13. November 2011  
Bucharest, Romania  
Sport Aerobics

AEROBIC GYMNASTICS: 7th European Championships 2011 finished

Friday, November 11 the 7th Aerobic European Championships of Aerobic Gymnastics 2011 started with the qualifications of the juniors (15-17 years old) in individual women and trios followed by the individual men, mixed pairs and groups. The competition was preceded by a simple but efficient opening ceremony full of vitality with the presentation of the flags and a small presentation of a few seconds given by each of the nations; a nice and appreciated little glimpse of what we will get to see these next three days. 34 girls in the individual women category, 10 men in individual, 9 mixed pairs, 19 trios and 11 groups presented their routine to the judges.
Saturday, November 12, the 7th Aerobic ECh continued with the ELITE's qualifications (min. 18 years old) in individual women, trios and after the break in individual men, mixed pairs and groups.
* Sunday, Nov 13 the Europeans finished with the final events ...
* Saturday, November 12
* (1) ELITE Competitions - Qualification
- by O. Do. Rosario, UEG
________________________________

Today’s qualifications promise some exciting finals scheduled for tomorrow afternoon with several nations qualified, title holders that will have to confirm their performances and some of them that are in danger, but in any case with gymnasts that are more than ever motivated to give their best!

* Individual Women (33)
From the beginning of these qualifications on, the Romanians Constantin Oana Corina and Pavel Maria Luisa, 6th and 7th to compete, dominate and take the two first places of the ranking. The French Joly Aurélie, 3rd of the 2009 European Championships, does not manage to be among the 8 qualifiers for the finals.
Sara Moreno (ESP), silver medallist of the ECh in 2009, obtains a 20.700 and ranks between the two Romanians. The leading trio will not change anymore despite the passage of the title holder, the Italian Giulia Bianchi, who ends up in 5th position with 20.100 points.
Also qualified are: 4. Gazov Lubov - AUT 20.100; 6. Hegyi Dora – HUN 19.900; 7. Korneva Veronika - RUS 19.600 ; 8. Cherepanova Ekaterina - RUS 19.500.
>> Detailed Results

* Trios (19)
The majority of the trios are composed of girls only but the four top qualifiers are boys trios. The head of the qualification is taken by the Romanian trio that includes Mavrodineanu Tudorel Valentin and Mircea Zamfir who belonged to the winner trio of the ECh in 2009.
Russia follows with a 21.000 and then Italy with 20.920 points. Russia and France are the only nations who qualify both of their trios.
Also qualified are: 7. CZECH REP 19.178; 8. HUNGARY 19.168
>> Detailed results

* Individual Men (12 participants)
The European title holder, Parejo Ivan / ESP, clearly takes the lead of this qualification and is far ahead with his score of 21.750 until the passage of the Romanian Zamfir Mircea who arrives behind him with a score of 21.050.
The Italian Pagliuca Emanuele, one of the first to pass, obtains a 20.900 and ranks 3rd.
Nice performance of the French Garavel Benjamin who is fourth.
The Russian Kondratichev Alexander, silver medallist in 2009, ranks 5th only.
>> Detailed results

* Mixed Pairs (13)
Second to compete in these qualifications is the Spanish Pair composed of Moreno Sara and Lli Vicente who remained at the foot of the podium of the 2009 ECh. They obtain a 21.000 which allows them to take the lead of this qualification.
The French Joly Aurèlie & Chaninet Julien, 3rd in 2009, do not manage to outscore them and take the second rank with a 20.700. It is not before the very end of this qualification that the 8 qualifiers for the finals are known: in fact, it is Bianchi Giulia & Pagliuca Emanuele (ITA) who are awarded the best score of this category (21.250) and the Russians Kudymova Evgeniya & Grinin Maxim, last ones to pass, who take the second position with a 21.050.
The two Romanian mixed pairs arrive fourth and seventh. ITA and RUS both qualify their two Pairs.
>> Detailed results

* Groups (9)
Boys, girls and mixed groups presented themselves to the judges for this last qualification.
Romania is the first group to pass, enthusiastically supported by its home crowd, obtaining the score of 20.128.
The group from France, composed of 6 boys, of whom four belonged to the silver medallist group of the 2009 ECh in Liberec, obtains a 20.800 and the first rank of this qualification until the group is outscored with a 21.300 by the Russian boys (of whom half arrived 3rd in 2009).
The second Russian group (girls only) ranks third with 20.289.
>> Detailed results

* source: U E G website
* Friday, November 11
(2) Juniors Qualification
_____________________

* Women's Individual (34)
The eight first ones and thus qualified for the finals of Sunday obtain scores reaching from 18.650 up to 19.600 for the best qualifier, the Romanian Radu Alina. Only nation that will be represented twice in the finals, the host country, qualifies as well Panaete Lavinia Ioana in 4th position with a score of 19.100. The Italian Castoldi Michela gets the second rank with 19.450 ahead of the Russian Degtyareva Anastasia who receives a 19.350.
  >> Detailed results

* Trios (19)

All trios are feminine apart from one mixed one: one of the two Russian trios. Romania, in very good form and seeming to set the tone of these championships, arrives in first and second position with a 19.581 and a 19.534 for these two trios. Russia secures the third and fourth preliminary ranks with 19.184 and 18.931. For the second part of these qualifications, the audience especially appreciated the routines of the groups, which are always very spectacular and at a high level of difficulty.
>> Detailed results

Individual Men (10)
It is the Italian Pentassuglia Riccardo who takes the lead of this qualification with 19.850 points, followed by the Russian Isrefilov Salman who gets the score of 19.250. The other qualifiers remain below the bar of 19.000 points. It is the Romanian Draghici Cristian who takes the third qualifying rank with 18.950!
>> Detailed results

Mixed Pairs (9)
The maximum score is awarded to one of the two mixed pairs from Russia, composed of Zakharova Viktoriia and Soloviev Denis – 19.350. Italy and Romania are among the top qualifiers of this category. Russia, Romania and Hungary are in the finals with 2 pairs each, multiplying thus their chances to win medals.
>> Detailed results

* Groups (11)

Of the 11 Groups competing, 8 groups are only composed of girls, 2 are mixed (with 2 and 3 boys) and one is composed of boys only.Romania finishes these qualifications with a flourish by taking the top qualifying position with a score of 19.431. The Hungarian and Russian groups also receive scores above 19.000 and occupy the three top positions; will they manage to confirm their position on Sunday?
>> Detailed results Juniors Group
* source: Romanian ECh website