Gymnastics - the competitions continue.

Normally the weeks after a world championships are a quiet time, when athletes and teams have a chance to rest and regroup.

Not so it seems in the world of gymnastics 2010.

Within 2 weeks from the competition finishing in Rotterdam, some of the world's top gymnasts were competing again at the Swiss Cup, a mixed pairs event where a female and male gymnast from each country compete for the highest combined total. Elizabeth Seitz and Fabian Hambuchen took top honours, making up for Seitz's disappointment in the bars final in Rotterdam.

The top 5 teams were
1. Elizabeth Seitz & Fabian Hambuchen (Germany)
2. Vanessa Ferarri & Matteo Morandi (Italy)
3. Ariella Kaeslin & Claudio Capelli (Switzerland)
4. Sandra Izbasa & Flavius Kocki (Romania)
5. Anastasia Koval & Nikolai Kuchenkov (Ukraine)
Ful results and report at International Gymnast (here)

That's not all here's a list of some more major competitions coming up in November. No rest for the wicked it seems.

Men's British Championships (Leicester Nov 5-7)
Osijek World Cup (Croatia Nov 5-7)
DTP World Cup (Stuttgard, Germany Nov 12-14)
Glasgow Grand Prix (Scotland Nov 18-21)


2010 world championships gold medalists Lauren Mitchell (Australia), Thomas Bouhail (France), Eleftherios Kosmidis (Greece) and Krisztian Berki (Hungary) are each slated to compete in at least one World Cup in November.

 Imogen Cairns, Becky Downie, Jennifer Pinches, Hannah Whelan, Ruslan Panteleymonov, Daniel Purvis and Louis Smith are all due to compete for GB in Glasgow, a few weeks after the city (which is already hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games) announced a bid for the 2015 world championships.

Also in November, World Champion Aliya Mustafina is due to face off against the Youth Olympic gold and silver medallists, Viktoria Komova and Tan Sixin at the Italian Grand Prix (or 'Freddy Cup') on November 13. Both Komova and Sixin were too young to compete in Rotterdam but will be eligible for senior competition in 2011.

YOG Event Finals - Women's Floor

There was a new queen in women's gymnastics this evening as Tan Sixin picked up a second gold medal. Sexin showed that no matter how much the americans may complain about it - it is possible for slight, female gymnasts to stick their tumbling passes.

Komova got up on the floor for a chance to regain her crown. She had a low landing on her first tumbling pass - a double arabian. Gold now seemed out of reach - could she hang on to silver?


In an amusing incident - after completing her routine- Tan Sixin got out her camera to film Komova!


Last up was the chance for Romania's littlest star- Diana Bulimar. The tiny bulimar tumbled and danced her heart out and pipped Komova for second place. On recieving her score her coach then picked her up onto the podium again as the arena sang happy birthday to her! Quite the present for this talented one.


So the final podium of the women's competition may not look quite as expected.

YOG Event Finals - Medal ceremonies

Huge congratulations to this young star from China - Tan Sixin gets her own moment of undiluted glory.


Girls beam medallists - Angela Donald (B) Tan Sixin (G) and Carlotta Ferlito (S)


Floor medallists- Diana Bulimar (S) Tan Sixin (G) and Vika Komova (B)

Komova throws a wobbly!

In the girls balance beam final everyone knew it was the best chance for someone for someone to pip Viktoria Komova to the gold. Tan Sixin was up first and completed her difficult routine with squeaky clean execution : game on!


The next gymnasts (Donald, Gomez Porras) gave good performances but nothing to touch Sixin's score. Komova knew she needed something great to keep up her gold streak.


First tumbling pass- disaster for Komova - she falls on her back layout.


Komova seemed to lose concentration after that - 1 large wobble and another fall later - game over. She also looked to have injured her right hand- the question is whether it will affect her floor exercise.


So Gold to Tan Sixin, Silver to Carlotta Ferlito, Bronze to Angela Donald of Australia.

YOG Event Finals - Women's Uneven Bars

Komova showed she can win gold even when she makes a major mistake. The russian princess of gymnastics banged both feet on the floor as she grabbed the lowbar on her pac. However it didn't affect the rhythm of her routine and she still finished well for a score of 14.525 (slightly overmarked in my opinion given the mistake). Tan Sexin looked slightly bewildered after her good performance failed to win her the gold. She took silver with 14.125. Surprise Joana Adlerteg of Sweden competed a low difficulty routine with good execution and managed to win herself a bronze.

Diana Bulimar's score was surprisingly low after a lovely clean routine. She flies well between the bars for one so small. Carlotta Ferlito and Tess Moonen both had form breaks. Canadian Madeline Gardiner's routine ended painfully after she missed her release but banged her face on the bar.

Youth Olympic Games

UPDATE : As almost everyone expected - Russia's Viktoria Komova dominated the women's (or is that girls?) qualifying at the Youth Olympics in Singapore. Her impressive AA score of 61.000 would put her up at/near the top at the Senior worlds. Tan Sixin of China put in a respectable collection of scores to qualify 2nd into the all-around final.

The qualifying scores were -

1. Viktoria Komova (RUS) – 61.000
2. Sixin Tan (CHN) – 58.100
3. Carlotta Ferlito (ITA) – 55.750
4. Diana Bulimar (ROU) – 54.700
5. Tess Moonen (NED) – 54.250
6. Gomez Porras (GUA) – 54.050
7. Angela Donald (AUS) – 54.050
8. Madeline Gardiner (CAN) – 53.850
9. Jonna Adlerteg (SWE) – 53.600
10. Natsumi Sasada (JPN) – 53.550
11. Harumy Freitas (BRA) – 53.100
12. Alina Kravchenko (UKR) – 51.400
13. Elisa Haemmerle (AUT) – 51.350
14. Jessica Hogg (GBR) – 51.250
15. Dilnoza Abdusalimova (UZB) – 51.200
16. Kosthia Requena (VEN) – 50.900
17. Maria Vargas (ESP) – 50.650
18. Kyungjin Park (KOR) – 50.450

RussianCup2009 and Mistysakura have posted a number of videos from the qualification on Youtube

Yuya Kamoto of Japan won the Mens qualifying round, ahead of GB's Sam Oldham.

The Scores near the top were.

1. Yuya Kamoto JPN 87.200
2. Sam Oldham GBR 86.850
3. Oleg Stepko UKR 86.800
4. Xiaodong Zhu CHN 86.100
5. Danill Kazakhov RUS 85.400
6. Andrei Muntean ROU 83.800

Meanwhile here are some photos from the Ladies podium training

Diana Bulimar (Romania) & Viktoria Komova (Russia)
Angela Donald (Australia) & Jessica Hogg (Great Britain)