Vault
To nobody’s surprise, Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan took gold in the Vault final, with a clean Rudi earning a 15.0, and an equally clean Tsukahara 1.5 with just a hop forward, 14.4, giving her an average of 14.7.
Wu Jing of China came in second with two similar vaults– a Rudi and a Double Twisting Tsukahara to Chuso’s Rudi and 1.5 Tsuk. Despite the higher difficulty, Wu Jing’s execution was not nearly as good. Her double twisting Tsukahara was landed with a low chest and was off-center, forcing her to take a step out of bounds for a 14.2. Her Rudi was also off-center, with a step back, 14.5. Still, successfully landing vaults valued 6.0 and 6.2 was more than enough to put her comfortably into silver medal position with an average of 14.350, and I imagine China is pretty happy Wu Jing has a Rudi that she’s putting to her feet.
The commentator on the Ginnastica feed kept going on about how the Rudi and DTT should be considered the same vault, apparently missing the fact that the Rudi has 1.5 turns post-springboard while the DTT actually has 2.5. If the gymnasts weren’t turning enough onto the vault table, the resulting vault would be like a front handspring 2.5 twisting layout, not a 1.5, which would probably end up with a D-score in the Produnova put-this-to-your-feet-and-who-cares-about-the-rest range, although would be more difficult to land feet-first in case of a fall (as Wu Jing’s team mate discovered later in the final).
Tjasa Kysselef of Slovenia won the bronze medal, vaulting a handspring front tuck full, with some leg separation and form issues on the table but landed dead center of the mat, 14.066. Her second vault was a nice full twisting Yurchenko, 13.866, for an average of 13.966, eking out third place by just 0.017 above:
Gabriela Janek of Poland’s 13.949. Gabriela’s handspring tuck full was very good apart from a big hop forward, earning her a 14.233 on her first vault. Unfortunately, the difficulty just wasn’t there in her second vault, a simple Tsukahara layout that received 13.666.
Lisa Top of the Netherlands also wasn’t far behind, finishing only 0.033 out of bronze medal position with an average of 13.933. She also completed a handspring tuck full, with a big hop to the side that went out of bounds, 13.866, and a tidy FTY, 14.0.
Liu Jinru of China had the same high difficulty (indeed, the same vaults) as her teammate Wu Jing, but finished last with only a 7.166 average, due to the 0 on her double twisting Tsukahara. As the commentator said, she didn’t twist nearly enough onto the table for a Tsukahara (or a Kasamatsu); unlike what he said, that essentially left her attempting a handspring layout front with 2.5 twists. This ended slightly better than you’d expect for a gymnast attempting this vault unpracticed onto a hard surface: it was crashed to her knees and elbows (without a dream of her feet touching first), but luckily she didn’t appear injured, merely disappointed.
Results:
<td width="124">
Name
</td>
<td width="109">
Country
</td>
<td width="70">
D-Score
</td>
<td width="81">
E-Score
</td>
<td width="43">
ND
</td>
<td width="65">
Total
</td>
<td width="79">
Average
</td>
<td width="124">
Oksana Chusovitina
</td>
<td width="109">
Uzbekistan
</td>
<td width="70">
6.2</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
5.5</td>
<td width="81">
8.800</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
8.900</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="65">
15.000</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
14.400</td>
<td width="79">
14.700
</td></tr>
<tr>
<td width="53">
2
</td>
<td width="124">
Wu Jing
</td>
<td width="109">
China
</td>
<td width="70">
6.0</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
6.2</td>
<td width="81">
8.300</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
8.300</td>
<td width="43">
-0.1
</td>
<td width="65">
14.200</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
14.500</td>
<td width="79">
14.350
</td></tr>
<tr>
<td width="53">
3
</td>
<td width="124">
Tjasa Kysselef
</td>
<td width="109">
Slovenia
</td>
<td width="70">
5.3</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
5.0</td>
<td width="81">
8.766</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
8.866</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="65">
14.066</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
13.866</td>
<td width="79">
13.966
</td></tr>
<tr>
<td width="53">
4
</td>
<td width="124">
Gabriela Janik
</td>
<td width="109">
Poland
</td>
<td width="70">
5.3</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
4.6</td>
<td width="81">
8.933</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
9.066</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="65">
14.233</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
