03. June 2018  
Guimarães (POR)  
Sport Aerobics

15. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS AEROBIC GYMNASTICS 2018

In the 25th anniversary of the AEROBIC competition discipline, the 15th AEROBIC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018 take place in Guimarães, Portugal.
From June 01 to 03, more than 280 athletes from 35 different nations are expected in the historically first and former Portuguese capital. The strongest delegation is coming from Russia (20), followed by China and Spain, each with 18 athletes. On Friday, June 01 the worlds started with the qualification rounds of Women's Individual, Trios, Aerobic Step and Aerobic Dance preliminaries ...
Traditionally, the World Gymnastics Federation (FIG) always carries out its so-called "World Age Group Competitions" in the run-up to its world title fights (Mai 25 - 27), which are something of a youth, resp. Junior World Championships. At these 8th edition of the WAGC, more than 350 young athletes from 29 countries competed in this special highlight for next top generations ...
At the end of the three competition day  Russia tops medal standings:
Five nations won gold in Guimarães: China, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the Russian Federation. Russia was the most successful nation with five medals total (three gold medals, one silver and one bronze). Japan took two gold medals, and China won five medals overall (one gold, three silvers and one bronze). Korea won one gold and one silver. Romania won four medals (two silvers and two bronzes). Ekaterina Pykhtova (RUS) was the most successful gymnast of the competition with three gold medals (Team, Mixed Trio and Aerobic Step).
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* FIG--: "All about A E R O B I C S" :
 

♦♦  WCh AEROBIC - P R E V I E W
   > WCh Schedule  > Starting order  > Participants

From Incheon to Guimarães
Nearly all of the reigning champions from the 2016 Worlds in Incheon are returning in Guimarães, including Japan's Mizuki Saito (Individual Men's), Italy's Michela Castoldi and Davide Donati (Mixed Pair), and Korea's Kim Hanjin, Go Kyungmin and Ryu Jusun (Trio). China, the defending Team Champion, is aiming to be the first back-to-back Team Champion since Romania won its sixth consecutive WCh-Team title in 2012 in Sofia.
Corina Constantin of Romania, the reigning Individual Women's champion, has closed out her decorated career, allowing for a new champion to make her mark. The other defending champions in Guimarães are China (Group) and Korea (Aerobic Dance).

Lopez and Cañada first Aerobic Gymnastics Ambasssadors
In March, Marcela Lopez (BRA) and Jonatan Cañada (ESP) were announced as the FIG Ambassadors for this year’s Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships, the first to hold this title. Both are icons of the sport with multiple world titles.

* FIG-Presentation: Line-up of Aerobic Champions:


For Lopez, who won three consecutive Individual World titles from 2006 to 2010, Aerobic Gymnastics is a family affair. She won her first World title in 2004 as part of the Trio, teaming up with her sister, Marina Lopez, and Cibele Oliani. At the 2016 Worlds in Incheon, her sister and Oliani returned to competition, this time to compete in the Aerobic Dance event, helping Brazil qualify to the final. The Lopez sisters, who run the Studio Lopez de Dança in São Paulo, both participated in the historic Aerobic Gymnastics exhibition at the FIG Gala at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Cañada was dubbed "the king of aerobics" for his decade of dominance, earning five World titles from 1996 to 2002 and two World Games titles in 2001 and 2005. Cañada switched from Catalan dancing to sports aerobics after seeing his future Mixed Pairs partner training in the gym one day.

