The European Games Top 20

20. Dora Vass
Although Dora had some mistakes with ball and ribbon, she had a good competition. I have not had the pleasure of watching Dora live but I have heard that she looks even more beautiful in person. For many years now, Dora has been Hungary’s only world class rhythmic competitor. I am not sure if she has plans to retire but it would be great if someone equally dedicated followed in her footsteps.

19.Natascha Wegscheider
Her 19th place may not seem like a big accomplishment, but she did a very strong competition. All 4 routines were fairly clean and stable. I expect her to continue scoring over 16 consistently, and possibly over 16.5, too. I like her choice of leotards very much. The suit her and add fun and sparkle to her routines. Here are my favorites:

18. Ana Luiza Florianu
The most elegant “surprise” of this event. A gorgeous clubs routine, which I enjoyed a lot and thought deserved more. Ana Luiza is fairly young but she already stands out with a very beautiful figure and just a natural grace.

17. Maria Mateva
Maria had a tough competition, with many mistakes. Even with hoop, her crown routine, she did not seem confident enough. But she has gotten many scores over 17.5 in the past, and she can receive them again if she is clean, especially with hoop, and possibly with ball, too. I find it hard to excuse her ribbon and clubs mistakes, because I don’t consider these two routines to showcase the maximum difficulty she can perform.

16. Eleonora Romanova
Unlike most Ukrainians we are used to seeing, Eleonora does not look powerfully expressive and confident on the carpet, and expression is certainly something she needs to work on, but she does beautiful work as far some of her jumps and pirouettes, and if she does not make mistakes, she will fall into the scores of over 17 easily. Her ball is my favorite routine, but she made the most mistakes with it at this event.

15.Ayshan Bayramova
What a great way to dazzle the home audience! Beautiful, lively routines, great risks, very clean fouettes, and even though she had errors with ribbon, I actually loved this routine the most. If she keeps working this hard, she will do much better than 15th spot. She has everything she needs to be more than the second best Azeri gymnast.



14. Varvara Filiou
For every beautiful, expressive and just uniquely charming routine Varvara does, she does one where she drops everything. So, at this event, she did a brilliant ribbon and ball, and made mistakes with clubs and hoop. I wished she made the ribbon final, though, because she deserves it. She really exudes beauty, vibrant energy, and joy.

13. Carolina Rodriguez
I like Carolina’s ball routine a lot, but I feel like she is showing us elements we have seen many times in past seasons and that she currently just relies on her reputation as a “veteran” gymnast to get the scores that she does. Ordinarily, I would put Filiou and Romanova before her, even Ayshan. But they all made many mistakes. If Carolina wants to stay in the top 15, she will need to make some changes.

12. Neviana Vladinova
I am very sad that Neviana made some errors with hoop, because she deserved to be ahead both Filanovsky and Ruprecht. Her ribbon and ball routines at this event were the best I have ever seen them. She made the clubs final, but, really, she should have received a higher score with ribbon, where she shows some very sophisticated apparatus work. Neviana should constantly aim for scores over 17.5 and she should get used to them. Her goal should be to make not one, but 2 or 3 finals at events.



11. Nicol Ruprecht
I think Nicole did some nice work with ball and clubs especially, but the apparatus difficulty she has does not measure up to elite yet, and neither do her jumps. The judges must really like her to count all of her difficulties, because, although she does not make big mistakes, she is far from clean.

10. Victoria Veinberg Filanovsky
Solid competition from Victoria, but I feel like I am watching the same routine with every apparatus. She is very talented but I would love to see some variety in the apparatus work and some more expression. She and her coach were very pleased with her scores.

9. Neta Rivkin
So, Neta had a disaster with clubs, which made her coaches very nervous, as the picture below shows but she made up for it on all other routines and made 3 finals, which is wonderful and well-deserved. I think her ribbon performance has improved a lot.

