03. Juni 2018  
Guimarães (POR)  
Sport Aerobics

15. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS AEROBIC GYMNASTICS 2018

In the 25th anniversary of the AEROBIC competition discipline, the 15th AEROBIC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018 take place in Guimarães, Portugal.
From June 01 to 03, more than 280 athletes from 35 different nations are expected in the historically first and former Portuguese capital. The strongest delegation is coming from Russia (20), followed by China and Spain, each with 18 athletes. On Friday, June 01 the worlds started with the qualification rounds of Women's Individual, Trios, Aerobic Step and Aerobic Dance preliminaries ...
Traditionally, the World Gymnastics Federation (FIG) always carries out its so-called "World Age Group Competitions" in the run-up to its world title fights (Mai 25 - 27), which are something of a youth, resp. Junior World Championships. At these 8th edition of the WAGC, more than 350 young athletes from 29 countries competed in this special highlight for next top generations ...
At the end of the three competition day  Russia tops medal standings:
Five nations won gold in Guimarães: China, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the Russian Federation. Russia was the most successful nation with five medals total (three gold medals, one silver and one bronze). Japan took two gold medals, and China won five medals overall (one gold, three silvers and one bronze). Korea won one gold and one silver. Romania won four medals (two silvers and two bronzes). Ekaterina Pykhtova (RUS) was the most successful gymnast of the competition with three gold medals (Team, Mixed Trio and Aerobic Step).
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* FIG--: "All about A E R O B I C S" :
 

♦ WCh AEROBIC - FINAL Day 3  (June 03)


* D A Y  3 --:

* M E N's INDIVIDUAL --: Saito defends title in style
Saito's combination of artistry and athleticism brought an untouchable score of 22.800 in the Individual Men's final, where he defeated Dániel Bali (HUN) and Iván Veloz (MEX). Saito is the first gymnast to win back-to-back Individual Men's titles since Jonatan Cañada (ESP) – the FIG's official men's ambassador for the event – won his third world title in 2002. Following Riri Kitazume's gold medal in the Individual Women's event on Saturday, Japan is the first nation to take both individual titles since Spain in 2012. Remarkably, the podium was identical to the 2016 World Championships in Incheon, as all three medalists repeated their finishes. Bali won his third consecutive World individual medal following bronze in 2014 and silver in 2016.Veloz, the 2014 World champion, said he was thrilled to win a medal after undergoing knee surgery for a torn meniscus in May 2017. ►► Results MEN's Individual

 * M I X E D  Pairs --:  Italy's 'Romeo and Juliet' defend Mixed Pair title
Top qualifiers Castoldi and Donati (ITA) delivered a passionate, emotional performance to win their second Mixed Pairs World title, improving their qualification score by half a point. Castoldi, who said she was so nervous before their routine in qualifications she was hyperventilating, said she again had to battle nerves as they prepared to defend their title. Dacian Barna and Andreea Bogati (ROU) won the silver in their first World Championships together as a Mixed Pair. Bogati was the 2012 World champion with Valentin Mavrodineanu, while Barna was sixth in 2016 (with Lavinia Panaete) and seventh in 2014 (with Alina Radu). Barna said he was disappointed they did not win the gold, but that his strong partnership with Bogati made the difference in him landing on the podium in Guimarães. The silver medallists in 2016, Bali and Fanni Mazács (HUN), won the bronze.  ►► Results MIXED Pairs

* GROUPS --: China charges to Group gold
Just seventh in qualification, the Chinese shot to first in the Group final to defend their title from Incheon, improving their score from 21.572 to 22.333 in the final. Ma Dong and Xu Xuesong returned from the 2016 team and were joined by Li Lingfei, Li Qi, and Wang Ke. Bogati and Barna, the Mixed Pairs silver medallists, took another silver alongside their fellow Group members Gabriel Bocşer, Marian Broţei, and Mihai Popa.Russia (Garsevan Dzhanazian, Aleksei Germanov, Ilia Ostapenko, Roman Semenov, and Denis Solovev), the top qualifiers, took third.  ►► Results GROUPS

* AEROBIC STEP --:  Russia steps up to first in final
Second in qualification, Russia's Aerobic Step team (Timur Alitovskii, Danil Chaiun, Anastasiia Degtiareva, Irina Dobriagina, Aleksei Germanov, Veronika Korneva, Kirill Kulikov, and Ekaterina Pykhtova) improved their performance by four tenths from qualification to win gold in the last final of these championships. Top qualifier China (Fu Yao, Huang Jing, Jiang Shuai, Wang Fei, Xi Yuefeng, Yang Qiaobo, Zhang Shouyi, and Zhao Ming) settled for silver, repeating the result from Incheon. Fu, Yang and Zhao were members of China's team in 2016.
The Ukrainian squad of Kateryna Cherkez, Darya Gutsalyuk, Oleksandra Mokhort, Anna Naumova, Oleksandra Podopryhora, Valeriia Semenii, Daria Subotina, and Kateryna Velykodna won bronze, the country's first medal in Guimarães. Cherkez, a member of Ukraine's seventh-place Aerobic Step team from Incheon, said they were overjoyed with the result.  ►► Results AEROBIC STEP

