A NSW trial spectator tells me Mary-Anne Monckton showed off a piked Shushunova on bars over the weekend! Apparently, this is a G-rated(!) release element that, if debuted successfully at a World Championships could - like the famed Dunn mount or McIntosh vault - bear her name in the Code of Points!
Well done to 'Other Mez' for mastering what sounds like a truly awesome skill, let alone competing again after bouncing back from a handful of surgeries!
You might have noticed I added a couple of extra names to my 'Useful Links'.
I have publicly admitted in the past that I don't like to advertise as such on this site (believe me, you go a bit mad after several dozen spam messages or requests to plug British fitness equipment stores), but I will say that I do deeply admire those who support gymnastics programs in this country through grassroots business. The following sites in particular provide gymnastics wear and merchandise for teams and individuals across the country, operating independently from big guns like Adidas or GK Leotards. They are also lovely people who are friends of my friends. And any friend of an AGB friend is well, a friend of AGB!
So, please, take a little time to explore the nifty gifts and sincere service of Sylvia P Sportswear ("Hey we know that male gymnast from somewhere!") and GMD Activewear.
Congrats to the Aussie quartet who did a clean sweep of their age group's all-around standings at the Pre-Olympic Youth Cup! Georgia-Rose Brown topped the field, followed by Angela Donald, Emma Nedov and Pacific Rim rising star AmeliaMcGrath. Grace Claringbold managed a commendable 9th. Read a competition report from MLC here and one from gymmedia.com here. See a couple of other cracking photos at the VWHPC page here.
Alex Eade finished 5th overall in the 12-13 age group.
The SE Queensland Senior Regionals and State Team Trials were also on this weekend, and the following observations come from a source on the scene.
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Senior International:
The senior all-around competition was won by Larrissa Miller, who competed on all four events for the first time since last year’s state championships, albeit with significantly reduced difficulty on most events and quite a few falls, too. Her vault was tidy layout Yurchenko (she has a nice full-twisting Yurchenko, but her foot won’t allow it yet). On floor she showed an elegant new routine featuring a layout front to layout front-full, layout and 2.5 twist – a far cry from the much more difficult tumbling she did before her injuries. Her beam set was marred by three falls (front aerial, double turn, L turn) and rather a lot of wobbles. It’s a nice routine, though, which can only get better over the next few months. Her bar routine looked good until the stoop-through-half (fall). The Stalder-full at the end didn’t go as planned either, but even so, Miller looked better here than she did a few weeks ago at Pac Rim. It will be interesting to see whether she will be able to pull out a bit more difficulty on all events at states.
Second place went to new QAS recruit Sophie Budack, who showed a good Yurchenko-full, albeit with a deep landing. On bars she only barely hang on to her Jaeger, and her casts seemed rather muscled, but the routine showed some promise. Her beam routine was one of the more stable ones of the evening, the only serious wobbles coming after a punch front and a wolf turn. Her floor routine (double tuck, double twist, layout front to layout front-full, double pike) had good music and nice dance. Budack is definitely one to watch.
The all-around bronze went to Bridget Beattie, who was sporting a brace on her left knee. She vaulted a good layout Yurchenko and hit a nice piked Jaeger on bars before coming off on a blind change. She also counted three falls on beam, including a weird one where she put a foot back after a half turn to feel for the end of the beam, only to lose her balance and fall off. (The other falls came on a back salto and a side aerial.) On floor she showed a slightly overrotated double pike, 1.5 twist to layout front, double full and a double tuck, the latter after a fourteen-second pause in the corner (I kid you not). It wasn’t her best competition, but she’s promising, all right.
The final competitor in the senior competition was Karina Brooks, who vaulted a Yurchenko-full with a very deep landing, then went on to have a nightmare on bars, where she fell on a cast to handstand, hit her feet on the floor after a bail-half, took a scary fall to her back after blanking out on what was probably supposed to be a giant-full, and fell once more on her double pike dismount. The mistakes were all the more unfortunate as Brooks is actually a very good bar worker, with nice technique, great form and good skills (hecht, piked Jaeger). On beam she hit a solid punch front but fell on a back salto, side somi and side aerial. She also landed very low on her double tuck on floor, taking two steps backwards. Despite her many mistakes, though, it was good to see Brooks back in action. Hopefully she’ll fare better at states.
