Maribor 2009 Results

I didnt cover this event in any detail because I was away this weekend at a gymnastics competition, so I didnt get to see any of it. Full Results can be found on the Official Website. I've had a chance to see most of the routines now as they are available on 2008agwc's and soveticas4ever youtube channels.
I was most impressed with Kristina Goryunova who won the Beam (14.350) and Floor (14.000) Finals and also got Silver on Bars (13.700). The scores are exactly high compared to the European medallists but she just seemed a much more mature and consistent gymnast than in before and I guess she has recovered well from her "injury" that kept her out of the All Around final.
I liked her beam routine it was elegant and had some nice skills (Onodi,pike front off on leg,sheep jump) and an almost stuck double pike dismount.

Goryunova also had an elegant floor routine and I actuallly liked her dance and leaps and she had solid landings on all 4 tumbles. Anna Myzdrikova also had a nice and more difficult floor routine (13.950) than Goryunovas' but she stepped out of bounds twice and her landings were not as good. She looked like she had grown since last year and was in better shape. The Russians overall were very good although the level of the competition was not high they still did ther job. Another Russian to mention is Ekaterina Kurbatova who won the Bars Final (14.325), she is relatively unknown internationally but had some interesting connections and skills which can been seen on soveticas4ever channel.
Another interesting gymnast was Ana Claudia Silva from Brazil she came 2nd on beam (13.550) and 5th on Bars (13.000). I've always liked her elegant stle and long lines but she has always been inconsistent. Her beam had a very nice mount and spin combination, as well as a clean dismount.

Another gymnast who I liked that competed this weekend is Miranda Meyer from Canada. This was her first overseas competition representing Canada and she made the Beam final. She had the highest start value of all the gymnasts (5.90) and she is only. Unfortunately she did not stick her routine in the final coming 5th (12.550) but earlier this month at the Wild Rose Invitational she came first on beam (13.60). The routine is below for you to watch:

Comparison of International Scores under the 2009 Code Of Points

Now that we have had a few International Competitions this year with the new code I have decided to compare scores and see what a good score is on each apparatus and All Around and who has scored the highest scores so far. I know some of the scores may not be completely accurate (e.g. the American Cup) but it's just so people can get an idea of the scoring under the new code.

All Around
1. Jordyn Wieber 60.200 (American Cup)
2. Bridget Sloan 59.600 (American Cup)
3. Jordyn Wieber 58.500 (Gymnix Junior Cup)
4. Ksenia Semenova 58.175 (Europeans AA Finals)
5. Ksenia Semenova 57.625 (Europeans AA Qualifications)
6. Ksenia Afanasyeva 57.600 (Europeans AA Finals)
7. Ariella Kaeslin/Ana Maria Tamirjan 57.275 (Europeans AA Finals/Quals)
8. Ana Maria Izurieta 56.375 (Europeans AA Finals)
9. Aagje Van Walleghem 56.150 (Europeans Qualifications)
10. Kim Bui 56.000 (American Cup)

Vault (1 Vault)
1. Jordyn Wieber 15.750 (American Cup)
2. Ariella Kaeslin 15.300 (Europeans AA Finals)
3. Bridget Sloan 15.150 (American Cup)
4. Jordyn Wieber 15.000 (International Gymnix Junior Cup)
5. Ana Maria Izurieta 14.850 (Europeans AA Finals)
6. Diana Chelaru 14.675 (Europeans AA Finals)
7. Ana Maria Tamirjan 14.650 (Europeans AA Finals/Quals)
8. Janaina Silva 14.550 (Jesolo)
9. Ksenia Afanasyeva 14.525 (Europeans AA Finals)
10. Ksenia Afanasyeva 14.475 (Europeans AA Qualifications)

Vault (2 Vaults)
1. Ariella Kaeslin 14.625 (European Event Finals)
2. Ariella Kaeslin 14.550 (Cottbus)
3. Yulia Berger 14.325 (Europeans Event Finals)
4. Yulia Berger 14.287 (Europeans Qualifications)
5. Anna Kalashnyk 14.275 (Europeans Event Finals)
6. Jana Komrskova 14.225 (Europeans Qualifications)
7. Aagje Van Walleghem 14.200 (Europeans Event Finals)
8. Charlotte Mackie/Kim Bui 14.150 (International Gymnix World Cup/Europeans Event Finals)
9. Anna Kalashnyk 14.112 (Europeans Qualifications)
10. Kim Bui 14.087 (Europeans Qualifications)

