37th WOMEN's EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016 (& Juniors ECh)

*TODAY:
Elite's Team Final

One week after the men's Europeans, on Wednesday, June 01, the 37^th European Championships of Women's artistic gymnastics take place in the PostFinance Arena in the Swiss capital of Bern. After the junior all-around decision and the elite qualification (Thursday) the first decision was the team gold medal of RUSSIA today, with 175,212 points and a clearly difference to the silver medalists from GREAT BRITAIN (170,312). The team of FRANCE won the bronze (168,496), followed by the happy girls of host Switzerland (165,721), Italy (165,571), unlucky title defender Romania (164,596), Gerrmany (163,829) and Hungary (162,762).
At the final day in Bern home favourite Giulia STEINGRUBER claimed the senior floor exercise and vault titles as the apparatus finals. The British DOWNIE sisters, Becky and Ellie, took gold and two silvers in the final day: Becky was crowned the bars champion, repeating her performance from 2014, whilst 16 year old Ellie took superb silver on both the vault and floor and Russia's top star Aliya MUSTAFINA won the golden medal on balance beam!

RUSSIA: The No. 1 of the European Women's Artistic Gymnastics!

37^th WOMEN*s EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016
- Artistic Gymnastics (Elite & Juniors) / June 01 - 05

♦ ECh Day 3 - Women's App. FINAL

♦ V a u l t
Top qualifier and crowd favourite Giulia Steingruber produced a great first vault but had several execution deductions on her second vault, making her score a target for Great Britain’s Ellie Downie who has less difficulty. Downie delivered two clean vaults but it wasn’t enough to beat the Swiss superstar. 5 hundredths of a point between the two: gold goes to the home nation and silver to Team GB. Russia’s Ksenia Afanasyeva downgraded her vaults, taking the bronze medal just like she did last year in Montpellier.

1. Giulia Steingruber    (SUI) 14.983
2. Ellie Downie            (GBR) 14.933
3. Ksenia Afanasyeva (RUS) 14.699
   ► Detailed results

♦ Uneven Bars
This final was a dream scenario, an exciting battle between the 2014 European Champion Becky Downie and her successor, and 2015 World Champion, Daria Spiridonova. The latter originally didn’t make the final, posting the 4^th score but being the third Russian she didn’t advance. After a superb bars routine in the team final yesterday however the Russian coaches decided to pull Angelina Melnikova out of the final and give Spiridonova a chance to defend her title. Downie was third up. Her difficulty was insane: 6.9, and she swung through it well, resulting in a massive 15.500. None of the other competitors came close, until it was the turn of the last gymnast, Spiridonova. Her routine was near-perfect, just a hesitation after a pirouette, and difficult. But it was not enough to beat Downie, 15.500 to 15.466. Downie regains her European bars crown!

1. Becky Downie (GBR) 15.500
2. Daria Spiridonova (RUS) 15.466
3. Aliya Mustafina    (RUS) 15.100
4.       Kim Bui              (GER) 14.533
   ► Detailed results

♦ B a l a n c e B e a m
Romania’s Catalina Ponor got this final going. Unusually for her, she missed some connections, bringing down her D-score. First-year senior Marine Boyer followed, with calm confidence in her first individual European final. She matched Aliya Mustafina for the highest difficulty score but got more execution deductions than the Russian queen who really rocked beam, setting the example of how do work on beam. Just a little balance check, the rest was fabulous, taking the title with a lead of half a point. Gold for Mustafina, silver for Boyer and bronze for Ponor, a very nice podium! Switzerland’s Ilaria Kaeslin performed a stunning routine, unfortunately it lacked difficulty and she ended just off the podium. Becky Downie, fresh from her victory on bars, struggled a bit but did manage to stay on the apparatus. No falls in this beam final! This doesn’t happen often…

1. Aliya Mustafina (RUS) 15.100
2. Marine Boyer (FRA) 14.600
3. Catalina Ponor (ROU) 14.266
4. Ilaria Kaeslin (SUI) 14.233
► Detailed results

♦ Floor exercises
Giulia Steingruber brought the house down with a sublime floor routine of the highest difficulty and executed precisely and with a smile. The crowd thanked her for her magnificent performance throughout the week with a standing ovation. The Swiss was untouchable, winning her second gold by a comfortable margin, again ahead of Ellie Downie who showed spectacular tumbling. Catalina Ponor added another bronze to her collection, holding off top qualifier Claudia Fragapane who had too many form errors to challenge for the title.