A first for Portugal
For the first time, the Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships will be held in Portugal. The event will be the third FIG World Championships organised in Portugal — with all held in different cities. The 18th Trampoline World Championships were held in Porto in 1994, and the 20th Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships took place in Coimbra in 2006. In Guimarães, the host Portuguese will be aiming for excellent results, though they will face stiff competition to win their first World medal in the sport. The country had its best result in 2004, when Ana Maçanita placed fourth in the Individual Women's contest.
* source: f i g

♦ WCh AEROBIC - FINAL Day 3  (June 03)

* D A Y  3 --:

* M E N's INDIVIDUAL --: Saito defends title in style
Saito's combination of artistry and athleticism brought an untouchable score of 22.800 in the Individual Men's final, where he defeated Dániel Bali (HUN) and Iván Veloz (MEX). Saito is the first gymnast to win back-to-back Individual Men's titles since Jonatan Cañada (ESP) – the FIG's official men's ambassador for the event – won his third world title in 2002. Following Riri Kitazume's gold medal in the Individual Women's event on Saturday, Japan is the first nation to take both individual titles since Spain in 2012. Remarkably, the podium was identical to the 2016 World Championships in Incheon, as all three medalists repeated their finishes. Bali won his third consecutive World individual medal following bronze in 2014 and silver in 2016.Veloz, the 2014 World champion, said he was thrilled to win a medal after undergoing knee surgery for a torn meniscus in May 2017. ►► Results MEN's Individual

 * M I X E D  Pairs --:  Italy's 'Romeo and Juliet' defend Mixed Pair title
Top qualifiers Castoldi and Donati (ITA) delivered a passionate, emotional performance to win their second Mixed Pairs World title, improving their qualification score by half a point. Castoldi, who said she was so nervous before their routine in qualifications she was hyperventilating, said she again had to battle nerves as they prepared to defend their title. Dacian Barna and Andreea Bogati (ROU) won the silver in their first World Championships together as a Mixed Pair. Bogati was the 2012 World champion with Valentin Mavrodineanu, while Barna was sixth in 2016 (with Lavinia Panaete) and seventh in 2014 (with Alina Radu). Barna said he was disappointed they did not win the gold, but that his strong partnership with Bogati made the difference in him landing on the podium in Guimarães. The silver medallists in 2016, Bali and Fanni Mazács (HUN), won the bronze.  ►► Results MIXED Pairs

* GROUPS --: China charges to Group gold
Just seventh in qualification, the Chinese shot to first in the Group final to defend their title from Incheon, improving their score from 21.572 to 22.333 in the final. Ma Dong and Xu Xuesong returned from the 2016 team and were joined by Li Lingfei, Li Qi, and Wang Ke. Bogati and Barna, the Mixed Pairs silver medallists, took another silver alongside their fellow Group members Gabriel Bocşer, Marian Broţei, and Mihai Popa.Russia (Garsevan Dzhanazian, Aleksei Germanov, Ilia Ostapenko, Roman Semenov, and Denis Solovev), the top qualifiers, took third.  ►► Results GROUPS

* AEROBIC STEP --:  Russia steps up to first in final
Second in qualification, Russia's Aerobic Step team (Timur Alitovskii, Danil Chaiun, Anastasiia Degtiareva, Irina Dobriagina, Aleksei Germanov, Veronika Korneva, Kirill Kulikov, and Ekaterina Pykhtova) improved their performance by four tenths from qualification to win gold in the last final of these championships. Top qualifier China (Fu Yao, Huang Jing, Jiang Shuai, Wang Fei, Xi Yuefeng, Yang Qiaobo, Zhang Shouyi, and Zhao Ming) settled for silver, repeating the result from Incheon. Fu, Yang and Zhao were members of China's team in 2016.
The Ukrainian squad of Kateryna Cherkez, Darya Gutsalyuk, Oleksandra Mokhort, Anna Naumova, Oleksandra Podopryhora, Valeriia Semenii, Daria Subotina, and Kateryna Velykodna won bronze, the country's first medal in Guimarães. Cherkez, a member of Ukraine's seventh-place Aerobic Step team from Incheon, said they were overjoyed with the result.  ►► Results AEROBIC STEP

* FIG Summary  - Final Day 3:

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♦♦ WCh AEROBIC - Day 2 (June 02)

♦ D A Y  2 --: Russia won two gold medals, Japan's Riri Kitazume captured the Individual Women's title and the Republic of Korea defended its Dance title
Saturday's competition at the Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães saw the finals contested in three events – Trio, Individual Women and Aerobic Dance– and the remaining qualification for Individual Men, Mixed Pairs and Group events. The team medals were also decided based on the qualification results.
Russia won four medals on the first day of finals, while China won three, Korea won two, and Italy, Japan, Korea and Romania each won one. During the second day of qualification, Russia earned the most berths to the remaining finals with four, while Bulgaria, China and Korea each earned three spots.