Medals:
All-around: 1) Miller, 2) Budack, 3) Beattie
Vault: 1) Budack, 2) Beattie, 3) Miller
Bars: 1) Miller, 2) Beattie, 3) Budack
Beam: 1) Budack, 2) Beattie, 3) Miller
Floor: 1) Beattie, 2) Miller, 3) Budack
Peggy Liddick attended the competition and seemed to be in a cheerful mood, chatting with all the IDP girls and cheering for many of them. Chloe Sims was also in attendance and was seen snapping funny pictures of her former coach Sasha Beloousov and chatting at length with Peggy.
Junior International:
Four girls competed in the Junior International competition: Natalia Joura and Katie Wurth (both QAS) and Amaya King-Koi and Shar-lee Clark (both MBC). In the end, the all-around gold went to Amaya King-Koi, who wasn’t faultless but made fewer mistakes than her rivals.
On vault, King-Koi showed a decent layout Yurchenko. Her beam was solid but for a fall on her full turn and a big wobble on her wolf-half. All the acrobatic skills (punch front, ff to tucked back salto, front aerial, side aerial, side somi, double tuck dismount) were stuck, as they usually are; give the girl a few more connections and a little more choreography and she’ll have a very competitive routine. King-Koi also did a good job on floor, where she has a new, Middle-East-inspired routine which is an improvement over the old one (double tuck, 1.5 twist to layout front full, double twist, double pike). Her one great weakness is bars, where she has improved considerably since she transferred to MBC but still shows bad handstands and bent legs on the Jaeger. She also fell on her back on her double front dismount. Still, it was a pretty good competition for King-Koi, who reportedly has a beautiful double Arabian and 2.5 twist in the works on floor.
The silver went to Katie Wurth, who is an elegant gymnast in the grand Queensland tradition, well worth keeping an eye out for. Wurth has beautiful lines and excellent presentation on beam and floor, and her skills aren’t bad either (side aerial to ff, front aerial to sheep jump, side somi on beam; double pike, 1.5 twist to layout front, double twist, 2.5 twist, all hit). Sadly, she fell on an Onodi (the only one in the competition) on beam, but it was a beautiful routine nonetheless. Her bars need a bit of work. She had loose legs on quite a few handstands, and the double tuck dismount will have to be upgraded. Nice Delchev, though. She vaulted a somewhat piked Yurchenko-full.
Natalia Joura placed third. Having started with a good layout Yurchenko, Joura Jr moved on to bars, where she had a bit of trouble holding her handstands and only just hung on to her Jaeger (after having missed it by about half a metre in warm-up). She probably showed the hardest beam routine in the competition, with several valuable connections: punch front to sheep jump; side aerial to tucked back salto (fall); front aerial to tucked back salto; side somi; change-leg leap to full-twisting change leg. Her floor exercise sadly came with a couple of falls (double tuck, 2.5 twist). Her style is very reminiscent of her elder sister’s, which is obviously a good thing. Here’s hoping she will hit all her routines at states.
Shar-lee Clark, who didn’t compete floor, finished fourth. She vaulted a rather tucked Yurchenko and on bars suffered a fall on her second toe-shoot to the high bar and a near-fall on her full-out dismount. She hit her Jaeger, though, and generally had very good form, but for a leg separation on the bail-half. Unfortunately, beam was a splatfest for Clark, who fell on a front aerial, ff-layout step-out and side aerial and missed the connection on her normally solid change-leg to gainer layout step-out. It’s a pity she didn’t get to show her floor exercise, as she is a nice floor worker.
Medals:
All-around: 1) King-Koi, 2) Wurth, 3) Joura
Vault: 1) Wurth, 2) Joura, 3) King-Koi
Bars: 1) Joura, 2) Wurth, 3) Clark
Beam: 1) King-Koi, 2) Joura, 3) Wurth
Floor: 1) King-Koi, 2) Wurth, 3) Joura
IDP Level 10:
The IDP 10 competition belonged to MBC’s twelve-year-old Georgia Godwin, who proved that her success at last year’s national clubs was no fluke by taking the all-around gold as well as all four apparatus titles. Godwin vaulted a good Yurchenko-full (a little piked) and showed good form on bars, although she was frequently short of handstands and had a rather late turn on her giant-full. Her beam routine was marred by falls on the side aerial and side somi, but she did show a nice punch front and confident leaps. She also performed the most difficult floor exercise of the day: double tuck, layout front full to front 1.5 twist, 2.5 twist, double pike. What with a double layout, piked full-in and double Arabian in the works, Godwin will be a major contender for a floor position in a few years.
