19. April 2015  
Montpellier, FRA  
Artistic Gymnastics

36th WOMEN's European Championships 2015

Giulia STEINGRUBER - the very first Swiss European Gymnastics Queen!

 At the 36th Women's Europeans 2015 in Montpellier the Swiss Giulia STEINGRUBER won not only the very first all-around medal for his country, but she is the very first European all-around champion of Switzerland! Steingruber ranked first after the last rotation with a total score of 57,873 points and a difference of +0,741 to her strongest opponent: Russia's Maria KHARENKOVA's vault result in the last rotation (13,933) was not strong enough, to beat Steingruber - 57,132 that's the silver medal for this petit Russian girl, who was a double junior European champion already, three years ago. The bronze medal went to Elissa DOWNIE from Great Britain (56,623), but also this is the very first all-around medal for a British girl in history of the Europeans! No Romanian gymnast on the all-around medal podium! Italy's Erika Fasana went on 4th place (56,474), followed by the exceptional Polish Marta Pihan-Kulesza (55,198) and the second British gymnast, Claudia Fragapane (54,899) on sixth place...
But at the end Russia was the best nation, winning three titles at the apparatus finals: Maria PASEKA on vault - beating the titleholder Steingruber, Daria SPIRIDONOVA on uneven bars, in front of Becky Downie, and Ksenia AFANASEVA on floor exercises, followed by the Brit Claudia Fragapane and Giulia Steingruber.  Romanian girls won only one medal, this year, the title on beam went to Andreea MUNTEANU ...

* The International Gymnastic Camp (IGC / USA) supports the 2015 ECh GYMmedia reports.

36th WOMEN's
European Championships 2015
- Montpellier / FRA; 1Apr 15 - 19 -
______________________________
♦♦ All-around Final


1. STEINGRUBER, Giulia           (SUI)  - 57,873
2. KHARENKOVA, Maria  (RUS) - 57,132
3. DOWNIE, Elissa (GBR)  - 56,632
          

►► All-around Final results
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WOMEN's Apparatus FINALS, Part I  (> FIN qualifiers)
 * Saturday, Apr 18

Maria PASEKA (RUS)

  V A U L T

Defending Champion, and newly crowned all-around European champion, Giulia Steingruber (SUI) was surpassed on vault by Russia’s Maria PASEKA who took the title by a tenth. Paseka’s Cheng and Amanar were of higher difficulty and although Steingruber’s execution was better, this gave Paseka the advantage. Ksenia Afanasyeva (RUS) held off a challenge by Dutch Noel Van Klaveren to the bronze.
1. PASEKA, Maria          (RUS)
                         - (6.4/6.3) = 15,250
2. STEINGRUBER, Giulia (SUI)
                   - (6.2/5.8) = 15,149

3. AFANASIEVA, Ksenia (RUS) 
                  - (6.3/5.6) = 14,866
              > Detailed results

Daria SPIRIDONOVA (RUS)

 

  UNEVEN  BARS

 

On uneven bars the battle for gold was between Rebecca Downie (GBR) and Daria SPIRIDONOVA (RUS), both posting a 6.7 difficulty score.
Spiridonova’s execution was better so she took the European title with 2 tenths difference.

Sanne Wevers (NED) got bronze for a routine performed with beautiful form. The younger Downie sister, Ellie, was one tenth behind in fourth place.
Crowd favorite Loan His (FRA) unfortunately had problems in her first European event final ...


1. SPIRIDONOVA, Daria  (RUS)
                                  - (6.7) =15,466
2. DOWNIE, Rebecca (GBR)  GBR)
                              - (6.7) = 15,233
  3. WEVERS, Sanne          (NED)
                              - (5.6) = 14,200
            > Detailed results

Andreea MUNTEANU (ROU)

+++++++++++++++++++
* Sunday, Final Day 2

  BALANCE  BEAM 
(> FIN qualifiers) & > Start list

Andreea MUNTEANU continued Romania’s strong tradition on beam by winning her first European title with a score of 14.366. Becky Downie showed a solid routine to place second, her second silver. Claire Martin (FRA) delighted the audience with a beautiful performance, securing France’s second medal, a  bronze this time.

  1. MUNTEANU, Andreea
                     (ROU) - (6.1) = 14,366 
  2. DOWNIE, Rebecca
                   (GBR)  - (6.0) = 14,300
  3. MARTIN, Claire
                   (FRA)  - (5.8) = 14,200
             > Detailed results

Ksenia AFANASEVA (RUS)

  Floor Exercises

Former European and World Champion on floor, Ksenia AFANASEVA (RUS) topped the field again, after being sidelined by injury for a long time. Her expressive floor routine and great spins and leaps gave her the advantage over the powerful tumbling of Fragapane who placed second and Steingruber who added a bronze medal to her collection.
 

  1. AFANASEVA, Ksenia     (RUS) - (6.3) = 14,733
  2. FRAGAPANE, Claudia  (GBR) - (6.3) = 14.633
  3. STEINGRUBER, Giulia  (SUI)  - (6.0) = 14,466
          > Detailed results 
  ►► FINAL RESULTS, ALL
 

Maria Kharenkova (RUS) - best of qualification, AA silver nedallist at the end

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
* WOMEN's ECh Qualification (Wednesday, Apr 15)
The 36th Women's European's started on Wedneday, April 15, with the qualification:
Best after the fourth and last subdivisions was Russia's Maria KHARENKOVA scored 57,698 points, followed by Giulia STEINGRUBER (SUI; 56,965) and Elissa DOWNIE (GBR; 56,190).
On fourth place ranked Erika Fasana as best Italian gymnast (56,040) in front of local hero Claudia Fragapane (55,031) and the third Brit, Amy Tinkler (54,958).