Uneven Bars
1. Beth Tweddle 15.650 (Jesolo)
2. Beth Tweddle 15.575 (Europeans Event Finals)
3. Ksenia Semenova 15.500 (Europeans Event Finals)
4. Beth Tweddle 15.275 (Europeans Qualifications)
5. Anja Brinker 15.025 (Europeans Qualifications)
6. Anja Brinker/Becky Downie 15.00 (Europeans AA Final)
7. Ksenia Semenova/Ksenia Afanaseyeva 14.925 (Europeans AA Final)
8. Ksenia Afanaseyeva/Anja Brinker 14.825 (Europeans Qualifications/Cottbus)
9. Anja Brinker/Jordyn Wieber/Bridget Sloan 14.80 (Europeans Event Finals/American Cup)
10. Youna Dufournet 14.750 (Europeans Qualifications)

Beam
1. Jordyn Wieber 15.00 (American Cup)
2. Bridget Sloan 14.90 (American Cup)
3. Amelia Racea/Ksenia Semenova 14.80 (Jesolo/Europeans AA Final)
4. Yana Demyanchuk 14.775 (Europeans Event Finals)
5. Ana Maria Tamirjan/Jordyn Wieber 14.750 (Europeans Event Finals/International Gymnix Junior Cup)
6. Vasiliki Millousi 14.725 (Europeans Qualifications)
7. Mattie Larson/Gabriela Dragoi 14.650 (International Gymnix World Cup/Europeans Event Finals)
8. Ana Maria Tamirjan 14.60 (Europeans AA Finals)
9. Amelia Racea 14.550 (American Cup)
10. Ana Maria Tamirjan 14.525 (Europeans Qualifications)

Floor
1. Beth Tweddle 15.150 (Europeans Event Finals)
2. Sandra Izbasa 15.050 (Nadia Comaneci International Invitational)
3. Beth Tweddle 14.975 (Europeans Qualifications)
4. Mattie Larson 14.950 (International Gymnix World Cup)
5. Bridget Sloan 14.750 (American Cup)
6. Vanessa Ferrari 14.675 (Europeans Event Finals)
7. Jordyn Wieber 14.650 (American Cup)
8. Ksenia Semenova 14.625 (Europeans Event Finals)
9. Ksenia Afanasyeva 14.575 (Europeans AA Final)
10. Vanessa Ferrari 14.525 (Europeans AA Final)

Videos of the Top Scorers on each apparatus so far in International Competition under the COP 2009:

Winner of the Poll for Best All Around European Gymnast is: Lilia Podkopayeva

Lilia Podkopayeva was born on August 15, 1978 in Donetsk, Ukraine. who became the 1996 Olympic all-around champion. In early 1996, Podkopayeva was seriously injured when she fell from the beam in practice, breaking one rib and fracturing another. She recovered sufficiently to win three gold medals at the 1996 European Championships in the all-around, bars and floor finals. In the all-around, Lilia pushed her childhood idol Svetlana Boginskaya into second place. She also won a bronze on the vault. At the 1996 OLympics in Atlanta she won the gold medal in the all-around final. In doing this Podkopayeva also became the first female gymnast since Tourischeva to hold the European, World, and Olympic all-around titles at the same time. She also became the first, and to date, only, Olympic all-around champion to come from a team that finished outside the medals.
Below are here Vault (the Podkopayeva) and Floor routines from the All Around at the 1996 European Championships:






Podkoypayeva was often referred to as the "complete package" gymnast, possessing equal qualities of technical skill and artistic expression. Her routines were known for their combination of balletic, expressive choreography, clean execution, impeccable form and extremely difficult skills. She was the originator of two skills: the Podkopayeva vault and a double front half-out salto on the floor exercise. The montage below by AshleyakaFlicker highlights her best qualities:

European Event Finals - Mens'

Lots of people have already posted the full results and they can be found on gymnastics results.com. So I'm just going to post a summary and my comments.

