01. September 2013  
Kiev, Ukraine  
Rhythmic Gymnastics

32nd WCh: Russia won 6x Gold, Ukraine, Belarus and Spain each one!

As expected already given the two Russian gymnasts, Margarita Mamun and Yana Kudravtseva in the qualifying round of the first two handsets clearly the events, one in front of the toughest and strongest opponents from the host country, Ukraine and from Belarus:
Kudravtseva leads with the hoop (18,316) in front of Mamun (18,300) and Mamun was the best with the ball (18,333), followed by Kudravtseva (18,266). Ganna Rizatdinova and Alina Maksimenko from Ukrain are also qualified for both finals like Melitina Staniouta (BLR), the Korean star Son, Yeon Jae and also Bulgaria's Silvia Miteva.
The first titles of day 1 went to Ganna Rizatdinova (hoop) from Ukraine and to Margarita Mamun (ball; photo, left) from Russia. Kudravtseva won two silver medals, Mamun and Melitina Staniuta (BLR) each the bronze ...
At final day 2 all the titles went to Russia: Margarita Mamun won with the clubs, together with Yana Kudravtseva, who was the best with the ribbon.
After the favored Margarita Mamun made some mistakes at Friday's all-around final her compatriot Yana Kudravtseva (73,866) is the new world champion and won the fifth gold medal for Russia in front of Ganna Rizatdinova (UKR; 73,041) and Melitina Staniouta (BLR;72,166).
Belarus (all-around), Spain and Russia won the gold medals in the groups final ...


* Individual A L L - A R O U N D__________________________

* Friday, Aug 30: >>


Individual All-around final
 
f i g - report -- : Apart from the Olympic Games, the World Championships All-around Final is the most prestigious event in the calendar of elite Individual Rhythmic gymnasts. The 24 top ranked gymnasts from qualifications that took place over the last two days at the Sports Palace in Kiev (UKR) advanced to the highly anticipated event at the 32nd World Championships. They performed their routines on Hoop, Ball, Clubs and Ribbon in front of an enthusiastic crowd in the sold out venue on Friday. Scores from qualifications were not taken over to the final.
 
Yana Kudryavtseva of Russia took the 2013 Rhythmic Gymnastics World All-around title with a total score of 73.866 points. She prevailed over Ganna Rizatdinova of Ukraine (73.041) and Melitina Staniouta of Belarus (72.166), who won Silver and Bronze respectively.
 

The five-hour long final was split into two groups, starting with the gymnasts that had qualified in ranks 13 – 24, followed by the group of the twelve top qualifiers. A total of sixteen countries were represented in this final, featuring two American, three Asian and nineteen gymnasts from the European continent.
 

Group B
 
In the first group, the performances of Varvara Filiou (GRE), Ksenia Moustafaeva (FRA), Lala Yusifova (AZE), Jana Berezko – Marggrander (GER) and Alexandra Piscupescu (ROU) were especially noteworthy.
Filiou took an early lead in the first heat, when her Hoop routine (17.100) remained the only exercise being awarded more than 17 points.
Yusifova impressed the crowd with her entertaining and theatrical routine on Clubs (16.404) in the second rotation and Filiou followed up with a 17.233 on Ball. Also on Ball, Berezko – Marggrander then posted a 16.883, her best result in Kiev so far, to rank second behind Filiou at midway point.
 
With an overall consistent performance and a 68.282 total, Ribbon finalist Filiou stayed on top of this group adding a 16.316 on Clubs and her top score 17.633 on her favourite apparatus. Piscupescu’s emotional Ball routine performed to a slow piano piece in the third rotation touched the spectators who also appreciated her difficult catches. The 16.950 Piscupescu was awarded marked her best score in Kiev summing up to a 64.549 total in this final and ranking her 17th.
Yusifova and Berezko – Marggrander tied with 65.532 points, which meant place thirteen for them in the end.
 
Ksenia Moustafaeva of France posted the best mark on Clubs (16.900) and the second highest on Hoop (17.050) in this group. With a 65.716 total she finished twelfth, while Filiou ranked eighth at the end of the day.
 
Rebecca Sereda of USA finished at the bottom of the table with a 60.998 total.
 

Group A
 
The competition gained momentum, when the leading group took to the floor and showed high level action. However, there were also numerous mistakes. Top qualifier Margarita Mamun of Russia made substantial mistakes in all her routines but on Ball, where she posted the second highest score. Consequently, she dropped down to sixth place and out of the medal ranks with a 70.290 total.
 
