November 14, 2008

DTB Results (Day 1 - Qualification for Event Finals)

So the DTB Cup has gotten underway, and as reported elsewhere, it's got a considerably better lineup than other recent World Cup events. The Russians are there! So are the Brazilians and the Chinese and the Aussies! Of course, the U.S.A. didn't bother to send anyone, but hey, why would they want to show their faces in Europe, right? Europe's an expensive destination for Americans these days, isn't it?

Grumble.

Anyhow, on to the qualification results now, with competition notes, courtesy of the official DTB site.

Photobucket
Cheng Fei (photo: AFP/Getty Images)

VAULT
The following gymnasts have qualified for the vault final:
1. Cheng (CHN) 14.962
2. Pavlova (RUS) 14.575
3. Vanwalleghem (BEL) 14.412
4. Käslin (SUI) 14.250
5. Zamolodchikova (RUS) 14.050
6. Kalashnyk (UKR) 14.037
7. Bui (GER) 13.975
8. Boczogo (HUN) 13.337

Cheng hit a double-twisting Yurchenko (15.100) and a roundoff, half on, half-twisting layout front (14.825). Pavlova showed the same vaults, but took a step forward on her second vault. Vanwalleghem hit a high 1.5-twisting Yurchenko and stuck a roundoff, half on, piked front for third place. Veteran Zamolodchikova competed two rather easy vaults: A full-twisting Yurchenko and a roundoff, half on, tucked front-half.

UNEVEN BARS
1. Koval (UKR) 15.475
2. Brunner (GER) 14.575
3. He (CHN) 14.375
4. Bui (GER) 14.300
5. Käslin (SUI) 14.100
6. Pihan (POL) 14.025
7. Kovacova (SVK) 14.000
8. Sanne Wevers (NED) 13.750

Olympic finalist Anastasia Koval showed a beautiful piked Hindorff and Stalder-full to Tkatchev to lead the standings. China's He Ning, who's had her share of trouble on this event in recent weeks, placed third in qualifications. Her teammate Yang Yilin missed out on the final after coming off on a missed 1.5 turn and taking several steps on her dismount. (She seems to have a lot of trouble sticking that dismount lately.) The Germans are very excited to have two finalists. They weren't really counting on that after both Chusovitina and Hindermann had to withdraw from the competition due to injuries.

Photobucket
Lauren Mitchell

BEAM
1. Cheng (CHN) 15.525
2. Pavlova (RUS) 15.025
3. Mitchell (AUS) 15.025
4. Lozhechko (RUS) 14.925
5. Sanne Wevers (NED) 14.700
6. Sajn (SLO) 14.675
7. Yang (CHN) 14.650
8. Sawa (CAN) 14.500


Cheng had a few minor wobbles, notably after her full, but avoided major errors. Pavlova took a big wobble after her full turn but was otherwise clean. Mitchell hit her gorgeous layout stepout, whip combo for the same score as Pavlova. Lozhechko, back in competition after missing the Olympics, was clean but seems to have taken out some of her more difficult and original elements (good standing front somi though). Wevers hit both of her double turns for yet another Grand Prix final, while Yang fell on a side aerial but was impressive enough elsewhere to make the final nonetheless. No such luck for Alina Kozich, who came off after a somersault. Palesova also failed to make the final, wobbling on her front aerials and full turn. Apparently she had a bit of a scare on her bar dismount, which may have affected her in the next rotation.

Photobucket
Anna Pavlova (photo: Reuters)

FLOOR
1. Cheng (CHN) 14.975
2. Mitchell (AUS) 14.725
3. Yang (CHN) 14.250
4. Bui (GER) 13.675
5. Möbius (GER) 13.650
6. Stämpfli (SUI) 13.600
7. Hypolito (BRA) 13.575
8. Boczogo (HUN) 13.200


Cheng hit a nice piked full-in and a whip through to triple twist. Mitchell came up short on her final pass but was clean and difficult elsewhere for the second-highest mark - a good day for her! The Russians and Ukrainians struggled on floor. Pavlova had a problem on her triple twist and fell on her double pike dismount, while Zamolodchikova went out of bounds on her triple twist and fell on her 1.5 twist dismount. Both will miss the floor final. What a shame! Kozich will also miss out on the final, having fallen on her 1.5 twist to full and her dismount. Germany will rejoice though, having two gymnasts in the final again.

Cheng Fei had an excellent day, finishing first on all three of her events. We hope she can keep it up in finals...

Men's results to follow later.

7 comments:

  1. Girls, i'm new to your blog and i LOVE it! keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm new to following the gymnastics world. Why doesn't the U.S. ever send anyone to the World Cup meets?

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's He Ning who qualified for UB finals, not He Kexin.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It was He Ning, not He Kexin, who placed third on UB.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for pointing out the He mixup, guys! That's what you get when you quickly churn out a report to outscoop IG, then sit back satisfied to gloat. You make stoopid mistayks. We've corrected the mistake and will be more careful in future attempts to outscoop IG.

    Thanks for the kind words, Anonymous! We definitely intend to keep up the good work. Hopefully without mixing gymnasts up in the future!

    Tanya, U.S.A. Gymnastics's World Cup policy is a mystery to us. Sometimes they do send gymnasts to World Cup meets (they did a few years ago), sometimes they don't. In this case they probably didn't because their top athletes are busy touring. However, they could have sent some younger gymnasts to Stuttgart to gain experience, or some older gymnasts who just missed out on the Olympics to make up for that disappointment. We'll never understand why they don't. It's a wasted opportunity if you ask us. Or alternatively, it might be their way of saying that the World Cup series is nonsense, a point of view with which one of us actually agrees. Meiying believes the World Cup season is too long and puts too great a burden on the gymnasts. Perhaps U.S.A. Gymnastics is of the same opinion. We don't know.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Interesting. Thanks for the info! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. what a stroke of luck that i found this blog!
    this'll keep me sane for the next 2 days
    Great work!

    ReplyDelete