FX: 1. HAMBUECHEN 15.450 2. FAHRIG 15.400 3. KOSMIDIS 15.350
PH: 1. BERKI 15.600 2. SMITH 15.550 3. KEATINGS 15.500
SR: 1. VAN GELDER 15.750 2. VOROBIOV 15.600 3. IOVTCHEV 15.550
VT: 1. BOUHAIL 16.325 2. KOCZI 16.312 3. FAHRIG 16.225
PB: 1. CUCHERAT 15.825 2. PETKOVSEK 15.800 3. HAMBUECHEN 15.375
HB: 1. MARAS 15.375 2. CUCHERAT 15.250 3. KUKSENKOV 14.925

FX: The Germans did very well earning the gold and silver medals. Hambeuchens' routine was solid with little deductions (he had the highest E Score 9.150) and I like his 2nd pass on Round flick bk 2 1/2 into front layout 1 1/2. Fahrigs' routine was impressive with the 1st pass being front handspring+front layout 2/1+Dbl Front! The rest of the routine is full of difficulty and he only just missed out on the gold. If you haven't seen it yet take a look:


PH: The first 3 were all very close but the Hungarian had a more difficult routine than the 2 British boys. Louis seemed to have better form than last year and Keatings did what he did all week - hit his routines.
SR: Van Gelder had the highest execution score of any1 in the final (9.150) and he finished it off with a stuck dismount. It's a shame he didn't qualify for Bejiing as he looked very good in this final.
VT: Bouhail had 2 very difficult vaults Tsukahara Double Pike and Handspring Double front 1/2, the height he gets off the vault is incredible, both landings were a little high but good enough. Koczi also had 2 diificult vaults both with twists: Tsukahara 3/1 and Handspring 2 1/2 but leg form was a little untidy. Fahraig had the highest execution scores on noth his vaults 9.40 and 9.450 but his 2nd vault had lower difficulty although he certainly looked very happy with his performances.
PB: The first 2 were in a league of their own and their scores were very close. Hambuechen also earned another medal - he sure knows how to compete!
HB: This apparatus is always exciting and this was no exception, with no1 achieving an execution score int he 9.0s (the highest was 8.675). Cassina in his home country could not hold it together, he fell on a Kolman and then repeated it and fell agian! (score 10.875). At the opposite end of the scores Maras from Greece completed his diffocult routine with a nice release at the start to win the gold.

Most routines from Event Finals can been seen on 2008agwc's channel on youtube.

European Event Finals - Women

Results

Vault
1. Kaeslin 14.625 - first vault was handspring front layout 1 1/2 but it was a little piked down with bent knees at the end but she gets so much height off the top and her yurchenko 1 1/2 was good and she deserved the gold medal.
2. Berger 14.325 - I like her first vault which was tsuk 1 1/2 and the second was interesting as it is different to normal vaults you see, boith were good but not quite as neat as Kaeslin.
3. Kalashnyk 14.275 - first vault was yurchenko double full but with quite untidy legs but I thought her second vault was much better and I'm glad another Ukranian got a medal.
4. Van Walleghem 14.200 - both her vaults had good form just not enough difficulty but personally I prefer to watch vaults with good form rather than difficult vaults being thrown woth bad form.
5. Bui 14.150
6. Downie 14.025
7. Masela 13.950
8. Komrskova 13.875

Bars
1. Tweddle 15.575 - I'm so glad she won! I love how many connections and releases she has and she finally won another gold.
2. Semenova 15.500 - her routine was better in finals than it has been all week and there wasn't much difference in the top two in terms of execution but Beth's slightly more difficult routine meant she won.
3. Brinker 14.800 - It's good to see her win a medal at a higher level competition and she deserved it she has been consistent all week.
4. Dufournet 14.650
5. Afanasyeva 14.650
6. Downie 14.525 - she was not happy with this routine, it wasn't really bad but in the all around final she received a 15.00 which would have put her in 3rd!
7. Koval 14.350 - she doesn't seem to be in the same form as the Olympics with a lot of missed handstands and late turns.
8. Holenkova 12.700

Beam
1. Demyanchuk 14.775 - I'm really happy that she won gold as I've said before I love this gymnasts' style and form on beam and floor. She has a really nice roundoff layout and split leap 1/1 which is a very difficult leap on beam.
2. Tamirjan 14.750 - I feel sorry for her as she must have a lot of pressure on her to perform well at the these championships and she hasn't quite produced her best. Her routine wasn't bad but one missed connection between the free walkover and the flick layout meant that she lost the gold medal.
3. Dragoi 14.650 - I liked her routine she seemed very calm and composed coping with the pressure very well and got into a good rhythm. She had some nice spins and connections.
4. Petit 14.150
5. Semenova 14.125 - she seemed a little 'wobblier' than in qualification with a lot of balance checks but her dance work was still beautiful. She had her toes taped together so perhaps she has a new injury that affected her.
6. Maksuta 13.725
7. Millousi 13.450 - unfortunately the top qualifier could not produce the same performance and had a fall on her tuck back but she is still a new hope for Greece.
8. Zimmerman 12.850

