The past weekend was quite busy, and although you could have missed it between the American Cup and Gymnix, the second meet of the Serie A also took place, in Ancona. The notable absentees were Carlotta Ferlito, who was in Newark at the American Cup, Vanessa Ferrari – still recovering from her injury. Erika Fasana was back on bars after a few months break.
Top Gymnasts
- Elisa Meneghini looks confident and ready to upgrade. She had the best AA score of the day despite a fall on beam. She stuck the Yurchenko 1 ½ (14.55), hit bars despite less than perfect handstand (13.60) and had a great floor routine, with stuck passes and great amplitude. On beam, she finally hit a great roundoff+layout 1/1 and a nice double turn, earning the highest D score of the team in this quad (6.2). Too bad, she weirdly fell on a simple front aerial, breaking the connection with the split jump, which could have raised her D score to 6.3. What I hope from her is a little more effort on the presentation on floor, a DTY on vault, and more confidence with her new great beam routine.
- Tea Ugrin this time did a way better performance and was second in the AA. A recent minor injury prevented her from competing all her skills on beam (5.5/14.20) and floor (5.00/13.55), but clean routines helped Tea to gain good E scores. Her bars, with one of the highest D score, were good, even if she needs to hit those handstands better if she wants a higher E score. Later in the season, I hope we’ll see something new and exciting from her.
- One of the most confident girls right now is Lara Mori. Lara first showed this feature in Nanning, and since then she has been hitting most of the routines. Maybe she hasn’t the most difficult program, but she does her job. On beam she has a great potential, with a roundoff+layout, bhs+layoutstepout+layout stepout, a Y turn and a nice 2.5 twist dismount, but this time some major wobbles and some failed connections kept her score low ( 13.50). On floor she’s energetic and fun to watch, with a nice full-in a very fast triple twist (13.70) and I think she will be back with the great whip+triple twist she had more than a year ago. I doubt she will upgrade her vault since her FTY is slightly low and piked, so she needs to work on increasing the D score on the other 3 apparatus.
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Nice Performances
- One of the gymnasts who completely disappears and then surprises you, is Giorgia Campana. Again, not the highest difficulty, and honestly her routines are not enough to be in the top team, but since the last competition she improved a lot. As a bars specialist, she lacks difficulty, but she’s clean enough to earn a good 13.95. On beam, a nice rhythm, a great Kochetkova and a nice double piked dismount, gave her a good 13.85.
- Even this time, Sofia Busato only competed vault and managed to impress with a huge DTY (15.30). Martina Rizzelli performed not her best bars routine, many loose legs and issues here and there, but still had the highest score of the day (14.10). Erika Fasana tied that score on bars, coming back from the elbow injury. Her routine was downgraded a bit, without the Church, and had some bent legs, but was good enough for a comeback.
Other mentions
- After the stunning performance in Rimini, Desireè Carofiglio had a very bad meet, with falls on bars and floor. I hope we will see her shine in Jesolo.
- Giada Grisetti, who used to compete for Switzerland, has officially changed nationality and now will compete for Italy. Giada is strong on bars (13.65) and has a very good beam routine with a gorgeous Onodi ( 13.95).
- Enus Mariani had a decent performance despite a fall on the inbar stalder on bars, her best apparatus, but too low difficulty and no upgrades are not going to keep her on top.
- Maria Cocciolo, a junior gymnast, looks very promising and ready to perform on a bigger stage such as Jesolo and the Junior Europeans. This year, the Italian junior team is not too hot, but Maria could be a nice addition, especially on beam ( 13.70) and floor ( 13.40).
- Martina Maggio competes in the Serie A2, so in the lower one, but she’s another junior to watch. A 2002 born, Martina is strong on vault, where she performs a good Yurchenko 1 ½ (14.35) and floor, full-in, front double twist, double piked and double back ( 13,40). She also has an interesting beam, but often lacks confidence.
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Official Results
Serie A1: http://dati.federginnastica.it/articoli/allegato_9422.pdf
Serie A2: http://dati.federginnastica.it/articoli/allegato_9419.pdf
Article: Giuly Holzer
Cover Photo: source