Torino was the last competition of the Serie A and also the last competition of the Italian team before the European Championships in Bern. The meet was supposed to be exciting, since the nominative roster for Bern had come out a few days before, leaving many question marks among the fans, which could be resolved after the competition. Sadly, the meet was quite disappointing and with many falls.
Vanessa Ferrari finally competed for the first time since Glasgow, going for an easy beam routine and Carlotta Ferlito performed downgraded routines after the Jesolo accident.
Seniors
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Martina Rizzelli added back the DTY on vault, which was not very clean and with a big legs separation during the pre-flight. She also stepped OOB with one foot (14.35). She finally hit her new bars (Church, Ricna+Pak, Maloney+ bail to handstand, full-in) even if she still needs to tidy it up a bit (14.55);
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Erika Fasana performed a new floor routine with music from the anime “Bleach”. This powerful style suits her a lot, and even with a downgraded routine (double layout, full-in, double pike) she scored well (14.10). Aside from recovering her old skills, she needs to improve on the dance side, for example trying the Memmel+ illusion combination she worked on last year. Erika had a rough time on bars and fell (12.80);
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Vanessa Ferrari finally came back, and she did it on beam. Her routine lacked confidence, but after many months without competing, it looked ok. She had a big bandage on her ankle, the one she had surgery a few months back. She went for a medium difficulty routine ( bhs+bhs+stepout layout, switch split+ split ring, split+ front aerial, switch ring + sheep jump, switch split ½ , double pike). She missed many connections and wobbled a bit, but stuck the double pike dismount. National coach Enrico Casella said she won’t be in Bern, missing her first European Championships since 2004;
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Carlotta Ferlito competed on beam and bars to protect the foot she slightly injured in Jesolo. Too bad, she fell on both apparatus. On beam, she did a big wobble after the layout and then fell on an easy back tuck. She also dismounted with a simple double twist (12.90). On bars, she lost the balance during a turn and fell and then she downgraded the dismount (12.35);
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Enus Mariani hit a solid FTY on vault (14.35), her usually great but easy floor (14.30), but fell on beam (13.0) and did not do her best on bars (13.50). It’s May, she still hasn’t upgraded and she looks labored on her best event, which could give her a big boost. I’m not seeing many good prospective for her;
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Lara Mori wasn’t as consistent as earlier this year and fell on beam (12.55). Her FTY was quite low (14.00), her bars lacked precision and tidiness, she almost fell on the bail to handstand and had a big form break, (13.65), floor was ok but with problems on the landings (13.60). Lara is a good AAer, but the lack of a standout event make her the perfect alternate for now. Some smart upgrades could give her some more hopes;
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Elisa Meneghini only did 3 downgraded events due a bad flu she suffered days before the meet. She went for a safe and clean FTY on vault (14.20), hit bars without many struggles (13.60) and performed a spicy choreography on floor, despite competing some basic passes such as a back layout (13.00). Elisa didn’t perform on beam, which beside being her best event, is also the one is giving her much trouble. The routine is ambitious ( roundoff+layout full, double turn, split + front aerial, side somi, switch split+back tuck, double pike) and could start from a good 6.3 d score, but it’s been almost a year since the last time she hasn’t had a fall in an important meet;
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Tea Ugrin is still suffering from previous injuries she had. She had a good shown on bars, with good inbars and a nice Gienger (14.10), and was quite wobbly on beam, where she added back her full difficulty (13.65). On floor, Tea is still not competing at her best, with low difficulty and not great precision on the landings (13.45);
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Giorgia Campana went for a slightly more difficult routine on bars, which was not as precise as her previous one, and with many legs separations (13.90). Sofia Busato performed her usually great DTY and stuck it (15.35), but she’s still not ready to perform on other apparatus. Desireè Carofiglio hit the yurchenko 1 ½ on vault (14.30) and her floor (13.35), despite many steps in the landings. She fell on bars (13.00) and beam (12.55). Marta Pihan Kulesza had the last competition of her career. She had problems on bars (11.70) but hit a good beam set (13.95).
Juniors
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Martina Maggio, who competes in the Serie A2, tried for the first time to land a DTY on vault, where she sadly fell after a very deep landing (13.20). She finally hit the Ricna on bars (13.80), which gave her many trouble in Jesolo, while what used to be her best event, beam, was rough and counted a fall (12.55). Her sassy floor, which also has a very good d score, was well done (14.05);
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Maria Vittoria Cocciolo performed a Yurchenko 1 ½ which needs some improvements on the form (13.75). On bars, she had many problems and almost fell on a handstand (12.55) while on beam (13.30) and floor (13.45), she was confident and hit both;
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Martina Basile hit a nice Yurchenko 1 ½ on vault (14.20) and a simple but good routine on bars (13.05). She was tentative on beam (12.55), where she fell and went overtime, an also went OOB on floor (13.10);** **
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Francesca Linari went OOB with both feet on floor, all her landings were a little off (12.60), and was very wobbly on beam (13.20).
While the juniors will compete against Germany and Great Britain on May 21st in an international meet, which will give a nice point of view for the upcoming Europeans, the seniors’ competitions before Bern are done. The nominative roaster was kind of a surprise for many people, since a gymnast like Carlotta Ferlito was left out. European Championships are the best shot for medals for the Italian team, so resting some gymnasts who can potentially be in some finals, looks a little weird. A team medal won’t be easy, but it’s not out of the possibility of this team, and reaching some finals, beam for Carlotta and Elisa (if she hits), bars for Martina Rizzelli, floor for Erika, could be a great result. Sadly, many gymnast are coming back from injuries and they don’t have time to make significat upgrades, which many other teams are doing.
In a few weeks, we’ll know the definitive roaster and also we’ll understand what intentions the national coach has for the team.
Find results and video here.
Article: Giuly Holzer
Cover Photo: Nadia Boyce