WORLD CUP: 31. TURNIER DER MEISTER 2007 >> Women s Qualification

Women's Qualification!
With 39 gymnasts the women's entry field is quite a bit smaller than the men's one.
The long qualification day is meanwhile over for the women. Quite a few insecurities could be seen but on the other hand also quite a few good routines were presented.

Especially convincing were the performances of young, upcoming talents like Daria Joura (AUS; 2x finals), Jade Barbosa (BRA; 3x finals) ), Elsa Garcia (MEX; 3x) and Aluissa Lacusteanu (ROM; 2x).

Also the Ukrainian Olga Sherbatykh reached three of the world cup finals (all except beam).

*Sprung / VAULT
The women kicked off this year’s Tournament of Masters quite well on vault. Although some of the participants in this qualification showed only relatively easy vaults, overall most of the performances were solid and the audience got to see only a few falls. Quite remarkable and not easy at all were the vaults of the leading gymnasts in this qualification!
Like the week before at the World Cup in Paris, two young talents from South America presented themselves very well – Jade Barbosa from Brazil showed a great Jurchenko 2/1 twists and a good RO – ½ turn – handspring somersault fwd. piked (small step on the landing) and Elsa Garcia from Mexico also presented her Jurchenko 11/2 twists and RO ½ turn – handspring – somersault fwd. piked very well.
Because of problems with the bad quality of the springboard the week before in Paris, Oksana Chusovitina (GER) arrived in Cottbus with a slight leg injury. Nonetheless she once again proved her class and won this qualification with her handspring – layout fwd. 1/1 turn and Tsukahara 1 ½ twists!
One of the fans' favourites at last year’s World Championships, Daria “Dasha“ Joura from Australia, also presented herself to the audience in Cottbus with her great smile. She had only slight problems with the rotation of her Jurchenko 2/1 twists (rotation not completely finished) but made the final easily as 6th.
Qualified for the final are:
Oksana Chusovitina (GER), Jade Barbosa (BRA), Olga Shcherbatykh (UKR), Elsa Garcia (MEX), Alina Kozich (UKR), Daria Joura (AUS), Enikö Korcsmaros (HUN) and Maria Parsantanian (GRE).
>> Qualification Vault

*Stufenbarren / UNEVEN BARS
On uneven bars things didn’t continue as well as on vault. The audience got to see many falls, only about 1/3 of the competitors in this field remained on the bars. That meant the judges had a lot of work to do and the qualification on this apparatus took a long time.
The falls of her fellow competitors however didn’t impress Fan Ye from China. She showed a remarkable routine with very nice Endo- combinations, giant fwd. 1/1 turn – piked Jaeger, Pak, nice Stalders and a 1/1 turn on the lower bar and double somersault bwd. piked dismount.
Despite a fall Irina Krasnyanska from Ukraine managed to win this qualification. Apart from the fall, she showed her interesting routine technically very well and now has another chance in tomorow’s final to prove that she can do it even better.
Dasha Joura from Australia started off well with a good Comaneci- salto, which she has added to her routine this year. Unfortunately then followed a fall from the higher bar… But she also will have another chance in tomorrow’s final.
Katja Abel from Germany showed a remarkable routine including straddled Stalder – 1 ½ turns on the higher bar, straddled Jaeger and a double somersault bwd. piked dismount. Ending up on rank 9 she narrowly missed the qualification for the final.
Qualified for the final are:
Irina Krasnyanska (UKR), Fan Ye (CHN), Jana Sikulova (CZE), Florica Leonida (ROU), Elsa Garcia (MEX), Olga Shcherbatykh (UKR), Daria Joura (AUS) and Kristyna Palesova (CZE)
>> Qualification Uneven bars

*Balken / BEAM
Also on beam quite some falls could be seen. However, nonetheless a few good routines were presented. Fan Ye from China once again with a very difficult routine, small wobble on her somersault fwd. tucked but otherwise she convinced especially through her nice turns and leaps (sheep jump, ring jump, 1/1 turn with the leg hold by the hand in 180º split position, ring jump – wolf jump).
Like shortly before on floor, another good performance today for Aluissa Lacusteanu (ROU) on beam. In her young age she already presents the difficulties (including ff – ff - layout bwd.) remarkably well. Only the dismount with double somersault bwd. tucked seems a little bit too “easy“ compared to the rest of the routine.
Katja Abel from Germany with another very good performance which brought her rank 3 in this qualification!
The beam World Champion from Aarhus 2006 Irina Krasnyanska (UKR) started off very well – in contrast to many of her fellow competitors who opt for “safety“ with an easy mount, she begins her routine with a jump to clear straddle support to handstand in split position 1/1 turn – directly to clear pike support! Unfortunately today shortly after this great mount a fall followed… But she managed to continue well and qualified for the final.
Further contenders for a spot in the final like Oksana Chusovitina, Dasha Joura or Alina Kozich also didn’t remain without falls today.
Qualified for the final are:
Fan Ye (CHN), Aluissa Lacusteanu (ROU), Katja Abel (GER), Irina Krasnyanska (UKR), Stefani Bismpikou (GRE), Adela Sajn (SLO), Jade Barbosa (BRA), Florica Leonida (ROU).
>> Qualification Balance Beam

*Boden / FLOOR
A bit more audience had arrived in the late afternoon when the women’s qualification on floor took place and so the atmosphere in the venue got better. A few very nice choreographies were presented but it was obvious during this qualification that it is still early in the season and that the gymnasts were not yet ready to cope with all the difficult elements in their routines properly, quite a few falls could be seen.
Elsa Garcia (MEX), who recently turned 17 years old, thrilled the audience with her charme and expression – but also the difficulties went well today! - triple spin, double arabian tucked, tucked full-in, leap 1/1 turn, 2 ½ twists – layout fwd., double somersault bwd. piked – 15.075!
The only 15-year-old Aluissa Lacusteanu from Romania proved that she certainly is able to continue with the successful Romanian tradition on floor. In her young age she still lacks a bit of impression but she managed to present all of her elements very well today – tucked full-in – 2 ½ twists – layout fwd., triple twist, leap – leap 1/2 turn, and in the end double somersault bwd. piked – 14.400.
Adela Sajn from Slovenia, already quite well-known for her expressive floor routines, presented herself once again very well today and so did also the 2 Ukrainians Alina Kozich and Olga Shcherbatykh. All three of them reached the final!
Qualified for the final are:
Elsa Garcia (MEX), Aluissa Lacusteanu (ROM), Olga Shcherbatykh (UKR), Alina Kozich (UKR), Kim Bui (GER), Jade Barbosa (BRA), Katja Abel (GER), Adela Sajn (SLO)
>> Qualification Floor exercises