06. March 2010  
Fellbach-Schmiden  
Rhythmic Gymnastics

Triple Success of German team at GYMNASTICS INTERNATIONAL

It was a huge knot, which obscured the win for the favorite - the Russian national group, and even the 3 strings and two ropes were not to be untangled after leaving the mat. So the German national group celebrated a victory in Fellbach-Schmiden at the 20th edition of "GYMNASTICS INTERNATIONAL" and moved ahead of the Russian B-formation after 2 exercises with 49,733 : 47,466 points. §rd place belonged to Slovakia (40,280) ahead of Kasachstan (39,708) and the Czech Republic.
But in the juniors the win went clearly to Russia: Daria Swatkowskaja won with 102,950 ahead of the local matador Jana Berezko-Marggrander (99,200) and the Ukranian Viktoria Shynkarenko (98,750).


German national group rhythmic gymnastics
motivating success before the European Championships


While the A-formation attended the World Cup in Debrecen at the same time, due to the overly full international competition calendar, the B-Team was of course the favorite here in Schmiden, as a world class representative. 
But then it happened:
In the exercise with the very much disliked apparatus combination 3 bands / 2 ropes, a huge knot came together of all 5 hand apparati, leaving the unlucky Russian very confused, even after leaving the mat...
The German group made use of this, who had to do without  Karolina Raskina due to an injury and attended with the  Camilla PFEFFER und Sara RADMAN, from Schmiden
With three starters amongst the first six, the hosts managed a respectful success in the juniors:

* Juniors, Single all-around competition

1. SWATKOWSKAAJA, Daria  (RUS)  - 102,950

2. BEREZKO-MARGGRANDER   (GER)   - 99,200

3. SHYNKARENKO, Viktoria      (UKR)   - 98,750


4. JUNG, Laura      (GER; St. Wendel)  - 94,475

5. ZIRMONT, Ekaterina                 (BLR)  - 94,175

6. TOKMAK, Rana (GER; Wattenscheid)  - 88,800

      >> Detailed Results
The German group went on safety in the choreography, but pulled through it's programme surely and strongly.

This was- at least this time - the right way to go.
Not that Germany presented utterly clean gymnastics with no mistakes - especially in the final exercise 3 bands/ 2 ropes there were small mistakes to be seen - but the group was confident and the gymnastics were convincing.