8. Marina Durunda
I expected a lot more form Marina. In particular, I expected her to place before Moustafaeva and possibly before Halkina as well. This season Marina has come out with very strong, different routines, particularly with clubs and ribbon. She is one of the best ribbon performers in the world right now. I attribute her huge error with clubs to being nervous in front of the loud home crowd.



7. Kseniya Moustafayeva
By far one of her strongest competition. She was very clean and really just seemed to fly across the carpet. Also, she showed improved interpretation of the music in her routines. The ball routine was my favorite. Ironically, Kseniya did not make the finals but is a reserve for several of them.

6. Katsyarina Halkina
The rules at the European Games really work against Katya, who did a very good competition but did not make any finals because only one gymnast per country goes to the finals. Katya consistently places in the world’s top 6, and I think this season she has been more exciting to watch than Staniouta. Too bad for the error in ribbon.

5. Salome Pazhava
For me, she was the most exciting star of the event! Made all 4 finals. Beat both Durunda and Halkina, not to mention the girls from Israel. Absolutely energized and captivated the crowd. I don’t know which of the 4 routines was better. They were just sublime. But this time I vote for ball. As the commentators pointed out, the dynamism, speed and level of energy, as well her coverage of the carpet are just dazzling. Her choreographies really emphasize the most beautiful and strong aspects of her personality.




4. Ganna Rizatdinova
Ganna is in all 4 finals, too, but she must be disappointed with her 4th place. Ganna currently has the fastest and cleanest pivots in the world and I love watching her spin on the carpet, but I don’t love her apparatus handling at all, and I think her ball routine leaves a lot to desire compared to previous seasons. I like her work with hoop the best, but I am not thrilled about the clubs at all. And I think she needs more work to make her Carmen with ribbon really memorable.

3. Melitina Staniouta
Very confident, mostly clean routines, though I am bit disappointed by her work with ribbon lately. Also, the ball routine is a bit old and I feel like I have watched it way too many times. It would be great if she added some new apparatus skills. Solid work and not surprising placement in all 4 finals, though. Halkina is a lot more original now. The ball needs to go despite this wonderful leotard.

2. Margarita Mamun
While I appreciate Rita’s unique style and expression, I think lately she has started to seem very cautious and almost nervous about making mistakes. Her clubs routine performance has improved, but she only made one final (hoop) because Kudryavtseva keeps outscoring her. She would need to step up if she wants to really threaten Yana’s position.

1.Yana Kudryavtseva
Everyone expected her to just glide on the carpet in complete harmony and she did. Her routines are very beautiful and complex. I don’t think she has enough expression for the music with ribbon yet, but this is probably her best routine. The clubs are also very special. Once you have watched them, they are hard to forget or to compare with other gymnasts. Here is her magical ribbon routine:





So, overall, Staniouta, Pazhava and Rizatdinova made all 4 finals. Durunda and Rivkin each made 3 finals, and, surpassingly, though for different reasons, Mamun, Ruprecht and Vladinova made 1 final each.

Europe's Best "Second" Gymnast and Minsk's Most Contested Bronze

As a fan, I always root for the underdogs. Why? Well, because they bring the nicest, most exciting surprises and, most importantly, because they always remind us that anything is possible.

That is why, in my impressions of this year's European championship, I'd like to talk about a gymnast who surpassed everyone's expectations: Halkina from Belarus. I would also like to briefly discuss Marina Durunda's much contested bronze medal with ribbon, which she received after submitting an inquiry into the score.

First, Halkina. For me, her bronze medals with both clubs and hoop have the weight of a silver medal. She also did a beautiful ball routine. Her ribbon routine was well-performed but I think there is still some work to be done in terms of apparatus handling.

However, I think that even with ribbon, Halkina outperformed her illustrious teammate Staniouta. Halkina is still "second" on the Belorussian team, but, to me, she is the best second gymnast there is.  One thing I would definitely like to wish Halkina is to continue to be expressive and to enjoy the music that accompanies her routines. we really saw this from her with clubs at this championship. While in the past she may have focused on just completing the difficulties in this action-packed routine, I think this time she really danced to it as well and felt every beat.

