43. WOMEN's Artistic Gymnastics European Championships 2022

♦ P R E V I E W

After Leipzig (1961) and Berlin (2011) these women's competitions take place for the third time on German soil (- apart from an intermezzo in 2001 of an interdisciplinary attempt in Riesa). Since 1994 there has been a European team classification, since 2005 so-called individual European Championships for the all-around title have alternated every two years with the European Team Championships, as now in Munich in 2022, where no all-around medals are awarded, but the national classification has a qualification significance for the upcoming World Championships.
After already in 2020 at the ECh in Turkish Mersin with a pandemically badly limited participation of 16 nations only 8 were involved in the team competition (without Russia, France, Netherlands Great Britain and Italy, which all won the team medals in the last decade), also this time Russia and Belarus are excluded as belligerent and/or belligerent involved nations.
Altogether 37 European federations are travelling to Munich to challenge for the continental titles. A total of 259 gymnasts are scheduled to compete: 112 juniors and 147 seniors.
Thus, Ukraine is defacto the defending Team champion and also the last European vice-champion Romania is certainly favored, especially since the latter again currently attracted attention with young gymnasts. Certainly strong Italians are expected in front and one should also count on the British gymnasts, whereby a prognosis is very difficult to make because of increasingly rare all-around results in the still young Olympic cycle, but therefore the team competition is of particular importance because of its World Championship qualification character! (* Have a look to   ► ECh Team History )
In 2022 Munich welcomes the reigning European Champion on floor and 2021 European Gymnast of the Year Jessica Gadirova and her twin sister Jennifer together with recently crowned Commonwealth Champions Alice Kinsella, Georgia-Mae Fenton and Ondine Achampong (GBR), 2020 European Champion on vault and bars Zsofia Kovacs (HUN), Germany’s star team featuring Kim Bui, Elisabeth Seitz, Pauline Schaefer-Betz, Sarah Voss and Emma Malewski, France’s Marine Boyer, Italy’s trusted team of Alice and Asia D’Amato, Giorgia Villa and Martina Maggio, Portugal’s Filipa Martins and Slovenia’s vaulting duo Teja Belak, making her comeback after becoming a mum, and Tjasa Kysselef. Romania’s Ana Barbosu, who dominated the 2020 junior Europeans will make her senior European debut now.
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* All-around: Qualification and final in one piece ...?!

* EC - r e p o r t --:  The Olympic Hall of Munich, site of the 1972 Olympic gymnastics competition, lit up thanks to a wonderful venue set-up and the brilliant performances by the gymnasts. The Italian team shone bright, totalling three points more than rivals Great Britain.
Finishing on bars, Italian teammates Asia D’Amato and Martina Maggio both had the possibility to clinch the gold, adding to the drama between the good friends. Asia hit on excellent bars routine to win gold, 7 tenths ahead of British star Alice Kinsella (Foto, right >) who saw her consistency rewarded with the silver medal.
It’s the first win for Italy since Vanessa Ferrari 15 years ago! Maggio unfortunately fell off bars. Still her solid performance throughout the day earned her enough reserve to secure to bronze medal over France’s Carolann Heduit. Superb vaulting put Belgium’s Lisa Vaelen in 5th place. Competing in the first of 4 subdivisions, Naomi Visser (NED) had a long wait ahead after her great performance, ultimately ending 6^th ahead of 2020 junior European Champion Ana Barbosu (ROU) and retiring German star Kim Bui.
Saturday’s team final will be a battle between Italy, Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Hungary and Spain. On Sunday, we’ll meet again for the apparatus finals!
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* ALL-Around, Qualification & FINAL
D'AMATO, Asia        (ITA)  - 54,732
KINSELLA, Alice   (GBR)  - 54,132
MAGGIO, Martina   (ITA)  - 53,965
  4. HEDUIT, Carolann  (FRA)  - 53,699
   5. VAELEN, Lisa             (BEL)  - 53,699
   6. VISSER, Naomi          (NED)  - 53,265
        ►►  Detailed Results
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* Apparatus Qualifyers:
► V A U L T;                        ► U N E V E N  B A R S; 
► B A L A N C E  B E A M;  ► F L O O R  E X E R C I S E
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? Critical comment --: Also to the amazement of many gymnastics insiders the 2022 European Gymnastics Federation declared strangely and for the first time in modern gymnastics history an almost 10-hour qualification procedure with a confusing starting field of 143 gymnasts from 37 countries simultaneously to a MULTIPLE FINAL ...?!!!
There is not even the hint of an arc of suspense for gymnastics fans, if one does not select the truly best athletes for a real and concentraded final field, which could also impressively convince the inclined public of the beauty and elegance of this aesthetic sport!
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♦♦ ECh - T E A M - F I N A L   (Saturday, August 13)

♦ ECh -  BALANCES of the TEAM FINALISTS:

* The starting situation --:  Italy ahead of Great Britain and France initially started probably with the greatest medal prospects;
* Germany seemed substantially weaker, but with home advantage and with mode without strike value not without hopes - the Tagesform should entscheident!!!
* At the last European Team Championships in 2020, Ukraine was ahead of Romania and Hungary - but with pandemic-weakened participation of only 8 countries: of which only Hungary is represented in the current 8'er final.
→ ... AND THEN:
* I T A L Y - gets TEAM gold at a European Championships for the 2^nd time after 2006 (!!), was already 1x European Champion in 2006 (Volos) and won 1x bronze behind Romania and Russia in 2012 (Brussels), reached the finals 3x after that: safe and sovereign march through with all four apparatus best performances!