* T E A M S  --: Russians rout field in team competition
Following the conclusion of the qualification events, the first medals of the competition were awarded in Guimarães. The Team contest at the Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships is calculated using a point system (1st place = 1 point) from a nation's six best rankings in qualification (five from Individual Men or Individual Women, Mixed Pair, Trio or Group; and the best ranking from either Aerobic Dance or Aerobic Step). Russia, which entered athletes into all seven events in qualification, won the team title with 10 points. Fifth at the 2016 World Championships in Incheon, Russia sent the largest delegation of athletes to Guimarães and finished at least third in every event in qualification, including first place in Trio and Group. Korea won silver with 23 points and Romania won bronze (28 points), as the two countries swapped podium places from Incheon. Italy (28) finished fourth after losing a tie-break with Romania while defending champion China fell to fifth (32).  ►► Results TEAMS

* WOMEN's Individual--: Kitazume claims Individual Women's crown
Riri Kitazume delivered a dynamic and joyful performance to win the Individual Women's title with a score of 22.000, improving from her first-place score of 21.550 from qualification. She once again outscored the field in the technical components for Difficulty, Artistry and Execution. Kitazume, 20, is only the second Japanese gymnast to win the Individual Women's World title following three-time World champion Yuriko Ito (1998, 1999, 2002). Kitazume, who was overcome with tears as soon as she finished her routine, was delighted with her gold medal.Kitazume trains at the same club as reigning Individual Men's World champion Mizuki Saito. Anastasiia Ziubina (RUS), third in qualification, improved by .4 to take a surprise silver in her first time competing in the individual event at the World Championships. Bronze medallist Anna Bullo (ITA), 19, was even more shocked by her medal, after earning the last spot in qualification in her first World Championships. Her parents travelled to Guimarães to watch her compete, but she was overwhelmed by the messages of congratulations from her sister and friends back home.  ►► Results WOMEN's Ind.

* T R I O S --: Russia wins first Trio title
Ziubina partnered with Ekaterina Pykhtova and Elena Ivanova to win the first Trio title for Russia, whose only medals in the event were bronzes won in 2000 and 2016. The Russians relied on excellent Artistry and Execution to take gold by just .116, with two Chinese squads in the other medal positions. The Russian trio, who have been training together for seven years in Saint Petersburg, were seventh at the 2016 World Championships in Incheon (KOR). Tao Xu, Wang Haoyu and Xi Yuefeng (China 1) took silver in their first World Championships. The Chinese teams both shared the top Difficulty score in the final.Just seventh in qualification, Li Lingxiao, Ma Dong and Xu Xuesong (China 2) improved their score by .6 in the final to claim bronze. Like China 1, the trio has been working together for only four months. ►► Results TRIOS

** FIG Summary - Day 2--: the first Finals ...!

* AEROBIC  DANCE --: Republic of Korea defends Dance title
The Republic of Korea successfully defended their Aerobic Dance title from Incheon, albeit with an entirely new eight-member squad made up of Go Kyungmin, Kim Hanjin, Koh Eunbyeol, Kwon Taeyun, Park Yeon Sun, Ryu Jusun, Ryu Minji and Song Sungkyu. The squad members said they confidently expected to win, after working together five hours a day for five months. Runner-up in Incheon, China (Fu Yao, Huang Chengkai, Huang Jing, Jiang Shuai, Wang Fei, Yang Qiaobo, Zhao Ming and Zhang Shouyi) again took second. Fu, Huang and Zhao were the only returning members of the silver medal-winning squad in Guimarães. The Romanian team of Mădălina Cioveie, Andreea Darie, Sandra Dincă, Isabela Dumitraşcu, Denisa Ganea, Cristina Nedelcu, Flavia Sentea, and Steliana Stoenescu clinched another bronze medal, moving up one spot from qualification. Cioveie, at 34 the second-oldest competitor at the World Championships, came out of retirement after seven years with the goal of helping Romania win a medal.  ►► Results DANCE