When I look back on all the club routines performed at the Europeans,  I believe only Kudryavtseva beats Halkina in terms of originality and expression.

The only reason Halkina is not getting more scores over 18, especially for her awesome hoop routine, is because she is still relatively new to the big carpet of international gymnastics.

Even though she is still new to the elite,  I am not sure why Halkina placed third with hoop and not second: her routine really shows the best there is to show with this apparatus, both in terms of risky throws, but also general handling of the hoop with constant movement and  a lot of originality. This hoop is better than both Rizatdinova's and Staniouta's. Halkina is  quickly becoming one of the most interesting and complex gymnast her country has shown the world.                                                  

Now, about Durunda's medal in ribbon, which she received after contesting the score. This is a huge victory for Durunda. She has been performing one of the fastest, most difficult and most exciting to watch ribbon routines in the world. She makes this routine go very smoothly as the ribbon is never touching the ground and moves from one difficulty to the next with terrific amplitude. The ribbon is telling a story or perhaps painting a picture for us. The fact that the judges gave Durunda this bronze even though this meant depriving the host country of another medal really shows how powerful and deserving Durunda and her coach are. They did the right thing by contesting the score! And although Durunda's victory means one medal less for Halkina, this much contested bronze is a real breakthrough for Durunda, who has really grown as a gymnast and shown very strong apparatus work, a lot of artistry in addition to her meticulously clean balances and pivots. Well done, Marina, welcome to Europe's  the world's top 3!

European Championship: Who Will Make the Top 8?

The 2015 European Championship for individual seniors and junior groups is less than two weeks away. This year, Minsk, the capital city of Belarus, will host this exciting event.  I hope this means the girls from Belarus will win medals!

As far as the top 8 for this event, I expect that the first 4 will contain two Russians, Rizatdinova from the Ukraine and Staniouta from Belarus. The big question for me is whether Mamun from Russia will perform and whether she will finally show her routines in their shining, flawless quality, especially the clubs. I think Rita has better routines than the other 2 Russians and she deserves to get rewarded for them. Will Rita perform confidently? Nobody can question she has shown masterful execution with hoop and ribbon. But she needs to take the ball routine, and especially the clubs, to the same level.

For spots 4-7, I see the following gymnasts fighting quite an exciting battle: the experienced Neta Rivkin from Israel, the young, but wonderful Katsyarina Halkina from Belarus, and Marina Durunda from Azerbaijan who absolutely  dazzled at the last couple of big tournaments. My preference is for Durunda and Halkina and I hope they motivate more seasoned gymnasts to show new, more interesting routines.Although I love Durunda, I think the home advantage will really boost Halkina in Minsk.  Halkina' s hoop is her strongest exercise, but I also see a lot of promise for her ball routine, which she performs with this elegant blue leotard.

But I would like to hope that Marina Durunda will step up to the challenge to show that she is a better and more interesting gymnast than many in the elite, with very intense routines, and exceptionally clean lines. Marina got a lot of praise for her exciting ribbon routine. I also love her hoop exercise very much and would love to see her receive higher scores for all of her hard work, and all the control and elegance she shows.

Who will take the 8th spot? This is perhaps the most interesting question. While several gymnasts have a chance including Moustafaeva from France, Filanovsky from Israel, and Shafizada from Azerbaijan, my favorites for entering the elite this year are the Greek Varvara Filiou who has added  a lot of difficulty and even more expression to her routines, and, most importantly, the Georgian star Salome Pazhava.  Salome has already shown quite a strong presence, especially with clubs and hoop. Here is Salome preparing for her exceptional dance with knives to traditional Georgian music. Blue does seem to be this season's color!

I would still like to hope that this championship will be a big break for Varvara, who totally deserves a spot among the world's best athletes.