1. Giulia Steingruber (SUI) 15.200
2. Ellie Downie (GBR) 14.566
3. Catalina Ponor (ROU) 14.466
► Detailed results

♦ ECh Day 2 - Women's Team FINAL

* UEG - r e p o r t -- : The Russian women’s team was left trailing Great Britain after Thursday’s qualification but they started this team final calm and confident, posting the highest score on vault. This meant they took a small advantage over their British rivals.On bars Russia was truly sublime, all three gymnasts posting top scores, only matched by Team GB’s Becky Downie. Ruby Harrold, celebrating her 20^th birthday today, fell off bars, her best event. At the halfway stage the Russians were 3 points in front and both teams headed to beam.
On beam Angelina Melnikova produced a fabulous routine.
The 2014 European junior all-around champion obviously has no problems adapting to the senior level. Seda Tutkhalyan fell on her full twist but Aliya Mustafina stepped up once again, to put Russia right back on gold-medal course, tying Melnikova for the top score on beam this evening. Gabby Jupp started well for GB. Unfortunately Claudia Fragapane came off the event and Becky Downie fell twice. Gone were the title chances for Great Britain.

Going into the last rotation, floor, Russia’s weakest event, the girls could relax and perform without pressure. They improved on their qualification score, easily taking the 2016 European team crown. Fragapane redeemed herself with a fantastic floor routine to clinch the silver medal.
The true battle was for the bronze.
The audience at the PostFinance Arena hoped for a Swiss victory, and as they qualified third, that possibility was real. A fall from Ilaria Kaeslin on bars, and problems again on beam for star Giulia Steingruber, hurt their score.
France had a solid competition, finishing on their strongest apparatus, bars. Alison Lepin, who fell three times in qualifications, proved her skill, scoring 14.600, just a bit less than Loan His. It was enough for the bronze medal pushing Switzerland to the ungrateful fourth place.
Catalina Ponor once again saved Romania’s face, performing confidently on beam and floor, and vaulting a great double-twisting Yurchenko, placing third on these three events. Unfortunately, her teammates were not up to her level and the team finished sixth behind Italy.
►► Detailed Team Final results
>> Die All ECh Team decisions 1994 - 2016

♦♦ ECh SCHEDULE - WOMEN's & Junior's Program + Results

Date / Time	E v e n t / Results	Results
♦ TODAY: Sunday, June 5:	> Elite.qualifiers > STARTLIST ♦ ELITE - App. Finals ► VT; ► UB; ► BB; ► FX > Jun.qualifiers > STARTLIST ♦ Juniors – App.Finals ► VT; ► UB; ► BB; ► FX
♦ Saturday, June 4:	> Team, qualifiers > STARTLIST ♦ ELITE's – Team Final	► RESULTS
♦ Friday, June 3:	> AA-Jun. Qualifiers > STARTLIST ♦ Juniors – All-around Final	► Results
♦ Thursday, June 2:	> STARTLIST ♦ ELITE, Qualifications > VT; App. qualif.: > VT; > UB; > BB; > FX	> Individual > Teams qu.
♦ Wednesday, June 1:	> STARTLIST ♦ Juniors Qualifications / Team Final > VT; App. qualif.: > VT; > UB; > BB; > FX	> Individual > TEAMS
* We will publish short summaries after the end of each competitions! .

