Apparently competition gets underway in less than 10 minutes' time! I'll do as much coverage as I can before I have to hit the hay for an early day at work.
Allez allez allez!
******LATER******
Right, yes, hello, I'm home at last.
The bad news is, Team Australia didn't have the best of outings, with falls knocking Larrissa Miller and Georgia Wheeler out of contention for any apparatus finals. However, the good (great!) news is that Emily Little qualified 4th to the vault final with a nifty Yurchenko double, and Georgia ranked 9th on bars, making her first reserve to that final.
According to The Gymnastics Examiner:
Australian Emily Little, one of only two competitors to throw a double-twisting Yurchenko, qualified fourth after sitting down her handspring pike front second vault (5.8, 9.075 and 4.6, 7.65).
Larrissa Miller, bars: Toe on to high, Inside stalder half to inverts, jam to Jaeger. Fall on inside stalder half, just didn't have the timing. Another inside stalder full to Geinger and then has to stop her swing. Looked like she got a bit lost in the air...the sticks the full twisting double. Argh. Frustration for Aussie fans!
Wheeler, bars: Toe stalder to Maloney, bail, toe on to almost dead hang, has to muscle the kip, Arabian double pike dismount, cool. Nice form throughout.
Read a further report via MLC here. It details Georgia's competition round and outlines circumstances that go some way to explain her less-than-stellar performances. On a personal note, it's unfortunate that the gymnasts didn't get a touch warm-up, I freaking hate that rule!
In the face of the rather mixed results, let's not try throwing anybody under the proverbial bus; this was a massive assignment for the three girls to take on and one from which they will take a lot of valuable experience for Pacific Rim. They didn't shy away from the big new skills in their respective repertoires, and probably can't wait to do them well in front of a home crowd in a few weeks.
In other good news, Melanie Jones and Olivia Vivian will travel with their Oregon State teammates to the NCAA National Gymnastics Championships! A close-run regional contest in Missouri saw OSU finish tied with defending national champions University of Georgia, but they won the tie-break to finish second behind the host college, with the top 2 teams going through to Nationals. It will be the first for both of our homegrown Beavers, as Melanie rounds out her freshman year in the lineup and Olivia tries to avoid the injury woes that saw her miss the championships last year.
41 comments:
Georgia Wheeler VT – handspring front pike (big step forward) // layout Yurchenko (big step).
Emily Little VT – DTY (nices) // handspring front pike off (fall).
from TAAF
Yay on Emily's DTY!
:)
Apparently Emily hit a nice DTY but then fell on pike front! What a shame, she surely would have made finals otherwise.
Georgia's vaults were very low valued for an international meet (pike front and layout yurchenko) and had big steps on both so I would say finals unlikely, though of course it depends what others do. Seems like there are lots of falls.
Larrissa made a mess of bars - no finals for her.
Larissa Miller UB – stalder 1/1, Jaeger, overshoot, no HS, insdie stalder ½ (fall), inside stalder 1/1 – gienger, break form,
I just hope she hits at PAC to justify her team selection. Seems she might not really be ready enough fitness wise.
Larissa Miller UB – stalder 1/1, Jaeger, overshoot, no HS, insdie stalder ½ (fall), inside stalder 1/1 – gienger, break form,
Grrrr.
Love you anyway, Larrissa!
At least we know she's not a headcase since she hit so well at worlds under pressure. It must just be an issue of not enough numbers/fitness at this point.
Georgia Wheeler UB – toe on – Shaposhnikova, Tkatchev (bent knees, almost tucked), arabian double front off.
Can't really visualise what might have happened with the tkatchev? has no amplitude problems after all!
Plus HUGE equipment differences.
I agree, the equipment does make a difference. And the girls needed some time to adjust to it, and I think a couple of days is not enough. Im not sure if any other gyms have Gymnova, JF, or any other equipment, but I do know the AIS in Canberra has one of each set of bars, beam and vault. The only thing the dont have is floor. (which is understandable!)