Floor
1. Tweddle 15.150 - She was just amazing this week with two gold medals, she hit nearly all her landings and leaps and definetely had the best form. I think she deserved it but maybe others should have been closer.
2. Ferrari 14.675 - I'm impressed that she was able to perform this well whilst still recovering from an injury to her ankle but she is a fighter and that is why her country love her.
3. Semenova 14.625 - this was by far my favourite routine of the finals, the choreography and how she performs it are beautiful and keeps me waching throughout. I think she deserved the silver medal I thought her tumbles were better and she should definetely get more credit for artistry, nut I'm not a judge so she has to settle for bronze!
4. Tamirjan 14.075 - she took her double layout out which I think was sensible and did two full ins in tuck and pike instead (maybe she should have done that in the AA). I like her new music and routine and I think she is still growing into it and it will improve further.
5. Izurieta 14.075
6. Holenkova 13.925
7. Izbasa 13.900- her triple twist was downgraded to a 2 1/2 and because she had already done a 2 1/2 it can't be counted again so she lost DV and dismount points so her routine was scored out of a 4.90 instead of 5.50 from qualification. I have looked at the video and the triple doesn't seem that bad, I've seen worse that have got counted! But I wasnt there to watch it live so maybe it was worse than it looked. What does everyone think? If it had been counted I think she would have got silver not gold from what I can work out.
8. Parolari 13.525

All Routines from the Event Finals can be seen on youtube at 2008agwc and The Penguin888 channels
My Favourite Floor Routine from the Floor Finals - Ksenia Semenova

Beth Tweddles' Gold Medal Winning Floor Routine

Demyanchuks' Beam Routine

Tweddles' Floor Routine

Men's European All Around Results

Summary

1. Hambuechen

2. Keatings

3. Ryazanov

4. Boy

5. Koczi

6. Pozzo

7. Purvis

8. Shatilov

Full results here

Well Done Fabian for pulling it all together when it counts, shame he won't be in the High Bar final though.

Congratulations to Daniel Keatings 2nd is a very good result fro Great Britain and he was only 0.9 behind so he looks good for the future. A mention of Daniel Purvis who jumped from 12th in qualification to 7th in the final.

More comments and details to follow.

Women's Europeans All Around Results

Summary
1. Semenova
2. Afanaseyeva
3. Kaeslin
4. Izurieta
5. Tamirjan
6. Van Walleghem
7. Petit
8. Brinker
Full results available here
Congratulations to Semenova, by all accounts a solid but not exactly 'inspiring' performance but still good enough. She still had problems with her bars and will need to improve for event finals to beat Beth and others.
Also Congratulations to Afanasyeva the late substitution for finally keeping it together for all 4 pieces and earning the silver medal.
sory to hear of Downie's dissappointment as a 11.700! on beam put her right out but big scores on bars (15.00 & higher than Semenova) and floor (14.050) were still impressive.
Ariella Kaeslin performed solidly as she has done all week and received a well earned bronze in my opinion and I think another medal will be on the way in the Vault final tommorow.

More comments and results to follow but for now you can watch the coverage from British Eurosport on GYMANGELS youtube channel, it is basic but shows all of Semenova's routines as well as some others.

