Russian Juniors Dominate (29th April, 2006)

The Russian junior team totally dominated the proceedings at the team and all-around competition in Volos on Tuesday evening. Outscoring their closest rival Romania on everything but vault, the team also clocked the top three individual places with Daria Elizarova and Karina Myasnikova taking gold and silver. Due to the two per country rule, the third highest scorer Yelena Kokareva did not receive the bronze medal, which was awarded to Germany's Marie-Sophie Hindermann. Starting solidly on vault, the Russians pulled away from the field after four exquiste bars routines where they could afford to drop Ksenia Afanasyeva's 14.875 (the competition was held under the 5-4-3 format). Yelena Kokareva was the highest scorer with a full-twisting double layout dismount. The team's only major break came on beam where Afanasyeva came off on a one-armed Onodi. On floor Daria Elizarova nearly brought the house down with a delightful routine and a nice full-in to open. ‘I'm really happy with the results,’ said Kokareva who was competing in her first international competition. ‘I'd like to say a big thank you to my coaches, who prepared my for this competition.’

Trailing Russia by over six points, the Romanians competed solidly but were never close to their rivals. They won vault, anchored by a nice 1 ½ -twisting Yurchenko from Aluissa Lacusteanu, but struggled on bars, where they only had the sixth highest total. Alexandra Ghita fell from beam on an aerial cartwheel but Andreea Grigore scored a 14.925 for a routine that included front aerial-ff-layout (6.0 A score). Lacusteanu was their top scorer on floor with a catchy routine but still admitted to her disappointment: ‘I had hoped for better results coming into this competition.’ Lacusteanu placed fourth in the all-around.
The biggest sensation of the night was the German team's bronze. Coming to Volos only hoping to improve on their tenth place showing from the 2004 Europeans, the gymnasts and coaches were visibly shocked by their place on the medal rostrum. ‘I can't believe I would ever live to see this,’ Gabi Frehse, mentor to Joeline Möbius and Lisa-Katharina Hill told Backflip, ‘it's one of the greatest things ever.’ Competing in the second subdivision, the team had to wait for over six hours to see if their scores would hold up. They had had a nearly flawless competition with an impressive bars showing while others made more mistakes later on in the day.

Report compiled by Nora Schuler, Backflip's International Correspondent