♦ 2016 European Junior Championships

* Day 2 Friday, June 03 - All-around Final

1. Elena EREMINA (RUS) - 54,550
2. Lynn GENHARD (SUI) - 54,365
3. Martina BASILE (ITA) - 54,266
► Detailed results

* UEG - r e p o r t --:
The 24 best all-arounders from the qualification round on Thursday gathered in the PostFinance Arena in Bern this evening to battle for the 2016 European title. The crowd got value for money with excitement and tension right down to the last routine.
Top qualifier Elena Eremina of Russia started on vault where she attempted a double-twisting Yurchenko. She was low and only got credit for a 1,5 twist. On bars she struggled, managing to stay on the apparatus although it cost her: 7.6 was her execution score. Her beam was solid and on floor, she was last up so all eyes were on her. She delivered the best floor routine of the day, clinching her first European all-around title!
It was a tight race though, with Lynn Genhart, Martine Basile, Maisie Methuen, Alice Kinsella and Morgane Osyssek-Reimer all in the running for the medals as well. Switzerland’s Lynn Genhart produced great performances on vault and beam, and in the last rotation she excelled on bars, scoring the second highest score on that event, which sealed the deal: silver for the host nation!

* Italy had two gymnasts in this final, Martina Basile and Francesca Noemi Linari. Both were on the leader’s board at some point during the competition. It was Basile though that proved the most consistent, scoring between 13.100 and 14.200, securing the bronze medal to the delight of the Italian delegation and their supporters.

* Great Britain’s Maisie Methuen and Alice Kinsella finished just off the podium in 4^th and 5^th place respectively.

* Russia’s Anastasia Iliankova, second after qualification, sat down her vault and has a disastrous beam routine, counting two falls. She did show her potential in bars, easily marking the top score, 7 tenths ahead of Genhart.

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* Day 1: - Juniors Team Final
At the first day of these Europeans the first title went to the junior team of Russia, followed by Great Britain and on bronze came Romania.

Two Russian girls were on top in the all-around qualification: Elene Eremina (56,732) and Anastasia Iliankova (56,049, followed by Alice Kinsella (GBR; 55,465). All the best scores on all apparatus were realized by Russian girls ...! Great Britain’s junior gymnasts Maisie Methuen, Lucy Stanhope, Taeja James, Alice Kinsella and Megan Parker have taken the junior European team silver medal. The girls were outstanding throughout to match the medal won in 2014, scoring 163.912 to place behind Russia 168.179 and above Romania (163.678).

→ The junior championships continue with the app. finals, Sunday, June 05.
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Th* Back to ►► 38^th MEN's Europeans (May 25 - 29)

* E C h P R E V I E W:

One week after the men's Europeans, on Wednesday, June 01, the 37^th European Championships of Women's artistic gymnastics started in the PostFinance Arena in the Swiss capital of Bern. Day one begun with female junior gymnasts while the elite category followed on Thursday, June 02 with the qualicication rounds.
* Sensational way the title defender team of Romania (Sofia, 2014), could 'nt qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio 2016. How deep is the crisis of Romanian women gymnastics, you will certainly be able to read in this European Championship on appearance.
Among the favorites of the team competition certainly includes the runners Great Britain (vice champion 2014) and the team of Russia, three times already won gold in the past (since 1994) and won seven times more medals.
The battle for bronze seems quite open: Germany and Italy resting their best gymnasts, France should have a good chance, fielding a top team including Marine Brevet, Loan His and Marine Boyer. Of course the audience counts on the Swiss girls, who showed their worth at the test event last month, and are led by superstar Giulia Steingruber, the 2015 European all-around champion.
Belgium will test first-year senior Nina Derwael who returning to competition after a hand injury. Individually keep your eye on stand-outs like Greece’s Vasiliki Millousi, Zsofia Kovacs (HUN), Filipa Martins (POR), Kim Bui (GER), Italy’s Martina Rizzelli and Ana Perez (ESP).
>> Women's team titles 1994 .- 2014
* In the junior category, a battle is expected between the Russian, British, Italian and Romanian girls. Martina Maggio, Francesca Linari (ITA), Ioana Crisan, Olivia Cimpian (ROU), Elena Eremina, Anastasia Iliankova (RUS), Lucy Stanhope and Maisie Methuen (GBR) are all names to watch. Germany is sending Helene Schaefer, who shows the same elegant class like older sister Pauline, the world beam bronze medalist.

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