13.666</td>
<td width="79">
13.949
</td></tr>
<tr>
<td width="53">
5
</td>
<td width="124">
Lisa Top
</td>
<td width="109">
Netherlands
</td>
<td width="70">
5.3</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
5.0</td>
<td width="81">
8.666</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
9.000</td>
<td width="43">
-0.1
</td>
<td width="65">
13.866</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
14.000</td>
<td width="79">
13.933
</td></tr>
<tr>
<td width="53">
6
</td>
<td width="124">
Antonia Alicke
</td>
<td width="109">
Germany
</td>
<td width="70">
5.3</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
4.8</td>
<td width="81">
8.6</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
8.733</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="65">
13.8</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
13.533</td>
<td width="79">
13.666
</td></tr>
<tr>
<td width="53">
7
</td>
<td width="124">
Teja Belak
</td>
<td width="109">
Slovenia
</td>
<td width="70">
5.3</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
5.3</td>
<td width="81">
7.733</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
8.866</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="65">
13.033</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
14.166</td>
<td width="79">
13.599
</td></tr>
<tr>
<td width="53">
8
</td>
<td width="124">
Liu Jinru
</td>
<td width="109">
China
</td>
<td width="70">
6.2</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
0.0</td>
<td width="81">
8.333</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
0.000</td>
<td width="43">
-0.3
</td>
<td width="65">
14.244</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
0.000</td>
<td width="79">
7.116
</td></tr> </tbody> </table>
<p>
</p>
<p>
Uneven Bars
</p>
<p>
The gold went to <strong>Sophie Scheder</strong> of Germany, who began her routine with an inbar full – Komova II – overshoot to handstand – toe-on full – inbar shoot up to high bar connection, only then taking the first kip of her routine since her mount, whew! Inbar – inbar half – Jaeger connection, then winds up for her full-in dismount, landed with only a small step back. Between the inbar work and her unrelenting connections, her difficulty was 6.4, and she had no major errors; she received a well-deserved 14.9.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Xiaofang Zhu</strong> of China got the silver medal with a 14.733. She began with a Maloney connected to a gorgeous Pak salto, then a Van Leeuwen back to the high bar where she began those intricate spin combinations we’ve come to expect from the Chinese gymnasts, adding a straddled Jaeger in the middle for some variety. On her full-in dismount, her chest was down and she took a hop. Overall a very clean routine, except for the odd late handstand/turn and the landing.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Gabriela Janik</strong> of Poland came in third, with a respectable difficulty score of 5.7, nice form, and a gorgeous line. Besides flexed feet on her Tkachev, her only real error was on her double front dismount, which was cowboyed and landed with a very low chest; she had to take a huge lunge forward to stay on her feet. Besides that, the routine was beautiful to watch, and earned a 13.266.
</p>
<p>
The Netherlands came to grief on the uneven bars, with <strong>Lisa Top</strong> and <strong>Sanne Wevers</strong> finishing in the last two spots in the final. They’ll want to be looking better than that for this lead-up to Rio. Sanne’s routine was beautiful at the beginning, until she had a major form break on the handstand at the end of her Shaposhnikova to free hip connection, and though she didn’t fall, her second attempt had a similar break. Though she was fairly clean through the rest of the routine, Sanne looked tired and seems to have left out some of the more difficult elements. She ended up dismounting with just a double back, and immediately slumped her shoulders in defeat before saluting the judges.
</p>
<p>
After her bars medal at Euros last year, Sanne had been one of the gymnasts to watch in this final, so her 8th place finish was a big disappointment. She qualified in third, with a difficulty score of 5.6, so those form breaks and downgraded dismount ended up costing her a full 1.2 points on her D-score in finals, which was 4.4. Here’s hoping it was a fluke!
</p>
<p>
<strong>Simona Castro </strong>had a good routine, well executed, but didn’t have enough difficulty to break into the medals. <strong>Oksana Chusovitina</strong> (who I’m not used to seeing on other apparatus besides the vault!) was mostly clean with some cool, unusual skills and lots of shoulder flexibility, but the difficulty wasn’t there and she had some trouble maintaining her swing.