Poor Larrissa! Now I really hope she hits at PAC Rim!!
I will certainly feel for Britt Greeley if Larrissa gets to Pac and falls on the only routine she needs to hit.
I am never a fan of taking gymnasts based on reputation/past results when they are not at a good level of fitness during the trials. She only hit 1 of 2 routines there after all.
I would have just let her rest and recover to be ready for later in the year (especially to develop her AA program) and would have plugged in Britt for experience purposes.
Emily's DTY is getting rave reviews on all the sites I've read!
If we could get 2 more DTYs out of either Shona/Emma Dennis/Georgia Wheeler/Britt Greeley by Worlds we would be looking good for TF. It is such a big advantage over 1.5TY now.
Emily made the Vault final even with the fall. She qualified in 4th with 13.56. This is the link http://bercy2010.ffgym.com/resultats.html
Miller's Australian bars: dislocation shackled Yaeger, shoushou ATR, falling up hand waltz, ginger, 2nd fall, damage to the Australian veteran of international grand finals: 12.9pts
rofl. Gotta love google translate! at least her score is there. The rest of it sounded so funny I just had to post it. falling up hand waltz!!! Seriously though, big shame. Would have loved to see her blitz it.
Georgia fell on floor. Emily apparently hit routine of full in tuck, double arabian, 1.5 thru to double and double pike but only scored 13.15. Maybe bad dance elements?
Just realised the vault qualifications are far from over. Emily was 4th after the first rotation! Thought that was pretty good after a fall. Sorry. The site is in French and I misread it. Still she might have a chance I guess.
Anon at 1.54, how could you miss Emily's "fall on the moon roach"?
On a less hilarious note it sounds like Emily really did nail her DTY which hopefully means she sorted out the tucking issue.
Peggy said that Georgia, Emily and Larrissa were likely to be on both the Comm games and worlds team. Both of which are scheduled very close. If the girls were haivng issues with different gym equipment here what's going to happen then? Assuming that there's different equipment being used in India and the Netherlands.
No, I think Emily is in the finals. They have a morning session of VT/UB and afternoon with BB/FX. So she's in.
Oh ok. Well good then. From what I can gather they are competing FX and Beam now. The vault scores coming through must be the men. A world cup final for Emily is terrific. She would have to be a medal chance if she can land both vaults. And yes "fall on the moon roach" is classic. Most of the translation is pretty funny.
comments from the Gymanstics Examiner:
High full in with step back from Emily Little on floor. Arabian double front, nearly stuck. This girl gets some air! Uninspiring choreography that doesn't match her music is unfortunate. 1.5 to double full. Double pike with step. A lot of potential but needs a different routine.
The Australians, by the way, are wearing long sleeved red leotards with back on the arms.
I have to agree with her! Emily needs a new routine asap.
And on Georgia:
Wheeler, floor: Arabian double front and falls forward and OOB. Double back with a bounce back. She's far more expressive than Little, but again the choreo leaves something to be desired. Very cookie cutter poses between the second and third pass. Front full to front layout. Double pike with a good landing.
Agree once again. Maybe they are copping artistry deductions if it is that noticeable that an unbiased obsserver would mention it.
On the french site they have Emily Little from Canada with 13.15. Maybe they have the wrong gymnast? I would have thought she would score higher than that without any major errors.
The Canadians haven't gone to floor yet, so I doubt it. They must just have the country wrong.
I'm putting my money on artistry deductions as speculated. It is something that is going to need a lot of work for both of them.
Emily seems to have hit beam.
Georgia fell twice on beam. Quite a poor performance for her today overall. How is her consistency usually?
Georgia 9th on bars. Just out of finals what a shame!
Hello, I'm about to run out the door; haven't had time to read results, just the comments that have cropped up in my inbox.
I will say that members of Team Australia have expressed concerns about the bars in the arena; they are not at all what they're used to.
Gymnova bars are extremely bouncy. Larrissa is used to working on Acromat bars, which are less bouncy. Luckily for her, she won't have to use Gymnova equipment in Rotterdam, where Janssen-Fritsen equipment will be used.