European Mens' Qualification Results

Full results are not yet up on the official site but they are available on the-all-around blog at the bottom.
Summary
AA
1. Daniel Keatings 89.150 - Well done hope he can win the gold in the final.
2. Fabian Hambuechen 89.050 - he had a fall on his best piece High Bar so unfortunately won't be in the final but hopefully he will hit in the all around.
3. Yuri Ryazanov 88.900
4. Benoit Caranobe 87.775
5. Flavius Koczi 86.950
6. Alexander Shatilov 86.050
7. Jeffrey Wammes 86.025
8. Dimitry Savitski 86.025
FX
1. Lefteris Kosmidis 15.575
2. Alexander Shatilov 15.475
3. Fabian Hambuchen 15.375
4. Matthias Fahrig 15.350
5. Eddie Penev 15.300
6. Anton Golotsutskov 15.250
7. Enrico Pozzo 15.175
8. Oleksandr Yakubovsky 14.950
PH
1. Daniel Keatings 15.500
2. Louis Smith 15.500
3. Daniel Popescu 15.500
4. Kristian Berki 15.475
5. Donna-Donny Truyens 15.225
6. Perevoznikov 15.225
7. Saso Bertoncelj 15.200
8. Alberto Busnari 15.100
SR
1. Matteo Morandi 15.625
2. Yuri Van Gelder 15.425
3. Oleksander Vorobyov 15.425
4. Matteo Angioletti 15.375
5. Konstantin Pluzhnikov 15.150
6. Daniel Rodrigues 15.150
7. Domesthinos Tambakos 15.125
8. Jordan Jovtchev 15.025
VT
1. Dimitri Kaspiarovich 16.312
2. Jeffrey Wammes 16.137
3. Flavius Koczi 16.125
4. Thomas Bouhail 16.075
5. Matthias Fahrig 16.025
6. Daniel Popescu 15.950
7. Marek Lysczarez 15.912
8. Fabian Hambuchen 15.787
PB
1. Mitja Petkovsek 15.750
2. Yann Cucherat 15.700
3. Adam Kierzkowski 15.400
4. Daniel Keatings 15.350
5. Cosmin Popescu 15.150
6. Samuel Piasecky 15.050
7. Nicolas Boeschenstein 15.050
8. Fabian Hambuchen 15.050
HB
1. Igor Cassina 15.800
2. Vlasios Maras 15.625
3. Epke Zonderland 15.600
4. Yann Cucherat 14.925
5. Mykola Kuksenkov 14.850
6. Alexander Tsarevich 14.750
7. Martin Konecny 14.625
8. Jeffrey Wammes 14.600

Well done to the British boys: Daniel Keatings - 1st AA, 1st PH, 3th PB; Louis Smith - 2nd PH, Daniel Purvis - 12AA.

Europeans Qualification Videos

Some interesting videos from the top qualifiers have been put on youtube on 88YaYa88's channel.

Some of my favourite routines were Demyanchuk on floor I love the routine and the crowd seemed to as well, she just needs to put harder tumbling in. Her beam routine scored higher and she got in a really good rhythm with only minor wobbles, I think she has a chance at a medal maybe only bronze though. Diana Chelaru suprised me with a lot of upgrades from last year and her floor routine is very cute with some powerful tumbling, form just needs a little improving.
Demyanchuk Floor

Chelaru Floor


I have to mention Beth Tweddle's floor routine, the tumbling is very impressive and the leaps are neat but I prefer her routine from last year and I really wish she could dance! Her Bars routine I did really like it is full of difficult skills and combinations and I actually prefer it to Semenova's.

Hannah Whelan's (GBR) new floor is available to watch, an interesting note is that she is using Nastia Liukin's old floor music I think it suits Hannah, she's not quite Nastia but she does look more elegant and mature out there. Take a look for yourself here.

Update on the All Around Final

Krisitna Goryunova will not compete in the final due to ankle injuries so this means ahe will be replaced by Ksenia Afanaseyeva who will get a second chnce to prove she can be consistent. This news cme from Krisitna's official site so i presume it is reliable.

Europeans - Qualification results - Event Finals

VAULT
1. Y. Berger RUS 14.287
2. J. Komrskova CZE 14.225
3. A. Kalashnyk UKR 14.112
4. K. Bui GER 14.087
5. A. Van Walleghem BEL 14.075
6. A. Kaeslin SUI 14.062
7. R. Downie GBR 14.025
8. W. Masela NED 14.025
Not too many suprises here apart from Kaeslin who I thought would be in 1st, but her 1st vault only scored 13.950 out of 16.300! so there must have been a fall as she scored around 15.00 at Cottbus. I'm happy to see Becky Downie make the final and it's also nice to see another Ukrainian there as well.

