A friendly match between Belgium, Romania and Germany, took place last Sunday in Mouscron, Belgium. The host won the competition, followed by Romania, while Germany was 3rd. Find the results here.
Here are a few notes taken during the competition:
Belgium looked like a team worthy of a spot in Rio. They had good execution across the board. Their routines looked complete, thought through, rehearsed and steady. Now, were they perfect? Not quite. But the routines that they showed this weekend, if repeated at the Rio test event, will be what they need. The mistakes that they had today? They showed they are ready to absorb one or two falls at the Rio Qualifier.
They started on vault with solid FTYs across the board – Axelle Klinckaert and Cindy Vandenhole were the best with scores above 14. There were no major issues otherwise. Belgium moved on to compete on bars where, surprising no one, they delivered correct performances. This helped them lead comfortably at the middle of the competition. Senna Deriks was their best bars worker on the day, with 14.60/6.1. She is doing a great job replacing Nina Daerwal who is injured and couldn’t compete in Mouscron. Speaking of Nina, she was there, supporting her team mates. She had a heavily bandaged wrist though.
On beam, Belgium did not hold back and had a successful rotation. This was also where the first few bigger mistakes appeared but it was still a solid rotation with 3 scores in the 14s. Axelle Klinkaert unleashed her power and she managed the most difficult routine of the competition (14.4/6.0)
Floor went pretty well too, although some uncontrolled landings were signs of tiredness at the end of the competition. Cindy Vandenhole had the only fall of the team. Scores however went mostly up during the rotation and that is always what we want. Axelle Klinckaert was the last one up and she received a 13.85 for her difficult and quirky routine (DLO, full in).
So Belgium roved their readiness and hopefully they will manage to execute their routines as well in two weeks time as they did on home soil.
Meanwhile, 2nd place Romania didn’t look exactly like a team that will make it to Rio. Yet. First of all the bars situation is not stabilized. No one was envisioning big achievements here, what can you ask for in 6 months since the disaster at worlds in Glasgow? But if they want to stay in contention, they need four routines that consistently score in the 13+.
Meanwhile, Diana Bulimar and Dora Vulcan, who had succeeded good routines in qualifications at Doha a week ago, both had errors (Bulimar actually fell), and scored in the mid 12s. Iridon and Hobura brought the team’s highest scores 12.95 and 13.100. Sigh.
Beam was really good actually. Bulimar had a routine like in the old days. It was the most fluid routine we’ve seen from her in a while (14.4/5.8). Iridon followed in her footsteps and delivered another 14+ routine (out of 5,7). After a shaky warmup Catalina Ponor looked quite nervous and missed some connections. But it’s when she struggles a little bit when you notice her fierceness. With each element she manages to re-focus. Or, when all else fails, she sticks the landing and still leaves a decent impression.
Romania finished on vault with some excellent FTYs (Vulcan, Bulimar) and one good DTY from Zarzu (14.550).
I spoke to Coach Sandu and he said that for Rio they were counting on DTYs from Jurca, Ocolisan and Zarzu (after Larisa got injured). But that no one else has one at the moment. He mentioned that Laura Jurca and Anamaria Ocolisan are suffering from foot and ankle pain and that the medical team and the coaches are trying everything to bring them back on time. He seemed confident that there are still chances to see them in the team for the Rio Test event team.
Germany sent their B-team. We could argue that so did Romania for the most part (without Iordache, Jurca and Ocolisan), while Begium didn’t have Derwael, their best competitor this year. But the situation with Germany is a little different since their other gymnasts competed in Cottbus Challenge Cup, that was taking place the same weekend. So despite the 215 points finish, we cannot draw any conclusions about their potential as a team at the Test Event. With Scheder, Seitz and (possibly) Schaffer in the roster, the numbers will be much higher. I don’t think the total of 215 points reflects their potential at all.
Germany started on beam where they had a few wobbles but still Maike Enderle received an honorable 13.95 for her routine out of 6.1. On floor, they had decent execution but the difficulty was laking so they had to settle for scores in the high 12s and low 13s. Same was the story of their uneven bars rotation. On vault they presented good FTYs across the five gymnasts competing. My favorite Germany moment, came on floor, with Leah Griesser. I had never seen her routine before. It was very balletic and graceful. She had amazing presence and interpretation. This routine became an instant favorite of mine. Watch here her routine at the 2016 DTB Pokal team challenge.
I also took some videos at the meet and I focused on the Romania as there were Belgian bloggers in the arena and fans recording the home team. I wish I had been able to record some of Germany’s performance but sadly I didn’t manage that either. Suggestions for youtube accounts to check out for more videos are Belgian Gymnastics and Tchachinafan , but I am sure there are more.
Andreea Iridon – bars
Diana Bulimar – bars
Dora Vulcan – bars
Maria Holbura – bars
Silvia Zarzu – bars
Diana Bulimar – beam
Andreea Iridon – beam
Dora Vulcan – beam
Catalina Ponor – beam
Maria Holbura – beam
Dora Vulcan – floor
Silvia Zarzu – floor
Diana Bulimar – floor
Catalina Ponor – floor
Maria Holbura – floor
Article by: Bea Gheorghisor