The last meet of the Serie A happend in Turin and, as expected, Brixia Brescia took the crown. But more than that, I’m interested about the performances of th girls, who are going to have a busy summer with the Mediterranean games (seniors) and the Youth Olympic Games qualification (for juniors).
SENIORS
Enrico Casella already told the press the Mediterranean games’ team will be made of AA gymnasts, ruling out gymnasts like Carlotta Ferlito, who’s back on every apparatus but bars. He also already invited the gymnasts to the selection camp: Lara Mori, Giada Grisetti, Caterina Cereghetti, Noemi Linari, Desireè Carofiglio, Martina Maggio, Martina Basile and Sara Berardinelli.
Let’s see how they did in Turin.
Desireè Carofiglio was the best among the seniors, surprisingly hitting all 4 routines. She landed her always messy Yurchenko 1 ½ (13.95), was cleaner on bars (Ricna+Pak, stalder 1/1+Maloney+bail, double front dismount, 5.5-13.85) and had a great beam for her standards with a beautiful layout (5.1-13.00). Floor was not as good as it can be, but she earned one of the best score of the day (5-1-13.25).
Lara Mori, again, is not in the best shape. On floor, she changed her first pass, which used to be a very piked double layout, to a whip+ full-in, then went for the 2 ½ twist to front layout, triple twist and double piked (5.3-13.20). Later, she fell on both beam (5.8-12.45) and bars (5.2-12.25), while she vaulted her usual FTY (13.50).
Giada Grisetti vaulted a very messy DTY (14.05) and was inconsistent on her best apparatus, bars, where she fell twice (5.2-10.40). Floor was not great either, with stumbles and form issues, while she had one of the best scores on beam with a nice routine (5.3-13.50).
Francesca Noemi Linari, who’s been quite inconsistent lately, didn’t help her cause too much. She fell on bars despite a pretty simple routine (5.0-12.10) and went out of bounds with both feet on floor (5.1-12.20). Noemi hit beam, but since she has a low D value, her score wasn’t that great (5.0-12.90).
Martina Basile’s competition wasn’t great either. She fell on her first pass on floor, a double layout (5.1-12.00), had major form issues on the yurchenko 1 ½ (13.75) and fell on beam (5.3-12.55).
Caterina Cereghetti, a young and inexperienced gymnast from Centro Sport Bollate, the same team as Grisetti, didn’t have the best day . Caterina is a nice gymnast to watch, with good lines and clean skills, but she doesn’t have a good enough difficulty to match the rest of the team yet. She hit a low FTY (13.30), had clean execution on bars (piked jaeger, tkachev, bail, double piked dismount, 4.8-13.1) but fell on beam (4.8.10.85) and landed oob with both feet on floor (4.8-11.30).
Martina Maggio and Sara Brardinelli are both back from injuries. They won’t be part of the Mediterranean games beause they’re still recovering, and both of them competed downgraded routines with some minor mistakes and wobbles.
Carlotta Ferlito competed on 3 apparatus for the first time since Rio. She vaulted a clean FTY (13.55), hit the best beam routine of the day (switch split mount, front aerial+split jump+straddle jump, bhs+loso, switch split+split ring jump, split leap+aerial cartwheel, switch ring, double twist dismount, 5.4-13.55). On floor, she’s still the only gymnast of the team able to actually entertain the audience with an energetic performance, too bad she went oob on the first 2 passes (Gogean, full-in, 2 1 ½ twist to front tuck, double attitude turn, Memmel, switch split 1/1, double piked, 5.3-13.15).** **
Elisa Meneghini, ostracized after declining the Jesolo assignment, needs to unveil something extraordinary to be able to be in contention again. Casella is still mad at her, and refused to let her attend the next camp because “ she must regain my trust”. Elisa’s routines weren’t that great, but considering the team status, she’s very needed. She fell on beam (5.6-12.60) but she vaulted a clean FTY (13.60) had a nice bars set (4.8-12.90) and a powerful floor (full-in, double Arabian, double back, double piked, (5.0 -13.50). It’s so frustrating to see how good she can be but how she’s wasting her talent with poor decisions.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Senior team is not looking great, we have low difficulty and inconsistent gymnasts, so I predict they will fight for the silver medal in Tarragona, leaving a deserved gold to France. In my opinion, the team will be made by Lara Mori, Giada Grisetti, Desireè Carofiglio, Martina Basile and Noemi Linari. A team which is quite good on floor and vault, but weak on beam and especially on bars.
JUNIORS
Elisa Iorio and Asia D’Amato are listed to participate at the Youth Olympic Games qualification competition in Baku. I bet Casella will send Giorgia Villa to the actual Youth Olympic Games competition in October, but he’s giving the other two some more experience.
In Turin, Giorgia Villa was the best AAer of the day despite a fall on floor. She went for a clean DTY (14.45), hit her intricate bar work (5.9-14.40) and was quite clean on beam despite some form issues (5.3-13.10). On floor, as previously told, she fell on her second pass and went oob with both feet (full-in, front layout+front double twist, triple twist, double tuck, 5.2-12.20).
Asia D’Amato was rested on beam, but competed on the other 3 apparatus. Asia is rock solid and hardly makes mistakes, she was great here too, with a beautiful DTY (14.65) upgraded bars (5.8-13.95) and a good floor routine ( double arabian, full-in, Popa, switch split+swtich split 1/1, double tuck, split leap 1/1, double twist, 5.0-13.20). Asia is looking stronger and stronger every day and she’s definitely giving Villa a run for her money as the best Italian gymnast.
Elisa Iorio is struggling to get in good shape. She got her DTY back, but it looks a little bit scary (14.15), had a rough routine on bars with legs separations and form issues (5.8-14.05) and fell on her last pass on floor (4.8-11.50). Beam was not bad, but she looked tentative (5.3-13.05).
Alessia Federici is the youngest girl of the group who will be in contention for Junior Euros in a few months. Alessia is a fabulous beam worker with an original set ( fhs+front tuck, front aerial, switch split leap+splt ring jump, double turn, aerial cartwheel, bhs+bhs+double twist dismount, 5.2-13.20), but she’s having some issues on the other apparatus, struggling a bit with consistency.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Asia and Elisa will be in Baku and have a nice opportunity to show their progress, they’re both great gymnasts with a lot of potential, Elisa just needs to put it together. Giorgia will probably be chosen as the Youth Olympic Games competitor and, again, she has a great chance to be one of the main faces of the meet. Alice D’Amato is slowing coming back from the knee injury, but if she won’t be ready in time for Junior Euros, Alessia will be a great replacment.
UPDATE: The Mediterranean games team was selected: Giada Grisetti, Martina Basile, Francesca Noemi Linari, Desireè Carofiglio and Lara Mori, but since Carofiglio got slightly injured a few days ago, Martina Maggio is replacing her.
Article: Giuly Holzer