</p>
<p>
Results:
</p>
<table width="621">
<tr>
<td width="73">
Standing
</td>
<td width="161">
Name
</td>
<td width="124">
Country
</td>
<td width="70">
D-Score
</td>
<td width="76">
E-Score
</td>
<td width="43">
ND
</td>
<td width="74">
Total
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
1
</td>
<td width="161">
Sophie Scheder
</td>
<td width="124">
Germany
</td>
<td width="70">
6.4
</td>
<td width="76">
8.500
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="74">
14.900
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
2
</td>
<td width="161">
Zhu Xiofang
</td>
<td width="124">
China
</td>
<td width="70">
6.4
</td>
<td width="76">
8.333
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="74">
14.733
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
3
</td>
<td width="161">
Gabriela Janik
</td>
<td width="124">
Poland
</td>
<td width="70">
5.7
</td>
<td width="76">
7.566
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="74">
13.266
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
4
</td>
<td width="161">
Simona Castro
</td>
<td width="124">
Chile
</td>
<td width="70">
4.9
</td>
<td width="76">
8.2
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="74">
13.100
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
5
</td>
<td width="161">
Nora Fernandez
</td>
<td width="124">
Spain
</td>
<td width="70">
5.3
</td>
<td width="76">
7.666
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="74">
12.966
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
6
</td>
<td width="161">
Oksana Chusovitina
</td>
<td width="124">
Uzbekistan
</td>
<td width="70">
5.1
</td>
<td width="76">
7.666
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="74">
12.766
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
7
</td>
<td width="161">
Lisa Top
</td>
<td width="124">
Netherlands
</td>
<td width="70">
5.1
</td>
<td width="76">
7.266
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="74">
12.366
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
8
</td>
<td width="161">
Sanne Wevers
</td>
<td width="124">
Netherlands
</td>
<td width="70">
4.4
</td>
<td width="76">
6.366
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="74">
10.766</p>
<p>
</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
<p>
</p>
<p>
Balance Beam
</p>
<p>
On balance beam,<strong> Katarzyna Jurkowska-Kowalska</strong> of Poland took the gold medal with a score of 14.033. She got her acrobatic connection quickly with a kick over to back handspring, and had a good connection in her split leap to wolf as well. Her front aerial to sheep jump connection was a bit slow, but probably creditable, and she landed the sheep confidently. Besides a wobble on her switch ring and a small balance check on an illusion turn, the routine was very clean and well-performed. She finished with an unexpected, and great, Steingruber dismount, a gainer layout full off the end of the beam.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Sophie Scheder </strong>of Germany won silver with a 13.9. She started with a quiet mount, then performed a back handspring to layout stepout for her acrobatic series, and then a front-aerial to split jump to wolf jump, well connected, and taking care of her leap series as well, which was smart, since it minimized the D-score reduction when she didn’t connect her switch leap to the switch half later in the routine. She performed a side somi and Y-turn well, but had a big check on her aerial cartwheel. She finished with the best gainer layout off the end of the beam I’ve seen so far, despite a hop back– it was fully laid out, without a hint of the pike position that usually goes with it.
</p>
<p>
In what is likely to be a controversial result, the bronze medal went to <strong>Sanne Wevers</strong> of the Netherlands, despite falling on her triple spin. It’s true that besides the fall, the rest of Sanne’s routine was excellent. She started with a thrilling full twisting back handspring mount without a hint of wobble. She put her leg down half a turn early on her eponymous skill, the double L turn, but her aerial cartwheel – aerial cartwheel connection was very well performed, with her leg held up in between. After the fall on her triple turn, she performs her L turn to full turn and double turn to split leap perfectly, and finished with a good switch leap to full-twisting back handspring connection before dismounting with a gainer layout.