⇒ ... the last qualifications:

* Men's Individual--: Saito ready to rout field Japan's Saito delivered an exceptional routine to qualify first in the Individual Men's event, turning in the only performance yet in Guimarães to earn above 9.000 for both Artistic and Execution marks. With the high mark for difficulty as well, he led qualification by .850 over his nearest rivals, Lucas Barbosa (BRA) and Roman Semenov (RUS), whose tie was broken in favour of the Brazilian. If Saito wins, he will be the first to win back-to-back Individual Men's titles since Jonatan Cañada (ESP) – who is on hand in Guimarães as the official men's ambassador for the event – won his third World title in 2002. Dániel Bali (HUN), Kim Hanjin (KOR), Iván Veloz (MEX), Antonio Papazov (BUL) and Wang Haoyu (CHN) rounded out the qualifiers to the final.  >> Men's Individual (qualification)

* Mixed Pairs --: Italian Mixed Pair launch defence of title
Reigning World champions Michela Castoldi and Davide Donati (ITA) overcame pre-competition nerves to edge Dacian Barna and Andreea Bogati (ROU), 22.000-21.900 in the Mixed Pair qualification. Russians Dukhik Dzhanazian and Denis Solovev qualified third, two tenths back. Dániel Bali and Fanni Mazács (HUN) qualified fourth over Ana-Maria Stoilova and Antonio Papazov (BUL) and Ryu Minji and Kwon Taeyun, with another Russian pair of Tatyana Konakova and Grigorii Shikhaleev and China's Wang Ke and Zhou Renjie also earning tickets to the final.  >> Mixed Pairs (qualification)

* Group qualification Russia (Garsevan Dzhanazian, Aleksei Germanov, Ilia Ostapenko, Roman Semenov, Denis Solovev) led the Group qualification in Guimarães, having placed seventh in 2016. The squad scored 22.200 to edge out Vietnam (Nguyen Viet Anh, Vuong Hoai An, Le Hoang Phong, Nguyen Che Thanh, Tran Ngoc Thuy Vi) for the top spot by a margin of just .033. Romania (Andreea Bogati, Dacian Barna, Gabriel Bocşer, Marian Broţei, Mihai Popa), the defending bronze medallists from 2016.  >> Groups, qualification

* Competition concludes Sunday, June 3, with the finals for the Individual Men, Mixed Pairs, Group, and Aerobic Step events.
* source: fig wch reports

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♦ WCh AEROBIC - Day 1 (June 01)

* WOMEN's INDIVIDUAL
fig - report --:  Riri Kitazume (JPN) led qualification in the Individual Women's contest as competition kicked off Friday at the 15th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships in Guimarães, Portugal.
The first day of qualification at the Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães saw athletes from more than 30 nations fight for berths in finals in the first four events: Individual Women, Trio, Aerobic Dance and Aerobic Step.  The top finishers, a maximum of eight in each event, will advance to this weekend's finals along with the top finishers from the three events scheduled for Saturday's qualification (Individual Men, Mixed Pairs and Group). Additionally, the scores from qualification will be combined to determine the outcome of the Team contest in Guimarães. On day one, Russia earned the most spots in finals with five, followed by China with four, and Italy, Republic of Korea and Spain with three each.