⇒ SUBDIVISION 4
Camille Bahl (FRA) vaults a good double-twisting Yurchenko and a layout Tsukahara. The average of 14.166 takes her to place 8 and a place in the vault final! Well done!
Huge crowd support for Camille Bahl and Claire Martin! Martin's beam was great, she scored 14.166 and is currently in 6th place.
Romania's Munteanu performed well on beam while teammate Bulimar underperformed on both beam and floor, not reaching the finals.
* QUICK RESULTS
* All-around: ►► AA Subdivision 4
1. Kharenkova  (RUS) 57.698
2. Steingruber    (SUI) 56.965
3. Ellie Downie (GBR) 56.190
4. Erika Fasana (ITA)  56,040
5. Claudia Fragapane (FRA)  55,031
6. Amy Tinkler (GBR)  - 54,958
   ►► Subdivision 4 (Final standing)
.
♦ Vault    → Qu VT results
1. Steingruber (SUI) 15.133;  2. Ellie Downie (GBR) 14.549;  3. Afanasyeva (RUS) 14.533
.
♦ Uneven bars    → Qu UB results
1. Spiridonova (RUS) 15.241;  2. Becky Downie (GBR) 15.233;  3. Kharenkova (RUS) 14.733
.
♦ Balance beam   → Qu BB results
1. Kharenkova (RUS) 15.033;  2. Becky Downie (GBR) 14.366;  3. Wevers (NED) 14.225

♦ Floor exerc.   → Qu FX results
1. Steingruber (SUI) 14.333;  2. Afanasyeva (RUS) 14.266;  3. Tinkler (GBR) 14.200
     > All-around Final, Qualifiers  > App. Final, Qualifiers
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

♦ Subdivision 3
* Subdivision 3 starts with a strong showing on bars by the Russians: Kharenkova scores 14.733 (6.2) and Spiridonova 15.241 (6.5).
- Awesome routine by Wevers on beam for 14.225. But she is immediately overtaken by Becky Downie's 14.366 (6.1). Steingruber (SUI) takes the lead on floor with a great and spectacular exercise which she opens with a full-twisting double layout.
- Steingruber takes the lead on vault with 2 awesome vaults. Fragapane shows her energy on floor but goes out of bounds on her double arabian. European beam Champion Maria Kharenkova (RUS) takes the lead on this event with 15.033 (6.4) after a solid and difficult routine which included a high bhs to layout on 2 feet.
- Fragapane vaults a double-twisting Yurchenko and a RO half on layout half off. Millousi elegant and strong on beam for 14.166 (6.1). Spiridonova entertains on floor but sits down her double pike dismount. Kharenkova leaps out of her double Arabian, strong on all other tumbling passes (14.066, 5.9)
- Awesome bars routine for defending European Champion Becky Downie (GBR) who scores 15.233, right behind Spiridonova in the ranking. Falls from Fragapane on bars and Steingruber on beam. The Russians Spiridonova and Kharenkova vault Yurchenko fulls.

* SUB 3 - All-around:
1. Kharenkova  (RUS) 57.698;  2. Steingruber    (SUI) 56.965;  3. Ellie Downie (GBR) 56.190
    > Subdivision 3
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
♦ Subdivision 2
 ... in rotation 1 there was good floor exercises by Erika Fasana (ITA), Eythora Thorsdottir (NED) and Laura Jurca (ROU). Ferrari had some problems and Van Klaveren fell twice unfortunately.
In rotation 2 Van Klaveren did two good vaults to average 14.354 which brings her into 4th place in the vault standings at the moment. Fasana and Jurca vaulted double-twisting Yurchenkos to challenge for the all-around top spots. Ilaria Kaeslin (SUI) showed a nice Onodi on beam but fell on her full-twisting backhandspring.
In rotation 3 Van Klaveren fell on bars, Fasana performed solid to go into second place all-around at the moment. Kaeslin showed a nice triple twist but fell on her double tuck on floor. Romania's Iridon had problems from the beginning and fell on her Gienger.
♦♦ SUB 2 All-around:
1. Ellie Downie (GBR) 56.190;  2. Fasana (ITA) 56.040;  3. Tinkler (GBR) 54.958
    > Subdivision 2
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
♦ Subdivision 1 - All-around
Rotation 1 saw great vaults (Yurchenko double and round off half on piked half off) by Ellie Downie (GBR) with an average score of 14.569, Tinkler (GBR) vaults a Yurchenko double for 14.625. Italian teammates Rizzelli and Ferlito hit the floor for 13.233 and 13.400 respectively.
Rotation 2 saw the return to competition of 2011 World Champion and 2013 European Champion on floor Ksenia Afanasyeva (RUS) scoring a 14.266 (6.1) for a routine that included a double layout, 2 whips to triple twists (form issues) and 2,5 twists to layout.
Russia's Paseka and Afanasyeva both vaulted a double-twisting Yurchenko and a RO half on layout half off. British Champion Amy Tinkler had problems on beam, wobbling after several elements and scoring 12.833. Downie was solid for 13.891. Giladi (ISR) delighted the crowd with cool music and dance
** SUB 1 - All-Around
1. Downie (GBR) - 56.190;  2. Tinkler (GBR) - 54.958;  3. Rizzelli (ITA) - 54.365
   > Subdivision 1

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