Qualification Individuals (CI) – Clubs and Ribbon - Day 1
MONTPELLIER (FRA), FIG Office, September 21, 2011: Today’s preliminaries for Individuals and Teams at the 31st Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships here in Montpellier introduced routines on Clubs and Ribbon at the Park & Suites Arena.
The morning sessions saw Cypriot Chrystalleni Trikomiti take an early lead on Ribbon (26.125), a position which the talented 17 year old gymnast held until Italy’s Julieta Cantaluppi surpassed her by a mere .1.
Carolina Rodriguez of Spain (25.950) and Germany’s Laura Jung (25.625) both came close to that score, but it was Rodriguez’ fluid routine accompanied by slow piano music that was most appreciated by the public.
Poland’s Joanna Mitrosz (27.100) came out on the head of the table by today’s midway point and the last competitor of the morning session, 2010 Individual All-around finalist Deng Senyue of China (26.300), placed herself in intermediate third position, impressing with a harmonious routine.
Neta Rivkin (ISR) set the bar on Clubs (27.475), but was soon outclassed by Azerbaijan’s Aliya Garayeva (27.650) and Bulgaria’s Silviya Miteva (27.525). 2010 All-around finalist Anna Alyabyeva of Kazakhstan (26.450) stayed put behind the Israeli.
Ukraine scored high on Clubs in this rotation, extending their lead over Azerbaijan and Bulgaria in the Team competition and steadily cruising toward Bronze. Alina Maksymenko took the lead over the field (27.850).
23 year old Cynthia Valdez Perez scored best for Mexico this morning, garnering a 24.825.
The afternoon started with local fans enthusiastically welcoming French star Delphine Ledoux, who is one of the few gymnasts that dares to perform on Clubs to slow music, in this case “Imagine” by John Lennon. Unfortunately, she lost hold of her apparatus twice, but a high artistic value saved her in the end. 26.775 for Ledoux.
Spectators in the arena were all eyes for Japan’s contenders Yuria Onuki (25.625), Runa Yamaguchi (25.350) and Hiromi Nakatsu (25.150), all of them presenting solid routines with numerous pirouettes to fast paced music.
On Ribbon, 20 year old Dora Vass (25.825) of Hungary and 16 year old Varvara Filiou (25.800) of Greece made a strong appearance today, not unnoticed in the grandstands.
Ultimate contender on Ribbon before the break Ulyana Trofimova (UZB) remained unimpressed, taking the lead with 27.450 points and a comfortable position in the All-around.
In the last session, Russia’s trio with Daria Dmitrieva (28.775), Daria Kondakova (29.150) and Evgenia Kanaeva (29.150) stormed to the top after Caroline Weber (26.450) of Austria performed beautifully to Waltz music.
Belarus confirmed their temporary second rank of the Team competition tonight after their performances on Ribbon, with Liubou Charkashyna scoring 27.100.
On Clubs, only Korea’s Yeon Jae Son (27.200), who surpassed Ledoux, was able to make inroads into the head of the table. She wowed the fans with deft handling of the apparatus and a dynamic style.
The Individual competition that continues until tomorrow will determine the Team ranking, the top 24 gymnasts qualifying for the Individual All-around Final and the top eight qualifiers per apparatus advancing to the Apparatus Finals.
Finals on Clubs and Ribbon are scheduled for tomorrow 8 pm and the Individual All-around will take place on Friday, from 4:30 – 10:30 pm local time.
After today, and with half of the Clubs and Ribbon performances behind us, the current standing is as follows:
Intermediate results Individual Qualification – Clubs
1 MAKSYMENKO Alina UKR 27.850
2 GARAYEVA Aliya AZE 27.650
3 MITEVA Silviya BUL 27.525
4 RIVKIN Neta ISR 27.475
5 SON Yeon Jae KOR 27.200
6 LEDOUX Delphine FRA 26.775
7 RIZATDINOVA Ganna UKR 26.600
8 ALYABYEVA Anna KAZ 26.450
Intermediate results Individual Qualification – Ribbon
1 KANAEVA Evgenia RUS 29.150
2 KONDAKOVA Daria RUS 29.150
3 DMITRIEVA Daria RUS 28.775
4 TROFIMOVA Ulyana UZB 27.450
5 CHARKASHYNA Liubou BLR 27.100
6 MITROSZ Joanna POL 27.100
7 WEBER Caroline AUT 26.450
8 CANTALUPPI Julieta ITA 26.400
Intermediate results Individual Qualification - All-around (after day 3)
1 KANAEVA Evgenia RUS 87.725
2 KONDAKOVA Daria RUS 87.400
3 GARAYEVA Aliya AZE 83.775
4 MAKSYMENKO Alina UKR 83.025
5 RIVKIN Neta ISR 82.900
6 DMITRIEVA Daria RUS 82.825
7 CHARKASHYNA Liubou BLR 82.700
8 MITEVA Silviya BUL 82.425
Intermediate results Team competition
1 Russia 257.950
2 Belarus 241.900
3 Ukraine 240.475
4 Azerbaijan 236.850
5 Bulgaria 231.725
6 Uzbekistan 229.375
7 Italy 228.625
8 Korea 227.750
Photos of the competition are available at www.fig-photos.com.
Check out the event microsite at http://www.moscow2010.sportcentric.com/ for all related information and stay tuned for the next heat and tomorrow’s Finals!
