2009 Glasgow Grand Prix: Happy Brits !

Other stars of the competition were Brazil's Diego Hypolito with Gold on Vault and Floor and routine of the day must go to Epke Zonderland (NED) who closed the competition with an awe inspiring High Bar display.

Glasgow Men’s Finals
The Men’s Floor exercise began an exciting day of finals in Glasgow and it was great to see a British gymnast starting the competition.
Kristian Thomas (2nd in qualification) did not looked phased by the task of competing in front of his home crowd and managed to add a new connection from yesterday’s qualification routine. His score of 15.225 was a fine start and good enough to hold off all of the competition apart from a very exciting performance from Diego Hypolito (Brazil), twice World Champion on this apparatus. Hypolito has had a new move recognised within the code of points, called the ‘Hypolito’, a double Arabian straight with a full twist in the second somersault and with the rest of his routine executed cleanly he was delighted to score 15.85 - Glasgow had witnessed a special routine.
Having had his initial score raised by 0.3, Alexander Shatilov from Israel secured the Bronze medal (15.05) with a clean and elegant routine, pipping Wammes (Netherlands) and Markovic (Croatia). He has recently become the first ever Senior medallist for Israel at a European Championships, when he won the Bronze in Milan earlier this year.

The Pommel Horse got underway with 4-time European Champion, Krisztian Berki showing an incredibly difficult exercise with only a couple of small errors (split legs and a slight struggle into the dismount) which gave him 15.525. Several of the finalists struggled with the high level of difficulty they were trying to achieve and there were quite a few minor breaks in leg form and falls from Hidvegi (Hungary), Rodrigues (Brazil) and Ri (Korea). There was once again a really strong showing from the British competitors, Louis Smith (Olympic bronze medallist) and Daniel Keatings (European bronze medallist, 2009) who have established themselves as formidable competitiors on this piece.
Keatings, looked composed, showing excellent work to capture the BRONZE (15.4) with his team-mate Louis Smith, absolutely superb in executing his difficult fast moving routine for 15.75 and GOLD. A super result for Men’s gymnastics and a very happy Kelvin Hall crowd!
Kristian Berki (Hungary) “I am very happy and I did sleep very well last night which makes me feel very relaxed to perform today. For me it was a very good competition and I feel very happy to have Louis as my big adversary, he is a good gymnast and I appreciate him very much”

Four times winner on Rings in Glasgow, Yuri van Gelder (Netherlands) made it five victories with a fantastic showing of immaculate strength and control, giving nothing away to score 15.65 and the gold medal. It was good to see a gymnast from Jordan, Ali Al-Asi, taking further strides in establishing himself and his nation in gymnastics, in taking the Silver medal (15.425) ahead of 22 year old Russian Konstantin Pluzhnikov (15.35).

First up on Vault was yesterdays surprise package Se Gwang Ri from Korea who had qualified first for this final with two stunning vaults. Unfortunately, his hopes for Gold were dashed when he crashed out on his handspring double front pike with half twist but with an excellent second jump his average of 16.0 was good enough for Silver .
Hypolito, who qualified in 4th mastered both his twisting vaults (handspring 2 ½ twists and Tsukahara 2 ½ twists) really well and was rewarded with an average score of 16.012 and the Gold medal.
Huntingdon’s Luke Folwell gave himself chances of a medal after a clean opening vault but an over rotated handspring double front left him in 4th spot (15.55).
Teammate Theo Seager unfortunately made the same error on the same vault (15.425, 5th).
Jeffery Wammes (NED) showed excellent execution on his vaults (Yurchenko 2 ½ twists and handspring double twist) for 15.875 and the Bronze medal in a high level final.
Diego Hypolito (Brazil) “I am very surprised about my result because this apparatus is not my speciality and from this result is very important and going to reflect in positive way for the men’s artistic gymnastics in Brazil. It is very rare in the Brazil gymnastic history that a Brazilian gymnast win 2 gold medals in the same competition”
On the Parallel Bars, a high standard was set by Jin Hyok Kim (Korea) with double piked and tucked with half out between the bars that was hard to match (15.225, Gold). Slovenian top qualifier Petkovsek perhaps would have piped him to the post without his error when he had to make additional hand movements to keep control. The twice World Champion on this event scored 15.125 (Bronze). Small errors from several gymnasts left the way for Samuel Piasecky to secure a deserved Silver medal for Slovakia with his well paced routine (under-somersault full turn and double pike between the bars, 15.275).

High bar: The finals apparatus of the day arguably saved the best routine till last. Epke Zonderland (NED) produced a jaw dropping 15.525 High Bar routine that even his competitors couldn’t help but smile at. Zonderland and his great rival Aljaz Pegan (SLO) – 15.350) both made this apparatus a must see and left the audience smiling with there back-to-back routines closing the day. 
Dutch gymnast Jeffrey Wammes came in third with 14.775.

* Men's Final RESULTS
> Final - Mens Floor  > Final - Pommel Horse  > Final - Rings 
> Final - Mens Vault  > Final - Parallel Bars      > Final - Highbar