’s, within .225 of each other. But they also presented their big skills. For instance, Jordan Chiles threw her Amanar in qualifications and event final. It could have used a little bit more height but she hit and it’s a safe enough vault she has been doing for years now. Deanne Soza was pretty yet shaky on beam and floor, showing a good level of difficulty but falling on the last pass on floor (double pike) and incurring some deductions on beam after steps on landing and noticeable bobbles. Her best even was bars where she showed great form and a full in layout to dismount with. The all around champ of the meet, Gabby Perea, was also exquisite on bars flying between the bars with ease. The most decorated American at the meet was Emma Malabuyo, however: on beam she won the event final with packed routine out of 6.5 difficulty (double wolf turn, flick – layout stepout – layout stepout, sheep jump, standing Arabian, side Aerial, Aerial walkover to split jump to straddle jump, switch ring leap , bhs- bhs- double pike to dismount), while on she tumbled very well too especially considering that she looks quite petite and fragile, but fear not, this girl is deceptively strong:
Emma Malabuyo – FX 14.350/5.7
Emma Malabuyo – BB 14.825/6.5
Gabby Perea – UB
Jordan Chiles – VT
Deanne Soza – UB
In the senior competition, the title went to a team from Belgium (Axelle Klinckaert, Gaelle Mys, Nina Derwael, Laura Waem), followed by three teams from Canada and then Belgium again, while Japan was 6th. Axelle Klinckaert was also second in the all around, in addition to the team success, and winning the floor final with her quirky routine (double layout, full in, double back pike). Nina Derwael won the bars final with a packet routine: stalder full – Chow – Pak full, Maloney, Ricna, Pak, Van Leeuwen, full in dismount. Nina also looked pretty on beam, where she won a silver medal with a steady but safe routine (she looks so good with her long lines) – aerial walkover to sheep jump, side somi, flick- flick- layout stepout, side aerial, Gainer full dismount.
Axelle Klinckaert – FX 14, 275/5.9
Nina Derwael, bars gold with 14.375/6.3
Isabella Onyshko was the senior all around champion with the best AA total of the meet: 57.550. She is having a great start of year after winning Canada Elite in February with a similar total. She presented good difficulty thoughout – DTY, a bars routine out of 6.1, a whopping 6.5 for her beam (flick- bhs- layout to two feet, switch leap to side aerial, flick – back tuck full, aerial walkover to switch half, Y turn, switch ring leap, double back dismount ) and a floor out of 5.8 (whip-whip-double back, full in, Memmel to Illusion, double pike). In the event finals, Onysko was 2nd on floor and 3rd on uneven bars. Shallon Olsen also competed well for Canada Max (3rd team), she won the vault title ( double twisting Yurchenko and Yurcjhenko half on, 1 1/2 tuck out) and a bronze medal on floor with a difficult routine (Silivas, 1 1/2 to double back, Memmel turn, triple full, double pike). Rose-Kaying Woo (Canada Rams) placed third in the all around with a very consistent first day of competition when she scored in the 14’s for her FTY and for her beam routine.
Isabella Onyshko UB 14.100/6.1
Eythora Thorsdottir came out for her first competition of the year and she competed all around after which she was a bit disappointed due to a poor beam performance; in the second day she competed on beam and floor finals. She had a better day, medaling on beam and finishing 4th on floor.
Eythora Thorsdottir – floor 13.925/5.7
The Russian Juniors (Anastasiia Illiankova, Valeriia Saifulina, Varvara Zubova, Uliana Perebinosova) finished 2nd in the team competition, about 7 points behind the Americans. Illiankova was Russia’s sole AA-ed, finshing 4th with a 55.225 and she also won the uneven bars title. Varvara Zubova impressed on beam with a packed routine, literraly tumbling back and front on the apparatus: aerial to aerial to sheep jump, Gainer layout – layout stepout – layout stepout, round-off – layout to two feet, Onodi – split leap – back straddle, bhs- bhs- double back tuck
Varvara Zubova – BB 14.2/5.7
The Romanian juniors were 5th , behind USA, Russia, Canada and Japan. The team was composed of 2001-born Cimpian, Ioana Crisan and Alissia Botnaru and 2002 born Denisa Golgota. The leaders of this generation seem to be Crisan and Cimpian but at Gymnix they did not have their best competition. Crisan is now coming back after an injury suffered last summer and looks to be having most of her skills back but she needs the numbers in order to up her E scores. Cimpian has all the necessary skills (fer her level) and looks great on the apparatuses with her long lines. However, her long body seems to be both a blessing and a curse since at times she seems to be finding it hard to approach certain elements and breaks rhythm. She still won a broze medal on floor. Another medalist for Romania was Alissia Botnaru with a silver on floor. The up and coming Denisa Golgota placed 4th on vault (DTY, FTY).
Olivia Cimpian – FX 13.600/5.4
Japan sent two teams of three gymnasts – one for the junior competition and one for the senior. The juniors finished 4th (Kiko Kuwajima, Soyoka Hanawa, Mana Oguchi) while the seniors finished 6th (Sae Miyakawa, Nagi Kajita, Yuna Hiraiwa). Sae Miyakawa presented a new floor routine (interesting choice of music). She had a super ambitious tumbling: full in layout, front full to double front tuck, Silivas and double layout to dismount, but also had two scary falls (after the double front and the DLO). Myiakawa was also 2nd on vault (Cheng, FTY).
Sae Miyakawa on floor – 12.275/6.6:
Results:
Junior – team final, all around, vault, bars, beam, floor
Senior – team final, all around, vault, bars, beam, floor
Article: Bea Gheorghisor
Photo Cover: the junior team podium, source