</p>
<p>
She received a 13.666; her D-score was 6.3, which was 0.3 higher than they gave her in qualifications. To be fair, that score is 1.084 below her qualification score of 14.75. Also, if her qualification score had been exactly 1 point lower, she would have qualified in third. So this result does make some sense, even if a routine with a fall medalling above good, well-executed routines feels intuitively incorrect.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Oksana Chusovitina </strong>performed an excellent, punch-front-filled routine (a tucked one to mount, as well as both a tucked and a piked punch front on the beam). She performed a wolf turn– ET TU, CHUSO?– but it was well-performed and she kept the shape well. Piking a back layout to two feet and a hop back on her double tuck dismount were her only two errors in this wobble-free routine, which is why it felt like this routine deserved to medal, though the start value was 1.1 lower than Wevers’s routine. Chusovitina is starting to seem superhuman. This woman competed at the 1992 Olympics, remember.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Nora Fernandez</strong>’s routine was another highlight of the beam final. She looked completely confident, and her score, a 12.833, seemed too low in this extremely pretty routine whose only obvious flaws were a balance check on her side aerial and a low chest and step on her dismount. She mounted with a neck stand to shoulder stand to neck stand to shoulder stand, each accompanied by a lovely split, showcasing her flexibility. Her back handspring – back handspring – layout stepout was well-controlled, and she had a very cute little curtsey – pivot – bow bit of choreo at the end before dismounting with a double pike. She’s only 16; hopefully we’ll see more from her in the future, because she has lots of potential!
</p>
<p>
Results:
</p>
<table width="624">
<tr>
<td width="73">
Standing
</td>
<td width="163">
Name
</td>
<td width="104">
Country
</td>
<td width="78">
D-Score
</td>
<td width="72">
E-Score
</td>
<td width="42">
ND
</td>
<td width="92">
Total
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
1
</td>
<td width="163">
Katarzyna Jurkowska-Kowalska
</td>
<td width="104">
Poland
</td>
<td width="78">
5.9
</td>
<td width="72">
8.133
</td>
<td width="42">
</td>
<td width="92">
14.033
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
2
</td>
<td width="163">
Sophie Scheder
</td>
<td width="104">
Germany
</td>
<td width="78">
5.5
</td>
<td width="72">
8.400
</td>
<td width="42">
</td>
<td width="92">
13.900
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
3
</td>
<td width="163">
Sanne Wevers
</td>
<td width="104">
Netherlands
</td>
<td width="78">
6.3
</td>
<td width="72">
7.366
</td>
<td width="42">
</td>
<td width="92">
13.666
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
4
</td>
<td width="163">
Oksana Chusovitina
</td>
<td width="104">
Uzbekistan
</td>
<td width="78">
5.2
</td>
<td width="72">
8.166
</td>
<td width="42">
</td>
<td width="92">
13.366
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
5
</td>
<td width="163">
Ioanna Xoulogi
</td>
<td width="104">
Greece
</td>
<td width="78">
5.4
</td>
<td width="72">
7.466
</td>
<td width="42">
</td>
<td width="92">
12.866
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
6
</td>
<td width="163">
Nora Fernandez
</td>
<td width="104">
Spain
</td>
<td width="78">
5.3
</td>
<td width="72">
7.533
</td>
<td width="42">
</td>
<td width="92">
12.833
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
7
</td>
<td width="163">
Dilnoza Abdusalimova
</td>
<td width="104">
Uzbekistan
</td>
<td width="78">
5.3
</td>
<td width="72">
7.166
</td>
<td width="42">
-0.1
</td>
<td width="92">
12.366
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="73">
8
</td>
<td width="163">
Teja Belak
</td>
<td width="104">
Slovenia
</td>
<td width="78">
5.0
</td>
<td width="72">
6.633
</td>
<td width="42">
</td>
<td width="92">
11.633
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
</p>
<p>
Floor Final
</p>
<p>
<strong>Lisa Top</strong> of the Netherlands finished first in the floor final with a score of 13.6, despite stepping out of bounds on three of her tumbling passes. Lisa’s floor routine is more conventional than the more famous ones we’ve seen from her teammates; for one thing, she has four tumbling passes, including a piked double arabian and a double front. While her dance and expression aren’t as breathtaking as Lieke Wevers’s or Eythora Thorsdottir’s, Lisa is definitely reaping the benefits of <a href="https://youtu.be/VH1mLh3GvVs?t=1m15s">acting like a cucumber</a> (that is, the Netherland’s focus on presentation and artistry). Much as we love to see the Dutch pirouetting and emoting their way to good scores, the Netherlands could definitely do with a good tumbler. This win has probably helped Lisa’s case for herself on the Rio team, though it’s a shame that her power on the floor hasn’t managed to translate into some more difficult vaults.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Katarzyna Jurkowska-Kowalska</strong> of Poland continued to have a good day, following up her gold on the balance beam with a 13.533 to clinch the silver medal on floor. Her tumbling passes were a double front, landed well with a tiny hop, a double twist with a stagger to the side, and a front handspring to front double full. While it would be nice to see a bit more enthusiasm from her– she doesn’t quite sell the routine as well as she might– she had very good choreography, and nice, balletic dance.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Sophie Scheder</strong> of Germany completed a trifecta as her 13.333 nabbed her a bronze on floor, to go with her bars gold and beam silver. Her tumbling was solid, with three D-level tumbling passes, but it was the polish to her routine that really stood out, her dance full of little details and touches to show her complete mastery of the choreography.