UNEVEN BARS
1. E. Tweddle GBR 15.275
2. A. Brinker GER 15.025
3. K. Afanaseva RUS 14.825
4. Y. Dufournet FRA 14.750
5. A. Koval UKR 14.625
6. V. Holenkova UKR 14.500
7. R. Downie GBR 14.475
8. K. Semenova RUS 14.425
Again not too may shocks apart from Semenova with her fall which I talked about in my previous post. Well done to Beth I hope she can win us a gold in the finals. Its good to see Dufournet hit and Afansyeva. This final looks competitive with any of them able to win if they hit, although highest D Scores were Tweddle (6.7) and Semenova (6.5),

BEAM
1. V. Millousi GRE 14.725
2. A. Tamirjan ROU 14.525
3. K. Semenova RUS 14.475
4. Y. Demyanchuk UKR 14.450
5. V. Maksuta ISR 14.375
6. G. Dragoi ROU 14.350
7. M. Petit FRA 14.050
8. Y. Zimmermann SUI 14.025
A few suprises for this apparatus first the top qualifier Millousi from Greece! I did not expect that but she had one on the highest D scores(6.0) and I would really like to see her routine. I also expected Izbasa to make the final but she was down in 28th place with 13.075 and also Dufournet who is only reserve and I assume her fom let her down as usual. Others who had trouble were Ferrari, Pihan and Kaeslin. I like Demyanchuk on beam she has nice form and difficult acro moves (Straight back). I think it is good that a lot of different nations will be represented in this final rather than the same countries like normal.

FLOOR
1. E. Tweddle GBR 14.975
2. S. Izbasa ROU 14.475
3. V. Ferrari ITA 14.425
4. K. Semenova RUS 14.400
5. A. Tamirjan ROU 14.200
6. A. Izurieta ESP 14.050
7. L. Parolari ITA 14.025
8. V. Holenkova UKR 13.950
I'm very impressed that Beth qualified in 1st again and I hope she can do the same on Sunday. Im glad Izbasa is up there it looks like her fitness has improved since Jesolo. Another who impressed me was Vanessa Ferrari qualifying in 3rd following reports that she didnt look good and being a last minute addition (I'm also glad she didnt compete the yurchenko double full). It is available to watch below from youtube:

Parolari's routine was a nice change with more dance and less tumbles (3):

Europeans - Womens Qualification Results All Around

The full results can be found here but a summary and my comments can be found below.

All Around
Top 8:
1. Semenova
2. Tamirjan
3. Van Walleghem
4. Demyanchuk
5. Downie
6. Holenkova
7. Brinker
8. Masela
Semenova and Tamirjan were close with Semenovas bars just getting her in front (and she had an off day) and these two were nore than a point ahead of third place. I really liked Semenova's new floor she has matured and there is lots more dance and cleaner tumbling and for these reasons she also qualified for the floor final in 4th. Her bars had lots of complex pirouttes with a few arched backs though and she had a fall on her pak which she repeated again and she still qualified for the bars final in 8th. Beam was solid only small wobbles and some nice connections including ondi into flick layout (14.475).
I havent yet seen Tamirjan's routines but she seemed to have a solid competition except bars which she will need to improve to keep up with Semenova if she hits.
I'm pleased to see Becky Downie, Holenkova and Demyanchuk qualify in the top8 as I like all 3 of their gymnastics and its nice to see Ukrainian gymnastics is not dead despite the problems. Van Walleghem has had a very good qualifier to be in 3rd and I hope she can repeat it in finals. Also a mention to Hannah Whelan from Great Britain who made the final in 9th place just ahead in Ferrari, Congratulations Hannah!

Noticeable ones who didnt make it:
Afanasyeva: Semenova and Goryunova qualified ahead of her therefore she will not compete in the all around final. With a score of 12.025 on beam that is not suprising, her first fall was on the free walkover+flick+pike back combination and sfter that she seemed to fall apart and lose concentration with a 2nd fall on her split leap 1/2 and big wobbles on the spin and onodi. She also got 13.250 on floor because of a fall on her double pike at the end but she did have some lovely dance work and leaps in the middle section. Although she may be able to gain a little compensation in the Bars final as she qualified in 3rd.

Some vieos are up on youtube here

Round Up of all the news from European Podium Training

There has been many reports now on podium training so I decided to do a summary of all of them. The links to the full reports are at the end of this post.

