World Cup Cottbus: First Finals Day in a dreamlike atmosphere!

The 1st finals day in the dreamlike theater arena of the 'City Hall' of Cottbus took place in a wonderful atmosphere.
Following his already strong performance in the qualification Diego Hypolito from Brazil won the first final on floor. Jana Bieger also managed to repead her explosive performance from yesterday on vault and won this final. The victory on pommel horse went to Krisztian Berki from Hungary.
With an incredible performance Li, Ya from China clearly won on uneven bars. In a very high-quality final on rings Yuri van Gelder (NED) secured himself another victory in his already large collection of medals on this apparatus.

A solid competition was presented in the women’s vault final. Yurchenko 1 1/2 twists was the vault which could be seen most often. All competitors came through without major errors or falls.
Jana Komrskova (CZE) started this final with 2 good vaults (1st: Podkopayeva (RO 1/2 turn – somersault fwd. piked 1/2 turn) and 2nd Yurchenko 1/1 twist).
Jana Bieger (USA) confirmed her good performance from yesterday’s qualification with an explosive Yurchenko 1 1/2 twists and a good layout Barani (only slight problems on the landing and not totally in a layout position). Her difficult vaults brought her the victory in this final.
Joanna Skowronska (POL) showed a solid Yurchenko 1 1/2 twists (slightly bend legs and a small step to the side to secure the landing) and a good ‘Podkopayeva’ on which she maintained the piked position very well and stuck the landing.
Nastassia Marachkouskaya (BLR) had slight problems with her legs form during both of her vaults Yurchenko 1 1/2 twists and HS- somersault fwd. piked (which she however presented mostly only in a tucked position).
Veronika Wagner from Sweden started with an explosive and high HS- somersault fwd. piked 1/2 turn. Also her second vault, a layout Tsukahara, went well (only slightly split legs in the beginning).
Lais Souza (BRA) presented the difficult Yurchenko 2/1 quite well and as second vault followed HS- somersault fwd. piked 1/2 turn. She stumbled a larger step fwd. to secure the landing of this second vault.
Katja Abel from Germany followed with a solid Yurchenko 1 1/2 twists, though she had managed to present this vault a bit better in yesterday’s qualification. Also her second vault, HS- somersault fwd. piked 1/2 turn was good. Yesterday she still had presented this vault with 1/2 turn less.
Oksana Chusovitina took the risk to present a higher difficulty than her fellow competitors in this final with her HS- somersault fwd. 1/1 turn, though unfortunately she had a few slight problems with it today. The vault was a bit low and she had problems to secure the landing. Also with her Tsukahara 1 1/2 twists she presented a high difficulty (again slight problems on the landing). Risking a higher difficulty paid off for her and she won the silver medal in this final.

The final on uneven bars certainly took place on a higher level of performance compared to yesterday`s qualification. All competitors presented solid routines and remained without falls.
Polina Miller (RUS) presented her elegant routine with a very clean execution during the routine. However, it lacked a bit of speed and then in the end there wasn’t enough power for her tucked full-in dismount and she stumbled to the side and landed with her left foot next to the landing mat.
Tania Gener from Spain managed to do it better. She went through her routine including nice Stalders on the lower and upper bar and a Gienger with a lot of power and then perfectly stuck the landing of her tucked full-in dismount.
Li, Ya from China thrilled the audience in Cottbus with a perfectly executed and very difficult routine including the extremely difficult combination of straddled Jaeger with 1/2 turn in the end immediately followed by another straddled Jaeger between the bars. She then stuck the dismount with her very well executed piked double Arabian and clearly won this final.

Men’s Final FLOOR

Results:
1. Hypolito, Diego BRA 15.700
2. O'Neill, Brandon CAN 15.425
3. Bogonosiuk, Ievgenii UKR 15.325
4. Nakase, Takuya JPN 15.175
5. Hambüchen, Fabian GER 15.150
6. Gorbachev, Stepan KAZ 14.825
7. Gonzalez, Tomas CHI 14.500
8. Gal, Robert HUN 13.375
>> Detailed Results: FLOOR EXERCISES

The first finals’ day in the men’s field started with a high-quality event on floor. Like already in the qualification it was again visible that more and more gymnasts try to end their routines with a very difficult element. 6 of the finalists ended their routines either with a full-in, triple twist or double Arabian to a stuck landing.

Men’s Final POMMEL HORSE

Results:
1. Berki, Krisztian HUN 15.575
2. Andergassen, Thomas GER 15.000
3. Ikeda, Ken CAN 14.875
4. Artemev, Alexander USA 14.650
5. Popescu, Daniel ROM 14.300
6. Zhang, Hongtao CHN 14.275
7.Seligman, Robert CRO 14.225
8. Vasilyev, Anatoly RUS 13.950
>> Detailed Results: POMMEL HORSE

The second final in the men’s field today wasn't as good as the first one on floor. 5 gymnasts in this final didn't get through their routines without mistakes.
Thomas Andergassen took the moment and secured himself the silver medal with a solid routine.
Krisztian Berki was the clear winner in this field with a very nicely composed routine.

Men’s Final STILL RINGS

Results:
1. Gelder, Yuri van NED 16.050
2. Zozulya, Roman UKR 15.725
3. Chen, Yibing CHN 15.675
4. Safoshkin, Alexander RUS 15.650
5. Vorobyov, Oleksandr UKR 15.600
6. Said Abdalla Eldariny, Walid EGY15.450
7. Andergassen, Thomas GER 15.350
8. Nakase, Takuya JPN 15.350
>> Detailed Results: STILL RINGS