Her compatriot Yana Kudryavtseva in the contrary was able to build on her excellent performance proven during the last two days in Kiev. She marked the top score on three apparatus including Clubs, where she scored a massive 18.700, the championships’ highest score. Kudryavtseva’s 73.866 was not beaten on Friday and the 16-year-old Russian took the All-around title, adding another Gold to her World medal collection that sums up to three Gold and two Silver medals.
 
To the delight of the Asian Gymnastics community, Deng Senyue of China and Son Yeon Jae of South Korea both improved their final rankings. While Son climbed up from sixth to fifth place in the final, Deng made a significant move from eighth rank in the preliminaries to rank four in the final. The 21-year-old London 2012 Olympian from Guangxi upped the difficulty on all apparatus in the final, impressing most on Hoop, where she scored 17.900 points.
 

The medal hopes of Ukrainian crowd favourite and fourth qualifier Alina Maksymenko vanished early, when she dropped her clubs twice in the first rotation. Even though she recovered on the remaining apparatus, she failed to make up for her earlier mistakes and had to accept a seventh rank with her 69.124 total. It is safe to say she had hoped for a better result at her home championships.
 
Ganna Rizatdinova’s performance compensated for the local fans’ disappointment over Maksymenko’s ranking. The 20-year-old Ukrainian gymnast performed consistently and with great style and elegance, posting the field’s best score on Ribbon (18.350), her least scoring routine during qualifications. Newly crowned World Champion on this apparatus Rizatdinova kept her personal best until the end, finishing with a thrilling Hoop routine (18.466), while her fans held their breath, hoping for her to secure a medal. She did, ranking second behind Kudryavtseva and taking home the Silver.
 
Coming from fifth place, Melitina Staniouta of Belarus proofed her level and consistency by upping all her scores in the final. She performed her best routine on Clubs in the last rotation earning 18.200 points and with a 72.166 total the experienced gymnast won her third Bronze medal in Kiev.
 
While Silviya Miteva of Bulgaria was rather inconsistent at these championships finishing in ninth place (67.165), Neta Rivkin (ISR) and Carolina Rodriguez (ESP) confirmed their qualifying 10th and eleventh rank respectively.
 
First year senior Marina Durunda of Azerbaijan had impressed during qualifications at her first World Championships, ranking ninth. However, she failed to continue on the same level in the final and dropped down to rank sixteen.

>> Individuals All-around Final

* Thursday, Aug 29:
>> Qualification Results All-around



* Individual A p p a r a t u s__________________________

FINAL - H O O P (Wednesday, Aug 28)
* Qualifications:
> H o o p



In a very high-level final Ganna Rizatdinova (18.266) was able to increase her difficulty as well as her execution score, while Yana Kudryavtseva (UKR; 18.250) and Margarita Mamun (RUS;18.233) both lost a few hundredth points in execution. It was by the slightest margin, but enough to relegate the two Russians to ranks two and three respectively. Rizatdinova won the first Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships Gold for the Ukraine since Anna Bessonova’s all-around Gold in 2007.
 
With consistent performances Alina Maksymenko (UKR), Melitina Staniouta (BLR) and Silviya Miteva (BUL) all improved their marks in the final, ranking fourth, fifth and sixth in the end.
 
Only Son, Yeon Jae (KOR) and Deng, Senyue (CHN) were not able to build on their qualifying performances, finishing on the bottom of the table in ranks seven and eight consecutively. (* source: f i g)
>> Results, Final H o o p

Medal Trio Hoop


* FINAL - B A L L- Qualification > B a l l

Having shone in the preliminaries, the Russian top qualifiers did even better in the Ball final. While Margarita Mamun produced the routine with the highest difficulty score of the day (9.350) that added to a 18.516 total and secured her the Gold, Yana Kudryavtseva’s flawless execution of her beautifully choreographed routine won her the Silver with 18.350 points.

 

 
Ganna Rizatdinova (UKR) made a mistake; she lost her ball and consequently precious points, which ranked her sixth in the end. The bad luck of the Ukrainian was Melitina Staniouta’s (BLR) chance to win a medal. Having performed first in the final, she knew immediately after her confidently executed routine, that this was it. Being awarded a 18.166, she walked off happily with Bronze.
 
Even though Silviya Miteva (BUL) improved from the qualifications when she ranked seventh, it was not enough for a medal this time around and she settled for fourth place.
 
Alina Maksymenko from host Ukraine confirmed her qualifying fifth rank on Ball and Son, who lost control over her ball, had to accept a disappointing seventh place.
Katsiaryna Halkina (BLR) finished on the bottom of the table with a total of 16.500 points. (* source: f i g)
>> Final results B a l l


* Saturday, Aug 31:- Groups, all-around & Qualification
> Live results (.. from 3 pm local time in Kiev on!)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++