* FIG Summary  - Final Day 3:

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♦ WCh AEROBIC - Day 1 (June 01)


* WOMEN's INDIVIDUAL
fig - report --:  Riri Kitazume (JPN) led qualification in the Individual Women's contest as competition kicked off Friday at the 15th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships in Guimarães, Portugal.
The first day of qualification at the Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães saw athletes from more than 30 nations fight for berths in finals in the first four events: Individual Women, Trio, Aerobic Dance and Aerobic Step.  The top finishers, a maximum of eight in each event, will advance to this weekend's finals along with the top finishers from the three events scheduled for Saturday's qualification (Individual Men, Mixed Pairs and Group). Additionally, the scores from qualification will be combined to determine the outcome of the Team contest in Guimarães. On day one, Russia earned the most spots in finals with five, followed by China with four, and Italy, Republic of Korea and Spain with three each.

Kitazume begins quest for women's crown
The retirement of reigning World champion Corina Constantin (ROU) has ensured that a new queen will be crowned in Guimarães. Riri Kitazume, who finished an unlucky ninth in qualification at the 2016 Worlds in Incheon (KOR), firmly established herself as the one to beat with her performance in the Individual Women's event. The 20-year-old Kitazume led qualification by .4, the widest margin of victory of the day, thanks to her score of 21.55, which included the highest marks in all three categories: Artistry, Difficulty and Execution. She is the first Japanese gymnast to make the Individual Women's final since three-time World champion Yuriko Ito in 2004.Darina Pashova (BUL), who is currently second to Kitazume on the FIG World Ranking list, turned in a solid performance to qualify second. Anastasiia Ziubina (RUS) edged out Ana-Maria Stoilova (BUL) for third place on a tiebreak that favours the Execution score. Belén Guillemot (ESP), Yeon Sun Park (KOR), Michela Castoldi (ITA), and Anna Bullo (ITA) rounded out the finalists. Sara Silva (POR) was the top performer for the host nation in 13th.
>> Women's Individual (qualification)
 

* TRIOS : Top-ranked Russian Trio first
Seventh in the Trio final in Incheon, Russia 2 (Elena Ivanova, Ekaterina Pykhtova and Anastasiia Ziubina) scored 22.016 to qualify first, earning the top scores for Artistry and Execution. The Trio is currently first in the FIG World Ranking List.
China 1 (Tao Xu, Wang Haoyu, and Xi Yuefeng) qualified second with the highest Difficulty score. Vietnam (Nguyen Viet Anh, Vuong Hoai An, and Tran Ngoc Thuy Vi) finished just a hair behind China, 21.875-21.872, to qualify third.
Romania 2 (Andreea Bogati, Marian Brotei, and Mihai Popa) finished in fourth ahead of Hungary (Farkas Balázs, Dániel Bali, and Fanni Mazács). The Republic of Korea, who won at home in Incheon, qualified fifth. Kim Hanjin and Ryu Jusun are back in Guimarães to defend their title, but their partner Go Kyungmin scratched with a knee injury (although he participated in the Dance event) and was replaced by Koh Eunbyeol.
China 2 (Ma Dong, Xu Xuesong, Li Lingxiao) and Russia 1 (Garsevan Dzhanazian, Ilia Ostapenko, and Denis Shurupov) qualified seventh and eighth, respectively.
>> Aerobic TRIOS (qualification)

* AEROBIC STEP : Chinese step up to first
France, the reigning champions in the Aerobic Step event, is not on hand to defend its title in Guimarães, where only five nations entered squads in the event. China, the runner-up in Incheon, came out on top in qualification, returning three of their eight silver medallists from 2016 (Fu Yao, Yang Qiaobo and Zhao Ming). Russia qualified second over Ukraine and Spain. Portugal secured an appearance for the home team in Sunday's finals by placing fifth.
>> Aerobic Step (qualification)

* AEROBIC DANCE : Koreans seek defence of Dance title
Korea took first place over China and Russia in the Aerobic Dance event, with the three countries repeating their respective rankings from the Incheon final. Korea, which fielded an entirely new squad in Guimarães, notched the highest scores for Artistry and Execution en route to first place with 18.250. China edged out Russia for second place in a tie-break. Romania, Vietnam, Hungary, Italy, and Spain also qualified to the Aerobic Dance final.
>> Aerobic Dance (qualification)

** F.I.G. VIDEO SUMMARY - Day 1 of Qualification (June 01)


* Qualification continues Saturday with the Individual Men, the Mixed Pairs and the Group events, followed by the awarding of the first medals of these World Championships for the teams. Finals for the Trios, the Individual Women and the Aerobic Dance events take place Saturday evening.
* source: fig wch reports