Sounds like it was quite a poor performance for the Aussie girls, a few successes for Emily notwithstanding. Here's hoping they will give themselves slightly more time to acclimatise in Rotterdam. Methinks Peggy should think twice about sending the same team to Commonwealths and Worlds!
I hope they can do better later in the year because if this is the core of the future team we are going to need need more stable, high-scoring routines than what was on show here.
Well done Emily, you have done a great job, good luck for the rest of the comp.
Just to put the Aussie girls' disappointing performance in perspective, the whole competition was a splatfest. Judging from the quick hits, there were very few hit routines. It's early in the season. Let's not write off the team yet, shall we?
Congrats to Emily on making a final. I look forward to seeing her DTY.
Anon 12.48.
Dont forget Mary-Anne Monckton and Sophie Budack...they can both Yurchenko Double.
Anon 12:13am
You cant blame poor perfromance on the equipment.
I think Emily making a final in her first international comp as a senior pretty impressive :)
I completely agree with Anon at 10.08. Practically everyone fell or messed up in some way (including big names and proven Worlds and Olympic performers).
I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I thought the Aussie performances sounded reasonably encouraging. Especially considering that this was the first time with new programs for a couple of the girls.
I would think the European gymnasts would be a little more concerned with THEIR splatfest considering Euros is right around the corner.
We (i.e. the Aussie team) have time to solidify, tweak and polish before CWG and Worlds.
Yes, PacRim is coming up, but CWG and Worlds are more important for our sport in terms of funding.
I'm not at ALL worried about Larrissa. Worlds showed us that she can compete under the most intense pressure.
And I hope Peggy and the coaches read the comments about the floor choreo and give Georgia and Emily new routines SOON!
Hopefully we'll see some vids...
:)
To Anon @ 11.35 -- well, yes, you CAN look at equipment as part of the reasons for a poor performance. Identifying the causative factors is the best way to improve future performance, wouldn't you say?
So maybe in the future (and funding/schooling allowing) the girls will have more time to acclimatise before being expected to compete. The training reports suggested that each day was a little more consistent for the girls, after all.
It would be silly to expect completely different equipment to have no impact on the girls' timing.
Can't see any vids of the Aussie Girls but there seems to be some videos of the event here
I wouldn't be too concerned about the future. Without seeing the routines, it's difficult to know exactly why scores were low anyway. I see Emily and Georgia as having a pretty solid base to add to. They are not quite there yet difficulty wise, but I think it's obvious that they will get better and better.
I have no doubt that Georgia will eventually have at least a DTY, higher DV on bars (her routine has so much potential for big DV with some connections and upgrades) and both will show general improvement. Emily has good handstands on bars so with a shap/extra release/added turns there is potential there too.
Worlds 2010 might be a tight squeeze for TF without multiple DTYs/better bars/steady beamers but 2011 and 2012 they should be better placed.
Their choreography seems to be the thing that dims people's enthusiasm about their prospects so hopefully they will get new routines. Though Wheeler's is new so I suppose it's unlikely. I don't know what that choreographer was thinking, because Georgia looks rather uncomfortable with it.
Emily fell again in finals, out of medals.
1st jump: yourchenko double twist, just a bit: 14.225pts
Awesome first jump by Emily :) she's done a fantastic jump making the final. Her first jump was third best out of them all! This girl's got promise!!!
When are finals?
Now! Emily's vault final has finished ages ago, she finished fifth!
Seems as though many lessons would have been learned, especially for Emily and Georgia in their first big international. I think they did well and it sounds like it was a good warm up for Pacs. Hopefully Larissa picks it up too- I would like to see her on the podium in Melbourne.
GymNova is the official supplier for the equipment for the 2012 olympics so the girls may want to start varying the equipment that they train on. Equipment certainly makes a difference and could be an excuse for these inexperienced competitors' performance at this competition but come 2012 there can't be any excuses.
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