</p>
<p>
It would be remiss not to mention <strong>Marta Pihan-Kulesza</strong> of Poland, who recently announced her impending retirement. This was her last Challenge Cup, and her penultimate meet; the Italian League in May will be her final competition. She said she wanted to make these last two months of her gymnastics her best two, and she certainly seemed to be having a blast in this floor final! She left behind her Pink Panther routine for West Side Story, and sold the heck out of her new routine.
</p>
<p>
Despite sitting down her back layout 2.5 to front full and finishing in 7th, <strong>Antonia Alicke</strong> deserves commendation for the best fulfillment of the “dance directly into tumbling passes” rule; on her second pass, she went from dance to the tumbling run so seamlessly that I was confused for a moment.
</p>
<p>
Results:
</p>
<table width="624">
<tr>
<td width="74">
Standing
</td>
<td width="157">
Name
</td>
<td width="133">
Country
</td>
<td width="69">
D-Score
</td>
<td width="81">
E-Score
</td>
<td width="43">
ND
</td>
<td width="67">
Total
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="74">
1
</td>
<td width="157">
Lisa Top
</td>
<td width="133">
Netherlands
</td>
<td width="69">
5.8
</td>
<td width="81">
8.100
</td>
<td width="43">
-0.3
</td>
<td width="67">
13.600
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="74">
2
</td>
<td width="157">
Katarzyna Jurkowska-Kowalska
</td>
<td width="133">
Poland
</td>
<td width="69">
5.5
</td>
<td width="81">
8.033
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="67">
13.533
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="74">
3
</td>
<td width="157">
Sophie Scheder
</td>
<td width="133">
Germany
</td>
<td width="69">
5.0
</td>
<td width="81">
8.333
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="67">
13.333
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="74">
4T
</td>
<td width="157">
Simona Castro
</td>
<td width="133">
Chile
</td>
<td width="69">
5.4
</td>
<td width="81">
7.833
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="67">
13.233
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="74">
4T
</td>
<td width="157">
Marta Pihan-Kulesza
</td>
<td width="133">
Poland
</td>
<td width="69">
5.4
</td>
<td width="81">
7.833
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="67">
13.233
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="74">
4T
</td>
<td width="157">
Angelina Kysla
</td>
<td width="133">
Ukraine
</td>
<td width="69">
5.5
</td>
<td width="81">
7.833
</td>
<td width="43">
-0.1
</td>
<td width="67">
13.233
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="74">
7
</td>
<td width="157">
Antonia Alicke
</td>
<td width="133">
Germany
</td>
<td width="69">
5.2
</td>
<td width="81">
7.166
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="67">
12.366
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="74">
8
</td>
<td width="157">
Veronika Cenkova
</td>
<td width="133">
Czech Republic
</td>
<td width="69">
5.1
</td>
<td width="81">
7.100
</td>
<td width="43">
</td>
<td width="67">
12.200
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
</p>
<p>
<strong>Article by: Melissa Knapp</strong>
</p>
<p>
<strong>Photo <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Turnier.der.Meister/?fref=ts">source</a></strong>
</p>
<p>
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</p>