Summary

Russia

Paul Ziert on Intl Gymnast reports that the whole team looks better and seems happier - good news to us all!
Semenova - Training DLO on floor, beautiful beam, didnt make her handstands on bbut overall seemed well prepared and more medals seemed destined to be in her future.
Afanasyeva - The Couch Gymnast had some interesting comments "She was falling all over the place, although her dances work on beam and floor was gorgeous. She was even falling off beam, climbing up, standing there for a second, and then just dropping off! It was almost entertaining, except that she seemed to be in a FOUL mood. She only had smiles for Semenova, but when any of her coaches tried to address her she would either ignore them or scowl. I was very, very surprised. She still worked very hard, even getting up to do a few quick side somis after their session was over."
The Couch Gymnast also noted that both looking absolutely polished and lovely and both have become more womanly.
Yulia Berger - Vault looks good she seems to have upgraded them and difficult tumbles on floor.
Kristina Goryunova - Gym Media says that Goryunova & Berger both had good technique especially regarding acrobatics and techniques on the balance beam.

Romania

They basically took over the show, while the girls in their training rotation prowled nervously around them. Some evn asked for pics with Izbasa, who happily complied (couch gymnast).
Izbasa - only training floor and beam, is using her Olympics floor routine becasue she thinks it suits her personality better and with all the old tumbling although it was noted a little more strained than last year. Beam was solid but dance work not as good as Semenova.
Tamirjan - Looked good on all pieces even bars, trained a DLO on floor which was good when landed!, Fast paced, solid beam routine.
Chelaru - showed good skils and form, should be a factor in the all arounf, has 2 good vaults and is hoping to make the final on her favourite piece.
Dragoi - nice beam and bars, hoping for a place in the beam final.


Ukraine

Overall they had a lower level of skill but beautiful form and dance work.
Holenkova - "her work was pretty and she smiled all the time, laughed with her coach, but was working really hard."(couch gymnast)

France
Dufournet - Impressive tumbling, not so with the dance (suprise, suprise!)
Petit and Dufournet good on floor less impressive in beam.


Great Britain
Tweddle - She still has her Gienger + Markelov connection but also showed a new connection of Tkatchev + Tkatchev with half twist. On floor she had good form and high difficulty level.


Italy
Ferrari - She did compete all 4 pieces som with more success than others. On vault she trained a slightly scary looking yurchenko double full by all accounts. Beam was better with her nice plance mount. Bars seemed laboured and some mpves were being 'muscled'. Floor with her old music not the one with voices! Tumbles were tucked full-in, then 1 1/2 to a front full, tucked double back and ended with a piked double back. There have been commets of her body changing and a possible weight gain but she is a fighter so can't be counted out of anything.


The Netherlands
Wevers - more on her injury it happened on a balance beam dismount where she didnt end her legs! There will be no replacement for Wevers so the team will remain with 3 gymnasts. I pesonally think they should bring in Natasja Blind especially with her Bars routine.


Germany
Bui and Brinker - both showed a good performance. Bui had a good handspring straight with a half turn on vault.

Switzerland
Kaeslin - There were many comments on how good she looked not only on vault but on all 4 piees with solid routines so ahe wll definetley hope to be up there in the all around final.

Check out the links below which have so very good reports in more deail from podium training.
http://gymmedia.com/AG/ECh/Milan09/
http://www.intlgymnast.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=831:ziert-alert-european-championships-podium-training&catid=5:competition-reports&Itemid=164
http://couch-gymnast.blogspot.com/

European Championships Podium Training

There are a few notes about podium training today on The All Around Blog. It was reported that Sandra Izabasa didn't train vault or uneven bars so I doubt she will be competing all around and also on the Fan Gymnastics Romanian blog it was posted that Diana Chelaru will compete the all around with Tamirjan.
Exciting news that Semenova may debut a DLO on floor but fell during podium training. The reporter noted that Semenova and Afanaseyeva looked good so hopefully they will both hit in finals!
Vanessa Ferrari was selected for the Italian team at the last minute and it seems like she is not quite ready from the comments and there is no news as to whether she will compete all around.
Another comment was that "Switzerland made good impression with solid routines." so this sounds good for Ariella Kaeslin and the vault final and maybe all around?
BAD NEWS - especially to me and The Netherlands, Lieke Wevers has had to withdraw due to a knee injury I was looking forward to her (hopefully) making the bars and maybe beam finals but that will not happen now so I wish her a speedy recovery.
The comment that stood out to me was "Women's Podium Training finished today in Milan without brilliance. Falls were common rather than isolated and the general skills level was not impressive," maybe the new code isnt quite doing its job improving form and removing falls I just hope the actual competition is better.