Kitazume begins quest for women's crown
The retirement of reigning World champion Corina Constantin (ROU) has ensured that a new queen will be crowned in Guimarães. Riri Kitazume, who finished an unlucky ninth in qualification at the 2016 Worlds in Incheon (KOR), firmly established herself as the one to beat with her performance in the Individual Women's event. The 20-year-old Kitazume led qualification by .4, the widest margin of victory of the day, thanks to her score of 21.55, which included the highest marks in all three categories: Artistry, Difficulty and Execution. She is the first Japanese gymnast to make the Individual Women's final since three-time World champion Yuriko Ito in 2004.Darina Pashova (BUL), who is currently second to Kitazume on the FIG World Ranking list, turned in a solid performance to qualify second. Anastasiia Ziubina (RUS) edged out Ana-Maria Stoilova (BUL) for third place on a tiebreak that favours the Execution score. Belén Guillemot (ESP), Yeon Sun Park (KOR), Michela Castoldi (ITA), and Anna Bullo (ITA) rounded out the finalists. Sara Silva (POR) was the top performer for the host nation in 13th.
>> Women's Individual (qualification)
 

* TRIOS : Top-ranked Russian Trio first
Seventh in the Trio final in Incheon, Russia 2 (Elena Ivanova, Ekaterina Pykhtova and Anastasiia Ziubina) scored 22.016 to qualify first, earning the top scores for Artistry and Execution. The Trio is currently first in the FIG World Ranking List.
China 1 (Tao Xu, Wang Haoyu, and Xi Yuefeng) qualified second with the highest Difficulty score. Vietnam (Nguyen Viet Anh, Vuong Hoai An, and Tran Ngoc Thuy Vi) finished just a hair behind China, 21.875-21.872, to qualify third.
Romania 2 (Andreea Bogati, Marian Brotei, and Mihai Popa) finished in fourth ahead of Hungary (Farkas Balázs, Dániel Bali, and Fanni Mazács). The Republic of Korea, who won at home in Incheon, qualified fifth. Kim Hanjin and Ryu Jusun are back in Guimarães to defend their title, but their partner Go Kyungmin scratched with a knee injury (although he participated in the Dance event) and was replaced by Koh Eunbyeol.
China 2 (Ma Dong, Xu Xuesong, Li Lingxiao) and Russia 1 (Garsevan Dzhanazian, Ilia Ostapenko, and Denis Shurupov) qualified seventh and eighth, respectively.
>> Aerobic TRIOS (qualification)

* AEROBIC STEP : Chinese step up to first
France, the reigning champions in the Aerobic Step event, is not on hand to defend its title in Guimarães, where only five nations entered squads in the event. China, the runner-up in Incheon, came out on top in qualification, returning three of their eight silver medallists from 2016 (Fu Yao, Yang Qiaobo and Zhao Ming). Russia qualified second over Ukraine and Spain. Portugal secured an appearance for the home team in Sunday's finals by placing fifth.
>> Aerobic Step (qualification)

* AEROBIC DANCE : Koreans seek defence of Dance title
Korea took first place over China and Russia in the Aerobic Dance event, with the three countries repeating their respective rankings from the Incheon final. Korea, which fielded an entirely new squad in Guimarães, notched the highest scores for Artistry and Execution en route to first place with 18.250. China edged out Russia for second place in a tie-break. Romania, Vietnam, Hungary, Italy, and Spain also qualified to the Aerobic Dance final.
>> Aerobic Dance (qualification)

** F.I.G. VIDEO SUMMARY - Day 1 of Qualification (June 01)


* Qualification continues Saturday with the Individual Men, the Mixed Pairs and the Group events, followed by the awarding of the first medals of these World Championships for the teams. Finals for the Trios, the Individual Women and the Aerobic Dance events take place Saturday evening.
* source: fig wch reports

8th AEROBIC WORLD AGE GROUP COMPETITIONS
      - Guimaraes (POR);  May 25 - 27 - ( > Participants)

* R E S U L T S:
► F i n a ls  &  Results-all (FIG)

* AGE GROUP 1:
> Girls, indiv.;  > Boys, indiv.;  > Mixed Pairs;  > Trios;  > Groups

* AGE GROUP 2:
> Girls, indiv.;  > Boys, indiv.;  > Mixed Pairs;  > Trios;  > Groups
> Aerobic Dance
* Qualifications: > Age Group 1;   > Age Group 2