This year’s Romanian Nationals took place between the 1st and the 3rd of July in Cluj-Napoca. The same venue will host the 2017 Euros so this meet was a welcome rehearsal.
As we all know by now, Romania hasn’t qualified a full team to Rio (nor would they have been able to send one, by looking at the number of seniors competing in Cluj). The gymnast that gets to represent the country at the Olympics will be decided between Larisa Iordache and Catalina Ponor, in late July.
Both gymnasts have had a very difficult previous week in Cluj Napoca but still decided to compete at the last minute.
Larisa Iordache suffered a possible concussion and back injury on a fall on floor, last Monday. She couldn’t train for a couple of days and was unwell for a while but eventually she managed to pull together four watered down routines, clean enough to clinch the all around title. She did a full twisting Yurchenko vault which looked very easy for her.
On bars she was spotted on landing on the first day incurring a severe deduction, she made it though without help in finals for a 13.8/5.8: toe on circle, van Leeuwen, half turn to straddle Jaeger, Tkachev- Pak, toe on circle, Maloney, toe on full to full in dismount. She had messy legs and form breaks but the routine has the potential to look far better in a couple of weeks.
Beam looked secure both days despite some uncharacteristic wobbles. She watered down, taking out the full in, the round of to layout series and the triple full dismount. But even with a composition of flick -layout (or rather back pike), aerial walkover to leap, side aerial side somi, switch leap -switch half, double turn and triple full dismount, she managed to qualify first for event finals.
On floor she had a routine with new music but some of her old choreography. Larisa looked very comfortable with this routine, and more than anything, happy to finally be able to compete again. Due to her back scare she only did as tumbling: triple full, double back tuck, 2 1/2 twists, double pike.
In the second day of competition Iordache scratched floor. She won bars despite some troubles on the dismount and a silver on beam.
Catalina Ponor also overcame health challenges in order to be able to compete in Cluj-Napoca. She was out for a few days with a stomach bug. She was administered fluids and even spent a night at the hospital. In the first day she attempted to upgrade her beam by adding a double turn but she fell. Her routine looked very good otherwise: switch ring leap, Onodi- aerial walkover- flick- layout to two feet, switch half, back flick with full turn, switch leap to Omelianchik, double back pike dismount. She took out the double turn in event finals and won with a 15.166.
On floor, she also presented very good routines, working especially tidy in the finals. Her passes were: double layout, whip-whip- full in, triple full and double pike.
This first round of the Ponor versus Iordache race to Rio was a draw: Iordache won beam and floor the first day while Ponor took the titles on these events in the finals. Larisa proved she can compete all around although there is a lot to add back in her routines: the Yurchenko double full, cleaning up bars, re-introducing the tuck full on beam and massively upgrading floor. Catalina Ponor showed she is in great shape at the moment, with better endurance, more well rounded routines and better execution. If Rio were next week, Catalina would take the spot. But a few more weeks of training will surely count a great deal in Larisa’s favor.
The other seniors competing at nationals were Anda Butuc, who had good routines on bars and beam during finals. She hit her difficult beam mount and showed nice clean lines. Here is Anda’s beam final routine:
Maria Holbura won bronze medals on bars and floor. On beam, she hit a round-off to back tuck full but went off the apparatus on a Y turn.
The juniors and the seniors competed together and so Ioana Crisan won the silver medal in the all around. She scored just .234 behind Iordache, despite 0.4 deductions on floor. She had a massive beam routine, out of 6.1 difficulty, a competitive floor routine (out of 5.8) and a good FTY vault. She competed in all four event finals on Sunday. Here is her bars routine:
Denisa Golgota, silver medalist on vault and gold medalist on floor at the 2016 Junior Euros, also had a good competition. She was 5th in the all around and won the silver medal in the floor final and the gold on vault.
Other juniors to watch are: Carmen Glavan (3rd all around), Ana Maria Puiu (bronze on floor). Ioana Oprea (bronze on vault).
All around results:
Event finalists:
Article: Bea Gheorghisor
Photo cover by Lucian Nuta via Andreea Raducan
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