39th EUROPEANS of WOMEN's Artistic Gymnastics 2018

At the 1^st European Championships as a multisport event - the 39^th Women's continental championships of artistic gymnastics - RUSSIA succeeded in defending the title in the team final in the Glasgow’s iconic SSE Hydro Arena.
For the fifth time the Russians won the team gold medal with 165,195 points in front of a young team from FRANCE (161,137), who had already made first place in the preliminaries. After the bad luck on the balance beam of the British hosts (3 crashes !) the girls from the NETHERLANDS took their chance and surprisingly won the bronze medal ahead of Great Britain - the very first medal again after team silver 2002 in Patras 16 years before...!
* The team management of the Royal Belgian Gymnastics Federation (Gymfed) announced that the third placed team after the preliminaries wants to give up a start in the team final. The reason: stress problems and risk of injuries facing the World Championships preparation in two months in Doha (QAT). For the team moves Italy into the top eight qualifiers ...
So a young Italian team (9th) started and finished with a strong 6th place behind Ukraine and followed by Spain and Hungary.

* On Day 2 (Friday, August 3) started the European Junior Championships with their team and all-around decisions.
Al-together 137 gymnasts from 35 countries will compete in both the junior and senior competitions ...!

 V AU L T  (> S t a r t l i s t )
Hungarian pride
Top Boglarka Devai was the first gymnasts to perform her two vaults and nervously waited as the other gymnasts passed. Her strong emotions were noticed by the audience and the TV spectators who bite their nails in anticipation. When she realised she had upgraded her bronze medal from last year to her first European title, Devai flew in the arms of her coach and 2017 champion Coline Devillard. A great moment, 20 years after compatriot Adrienn Varga took the vault gold in St-Petersburg! And it’s worth saying that it’s just the third gold medal ever for Hungary!
A delighted Boglarka Devai said: "I can't believe I have won this title. I was very nervous entering this championship because my training wasn't so good, but I am very happy." Russia’s Angelina Melnikova vaulted to the silver, holding off a strong challenge by Romania’s Denisa Golgota. Sarah Voss (GER) performed well to finish 4th, overtaking Lilia Akhaimova (RUS). Defending Champion Devillard put her hands down on her second vault, taking her out of medal contention. * source: ueg-rep

1. DEVAI, Boglarka  (HUN) - 14,399

2. MELNIKOVA, Angelina (RUS)  - 14,233
3. GOLGATA, Denisa  (ROU)  - 14,166
      4. VOSS, Sarah  (GER)  - 14,083
      5. AKHAIMOVA, Lilia  (RUS)  - 14,066
      6. DEVILLARD, Coline  (FRA)  - 13,933
      7. VOLLEMAN, Tisha  (NED)  - 13,799
      8. BELAK, Teja  (SLO)  - 13,533
► Detailed Results

 BALANCE BEAM (> S t a r t  l i s t )
A new beam queen
A successor for 5-time European Beam Champion Catalina Ponor, who won the title last year and has since retired, has been crowned and it’s the reigning Olympic Champion Sanne Wevers (NED)! After the team success the day before, Wevers focused on her individual final. "I really don't know how to describe this actually. I really have done everything in order to get this title. It is unbelievable and I am very happy with today. I had a nice and clean routine and it is just superb to win the European title here. It feels great. It is quite hard to always deliver your best results on the right moment. It is hard to find out how you can manage to do so. At least today it all worked out well. I knew I had a great routine, but I still had to wait for all the others to finish." Top qualifier Nina Derwael improved her routine slightly as she clinched her second medal of the day. France’s Marine Boyer edged teammate Melanie de Jesus dos Santos for the bronze medal. * source: ueg-report

1. WEVERS, Sanne         (NED)  (5.6) = 13,900
2. DERWAEL, Nina          (BEL)  (5.0) = 13,600
3. BOYER, Marine           (FRA)  (5.8) = 13,166
      4. DE JESUS, Melanie      (FRA)  (5.4) = 13,066
      5. KAESLIN, Ilaria             (SUI)  (5.1= = 12,466
      6. SCHÄFER, Pauline       (GER)  (5.2) = 12,400
      7. BRASSART, Maellyse   (FRA)  (5.1) = 12,266
      8. MILLOUSI, Vasiliki        (GRE)  (5.3) = 12,133
          ►  Detailed Results

* SATURDAY, August 04

♦♦  T E A M F I N A L

** UEG Report / Summary --: More than 6,000 spectators filled the Hydro with their cheers as they supported their favourite teams in the women’s final. The top 8 teams from Thursday’s qualification competed, with three gymnasts performing on each event and all scores counting towards the team total. Excitement guaranteed …
Top qualifier France and defending Champion Russia started off strongly on vault, with Russia securing an advantage of almost half a point. Three excellent bars sets improved their lead while Great Britain came undone on beam. They counted several falls including a sub-10 score by Kelly Simm.

Russia continued their fine form on beam, hitting their routines and holding their nerves together unlike in qualifications.
France suffered a fall on beam from Marine Boyer. After the third rotation the French ladies trailed Russia by approximately 3 points. Angelina Simakova kicked off the final rotation for the Russian, followed by Lilia Akhaimova. 2014 junior all-around, 2016 team and 2017 floor European Champion Angelina Melnikova, the leader of the team, performed an excellent routine to seal the victory. After receiving her gold medal, Angelina Melnikova said: “It was stressful competing but the team was united, helped and supported each other. We are happy to overcome the difficulties we had in qualifications. I’m so happy. I have no words! I want to thank all our coaches and all the people who support us.”

France didn’t let go of the second position and the girls seemed delighted with their well-earned silver medal. Sharing their joy, were the Dutch girls who confidently strode to the bronze medal. Their expressive floor routines were definitely one of the highlights of this final. Great Britain managed to fight back into fourth place while Ukraine proved the return of their programme, finishing in fifth place.
* source: u e g

* R E S U L T S
1. RUSSIA              - 165,195
2. FRANCE             - 161,131
3. NETHERLANDS  - 159,563
      4. Great Britain        - 157,263
      5. Ukraine               - 152,129
      6. Italy                    - 151,496
      7. Spain                  - 150,063
      8. Hungary              - 149,729
          ►► Detailed Results

   ►►  ALL WOMEN's TEAM RESULTS 1994 - 2018
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* FRIDAY, August 03
♦  JUNIORS  T E A M S
UEG-reports--: Russia, led by European Youth Olympic Festival all-around Champion Ksenia Klimenko, started in the first group and on beam which caused some nervousness. The girls picked up the pace on the other three events, posting the second highest total. They were overtaken in the second subdivision by seven tenths by the strong Italian team featuring twins Alice and Asia D’Amato, Giorgia Villa, Elisa Iorio and Alessia Federici. The ‘Italbaby’ posted the highest score on both vault and bars, and the second-total on beam. A sweet victory for the squad that has been presented as the most talented ever.
Great Britain enjoyed loud home support which led them to the highest beam total and the bronze medal. Romania and France went head-to-head for fourth and fifth place, respectively.

1. ITALY                  161.063
2. RUSSIA              160.363
3. GREAT BRITAIN  158.931

4. ROU 154.862;  5. FRA 154.729; 
6. BEL 154.231    7. GER 152.897;
8. UKR 151.796
    ► Detailed results
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