Yasmin Budack (QAS) came second. She vaulted a Yurchenko-half with a bad landing and had a lot of trouble on bars, where she fell twice on a front giant, finished her transition in a dead hang and generally suffered poor leg form. She did better on beam (fall on punch front, wobble on side aerial) and floor (fall on double tuck, bent legs on double twist), where she showed some nice work.
Tianye Boorman placed third. Boorman had a difficult competition. Her bar routine was characterised by a fall on a clear hip to handstand and dead hangs on her transitions. She also had two falls on beam (the first one on a punch front, on which she initially balked, and the second one on a side aerial). She did, however, show the most interesting mount of the competition: a press to handstand, lower down to shoulder stand into an Eremia-like pose. On floor she showed a double tuck (fall), 1.5 twist to punch front and 2.5 twist to techno music.
Brittany Boffo only competed bars, where she had serious problems on a toe-shoot and fell on a giant-full. Brittany George didn’t compete at all, having injured her elbow. MBC’s Brianna Wong didn’t compete either.
Medals:
All-around: 1) Godwin, 2) Budack, 3) Boorman
Vault: 1) Godwin, 2) Budack, 3) Boorman
Bars: 1) Godwin, 2) Boffo, 3) Boorman
Beam: 1) Godwin, 2) Budack, 3) Boorman
Floor: 1) Godwin, 2) Boorman, 3) Budack
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And, further to the vault video I posted the other day, check out Olivia Vivian competing on all four events at the OSU team instrasquad event.
Georgia-Rose Brown joins Amelia McGrath, Angela Donald and Emma-Jane Nedov on the Australian National Team; Alexandra Eade and Grace Claringbold will represent the Victorian Women's High Performance Centre.
We have arrived safely in Germany. The flight was long but the girls coped really well. We have arrived in our little town, I feel like we are in the country. There are so many lovely green trees and it is really quiet with lovely birds singing. It was raining when we arrived yesterday, and they told us we had bought the rain with us. The drive from the airport was around 40 minutes. The place we are staying is like being on a university campus. The training gym, competition gym and our accommodation place are all in building pretty much next to each other.
The girls are in a room together, which is not too bad, they have single beds with a small shower, bathroom, and the rooms have a small TV in them. They have internet connection, which I have just got up and running. It is about 6.30 in the morning here.
After arriving we had some lunch, the girls rested for an hour or so, then we went straight to training. The training gym is pretty good, and the girls got to touch the apparatus and mainly have a good strength and stretching session, and pretty much try to wake the bodies up. Alex, Grace and Georgia did a good job, after such a long flight.
Good luck for the competition, ladies! Enjoy the experience!
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Read a further training report here. All signs looking good so far!
A nice haul of hardware came Team Australia's way in recent days, with two male disciplines seeing our gymnasts shine.
* Prashanth Sellathurai won(!) pommel at the Dityatin Cup; Pacific Rim medallist Luke Wiwatowski followed suit with a 1st place on floor and on P-bars. He also managed 3rd on high bar, closing out his best overseas performance yet. Elliott Cook placed 3rd on pommel behind Prashanth.
* Sport aerobics athlete and multiple international medallist Kieran Gorman won the Individual Male division at the FIG World Series event in italy.
Nice job, boys!
And, in other good news: After one season limited to bars and a second season competing just 3/4 events, look who's training vault!
Keep your eyes peeled when watching Channel 10 over the coming weeks, as Lauren Mitchell's Commonwealth Games commercial has gone to air (and been spotted by a few of you!)
Holed up with a bung foot and a bunch of lost data - very important data - including (potentially) my remaining Pacific Rim videos that were yet to be uploaded.
I just... I can't... it's not... I don't... I... buh...
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This blog wishes, with all sincerity, to acknowledge the Wurundjeri people; the original andongoing owners of the land upon which this author lives and upon which these words are collated.
