The 2018 Romanian Nationals took place between the 12th and the 14th of October in Ploiesti.
Silvia Sfiringu (junior born in 2004) won the all around with a total pf 53.600. She was the only gymnast to compete a DTY (13.75/5.4). On bars and floor she had solid routines of difficulty out of 4.6 and 4.9 respectively(watch her bars here). The highlight of her day was the beam routine sporting some serious elements but also some big wobbles: round-off -stepout mount, flick – loso-loso, triple full dismount (13.95 /5.9). Her routine with commentary by Larisa Iordache:
Ioana Stanciulescu (also a 20014 junior ), placed 2nd with 53.300. Ioana had a Yurchenko full, was solid on bars (Maloney, Pak, Ray, Jaeger, full in dismount) for 13.200/4.6/; Stanciulescu also broke the 13. mark on beam (out of 5.3 difficulty). Ioana is the jr european champion on floor and she did not disappoint on this event (full in, 1/2 to double back tuck, front 1 1/2 to punch front, double pike dismount).
Nica Ivanus (senior) placed third with a promising 52.05 total. Nica only competed on vault at Euros earlier this year so to see her potentially able to contribute on all four events is really encouraging. She had an Yurchenko full on vault, a routine out of 4.2 on bars (for a score of 12.05). Beam was her best event, with a 13.55 (5.4 D) and on floor she hit her routine for 13.25 (4.9). Unfortunately Nica was not able to replicate the same consistent routines in the second day of apparatus finals, when she had mistakes on both bars and beam.
Daniela Trica (junior) placed 4th with 51.85, after good routines on beam and floor, with scores in the mid 13s.
Ioana Crisan placed 5th all around with 51.450. She did a FTY on vault, had a hit bars routine (13.1/5.2), fell on beam (12.45/5.7) and had a good floor routine (13.25/5.1). In the second day of competition Ioana had mistakes on bars but hit beam and floor. Given the fact that she is now coming back from injury and this is only her second competition of the year, Crisan is a great gain for the team. With a bit more time she will be able to leverage her decent difficulty and previous competitive experience (she went to Worlds last year, was in the AA final) and can help the Romanian team.
Here is Ioana´s bars routine from the AA/TF:
Maria Holbura placed 6th with 51.050. She had good routines on bars and floor. In the second day Holbura became silver medalist on bars (title won by Andreea Ciurusniuc) and won a bronze medal on floor.
Laura Iacob placed 7th with 50.900. She had a fall on bars (11.500/4.4) but managed a hit beam routine (13.250/5.2). Laura got a re-do of her bars in the day of the finals and (mostly) hit this time, minus a bent knee moment on the low bar. She also hit her beam routine for a second day in a row, taking the silver medal on this event.
Carmen Ghiciuc placed 9th with 50.600. She had a good beam set 13.000/4.9 but had mistakes in her bars set (12.700 /4.8); in the second day she removed the Shap transition and she hit. Carmen´s bars from day 1:
The Saturday started with a huge bummer: the unexpected withdrawalof Denisa Golgota who accused leg pain during training. Denisa was seen walking after the withdrawal and the injury was later said to be a muscular contracture. There is still hope that she will be able to participate at the Doha Worlds.
Without Denisa´s scores and with the home judging (which was lenient but not to the extreme of previous years), here are the scores of the 5 that are on the nominative list for Doha:
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<span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif';">13.2</span>
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12.05
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4.2
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13.55
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5.4
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13.25
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4.9
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<span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif';">12.95</span>
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11.5
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4.4
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13.25
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5.2
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13.2
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5
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<span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif';">12.3</span>
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<span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif';">12.7</span>
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4.8
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13
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4.9
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12.6
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4.8
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<span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif';">12.6</span>
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12.95
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4.7
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12.45
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<td align="right">
5.2
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<td align="right">
13.05
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4.9
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<td align="right" bgcolor="#FFFF00">
<span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif';">12.65</span>
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<td align="right" bgcolor="#FFFF00">
<span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif';">13.1</span>
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5.2
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12.45
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5.7
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<td align="right" bgcolor="#FFFF00">
13.2
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5.1
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<span style="color: #ff3333;">12.25</span>
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<span style="color: #ff3333;">12.8</span>
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<span style="color: #ff3333;">4.3</span>
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<span style="color: #ff3333;">12.35</span>
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<span style="color: #ff3333;">4.5</span>
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<span style="color: #ff3333;">12.6</span>
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<span style="color: #ff3333;">4.5</span>
</td>
*I included Ciurusniuc as the only possible alternate if Golgota is out, but she is not in the National team.
Total scoring potential of 157:
VT: Ivanus, Iacob, Crisan, Holbura (38,8 total at Romanian Nationals)
UB: Crisan, Holbura, Ghiciuc, Iacob (38,75 total at Romanian Nationals)
BB: Ghichiuc, Ivanus, Iacob, Crisan (39,8 total at Romanian Nationals)
FX: Ivanus, Iacob, Crisan, Holbura(39,65 total at Romanian Nationals)
The vault scores could go up by a couple of points (the team scored a 41.532 at Euros in Glasgow, with Golgota´s DTY); hitting the ideal routines on bars and beam will be tough, although the format of the competition will be 4 gymnasts compete 3 scores count.
My prediction is that the team will have to score above a 150 to stay in the top 24. Romania starts the competition on the 2nd day (subdivision 7, first of the day), with the balance beam so anything will be possible, really…
Full results all around:
Team rankings:
Article: Bea Gheorghisor
Photo Cover: Federatia Romana de Gymnastica