* Giovani donne d'oro dall'Italia! Golden girls from Italy!
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* GREAT BRITAIN: The 3^rd European Championship runner-up title with the team, after 2x silver in 2010 (Birmingham) and 2014 (Sofia) and 2016 in Bern, last fourth in 2018 in Glasgow.
* GERMANY: - The deserved miracle happened: Since after four falls on beam the French women fell hopelessly behind in the medal fight already in the 2nd round, the guest gymnasts used their chances consequently, scored with the second best apparatus values on bars and beam, and could thus optimally make up for the substantial weaknesses on vault and floor with stability and fighting spirit: For the first time, Germany won team bronze at a Women's European Championship.
In 2008 they made the 8's final for the first time (7th), were 8th in 2012, then fourth in Sofia in 2014 and seventh again in Bern in 2016 - and now: First medal! Chapeau!!!
4. NETHERLANDS: - had reached the final as preliminaries sixth: Increase especially by bars and floor performances as third of the competition in each case; however, they lost almost 2 points on beam alone - otherwise they could still have really ousted the Germans from the bronze place!!! Last time in 2018 in Glasgow they were third!
5. BELGIUM : ... the absence of their pausing star, the bars Olympic champion Nina Derwael, was certainly not to compensate!  Were in the team final for the 3rd time after 2012 and 2014.
6. FRANCE : - Unfortunate crash after beam disaster (4 falls in 3 exercises!) despite 3rd place in the qualification ...!
their past successes: first medal (bronze) in 2008 in Clermont-Ferrand), then again third in 2016 (Bern) and vice-European Championships 2018 in Glasgow!
7. HUNGARY : - Bronze 2020 in the reduced pandemic starting field, before last 2x eighth (2018/'16).
8. SPAIN : - Strong vault performance today as third best nation today, but that was not enough for more! So far 3x just missed medals as fourth: (2000; '04; '06); 2012 pl. 7; 2014 pl. 6; 2018 rank 7.
!!   ►  Detailed Team Results
        >  All TEAM ECh's since 1994)
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♦ JECh - European Juniors Championships  2022
     - Munich, 12. + 14. August 12 & 14 Olympic Hall -

♦ Friday, 12. August 12 -  (All-around  &  Teams)

The Juniors ECh ALL- AROUND 2022
Despite the not very advantageous position in the 1^st day subdivision, a German junior gymnast achieved a great success for the very first time:
14-year-old Helen KEVRIC from Stuttgart, who scored 52.932 points and had to wait until the evening, won the junior all-around gold!
One week after her victory at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Banska Bystrica (SVK) , Helen relegated Romanian Amalia GHIGOARTA (51.432) to silver.
The bronze medal went to Viola PIERAZZINI (50,099) from Italy.
Thus Helen Kevric is in all four apparatus finals: on vault and floor with the highest qualification score, on uneven bars and balance beam on "hope position" 3.
Her German teammate Marlene Gotthardt - also from Stuttgart, like Helen -  reached the vault final as fifth best and Chiara Moiszi the beam final in eighth position.
* Juniors ALL-Around
KEVRIC, Helen          (GER)  - 52,932
GHIGOARTA, Amalia (ROU)  - 51,432
PIERAZZINI, Viola       (ITA)  - 50,099
  4. Maneca-Voinea, Sabrina (ROU) - 50,065
   5. LASHEVSKA, Anna              (UKR)  - 49,698
   6. MARTIN, Abigail                   (GBR)  - 49,199
              ►►  Detailed Results
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* Qualifications for the Apparatus Finals (- on Sunday):
  ► V a u l t;                      ► U n e v e n  B a r s;  
► B a l a n c e  B e a m;   ► F l o o r  E x e r c i s e s

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 ... and not only that:
* There was also precious metal for the host Germans in the team classification, who were last in 7^th place at the Juniors ECh in 2018:
Behind the successful gold team ITALY (153.966) and vice-champion ROMANIA, the German girls secured the bronze medal (15.329) to the very first time!
Congratulations to the happy girls and also thanks and recognition for the hard and successful work of the coaching team led by junior head Claudia Schunk.

.* FINAL  T E A M Standing
I T A L Y              - 153,996
R O M A N I A     - 150,495
G E R M A N Y   - 150,329
  4. Great Britain        - 147,563
  5.  France                - 146,995
  6. Czech Republic   - 144,328
 
  ►►  Detailed Results

** These JECh  competitions are not part of the public media service in Munich, so there was no daily LIVE SCORING!
Also the organizer, "EUROPEAN GYMNASTICS", unfortunately did not offer any intermediate results after the 3 subdivisions.

* Special Review:
The last time there were Junior European Championships was in 2020 in Mersin, Turkey.
The order at that time - under pademy-limited participation - was.
- ROMANIA ahead of Ukraine, Hungary, Turkey, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Bulgaria.
In the all-around Ana BARBOSU (ROU) triumphed, who just became seventh all-around at the current elite European Championships 2022 here in Munich and leads the hopeful ranking after the qualification on beam ...!
The last time a German JECh girls team placed 7th was in 2018.
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