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| The medalists: Two very happy Americans and a chill Russian |
All my titles
with Elena have exclamation points after them because I AM EXCITED ABOUT HER.
Yes, I love my Lena. I believe she is going to be a huge boost to Team Russia
in AA, FX, BB, and (further down the line) VT. In my last post on the subject, I opined how hard it would be for her to get an AA medal. But since that
post, a few things changed that I wasn't aware of til yesterday. One,
Catherine Lyons, who I pegged for the bronze, was absent. She had a stress
fracture in her knee (or shin?) around May and was on crutches for almost two
months, so perhaps she didn't have all her skills back or just psychologically
wasn't up to a competition yet. In any case ,I wish her a speedy and full
recovery, if all is not well, and hope for a stellar senior debut when she
reemerges next year for British Nationals. Secondly, Liu Tingting was actually pulled from the competition for unknown reasons but then put back in (wut?) so there may be a nagging injury there or otherwise China just didn't feel she was looking good enough for "Junior Worlds" so they considered not sending her. It's very telling that she has a more difficult all around program than either of the Americans yet ended in 5th. Execution matters, kids. Luckily, she executes well where it means most for CHN- on beam and bars- and we'll see her again, as a medal contender, in both finals.
The full
scoresheet is below and you can see that Elena had a very steady competition.
She and Nastia both qualified to the UB final, with Nastia qualifying in first
place with a spectacular 14.850. Lena also qualified to the BB and FX final.
I'm not sure how vault finals work because some junior competitions don't
require two vaults and some do. If only one vault counts, then Lena qualified
for that as well. Unfortunately, Iliankova had a huge meltdown on beam and
couldn't collect her nerves quick enough heading into the last rotation,
scoring a 13.150 for a very shaky floor routine. She's had a fantastic year so
far, hitting most of her all around competitions while excelling on bars and
improving drastically on beam. It's okay that she made mistakes here. While it's necessary in our sport to strive for perfection, this is what the junior ranks are for...to learn
from your mistakes and not let them define you. She's headed in the right
direction and represents the new wave of talent that's prospering under the
junior program and will add depth to the senior one over the next three years. She could win
the UB gold here.
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| The girls with Sergei Naidin (13th AA) and Maksim Sinichkin (14th AA) |
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The boys with Laurie (1st AA, USA) and Jazzie (2nd AA, USA). They were
attending a dinner the day before competition began.
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| Beautiful girls |
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Rising stars: what Russia wouldn't give to have two SENIORS of Jazzie
and Laurie's AA caliber heading into Glasgow, amirite ;)
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Notice how broad the upper chests of the US girls are in comparison
to the Russians, though they're roughly the same size and weight.
Upper-body conditioning is a priority in US training and gives a
decisive advantage in upgrades and mastering difficult skills.
(No body shaming is intended by this comment) |
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Good job to all the participants. You represented
your respective countries well. |
The competition concludes tomorrow, September 23rd, with
all finals.
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