2010 Glasgow Grand Prix
Kelvin Hall – November 20th
The British gymnasts finished with a magnificent 5 medals at the Glasgow Grand Prix World Cup Event.
Hannah Whelan Silver on Beam, Jenni Pinches Bronze on Floor, Imogen Cairns Silver on Vault, Theo Seager Silver on Vault and Louis Smith Gold on Pommel.
Louis Smith fresh from his recent World Championship Silver medal once again produced the goods to take the Pommel Horse Gold medal scoring 15.550 ahead of great rival Kristian Berki in second -15.300.
Louis said: “I’m really pleased with my routine today and the Gold medal against a truly World class field in Glasgow, including the two former World Champions. This year I’ve achieved everything I set out to do and next year I will be unleashing a bit more difficulty and continue to progress towards my goals at London 2012.”
Theo Seager, the powerhouse of the Men’s Team took the Vault Silver behind Chile’s Gonzalez, Theo scored 15.875 on Vault and also made the Rings Final.
Imogen Cairns, Commonwealth Vault Champion and recent World Vault finalist took the Silver on “her” piece, with 13.875.
Hannah Whelan, 2010 British Champion took Australian Lauren Mitchell on in the Beam competition and came a very close second with 14.500 behind Lauren’s 14.675.
Jenni Pinches then took her first ever Grand Prix medal with the Bronze on Floor scoring 14.150.
Daniel Purvis failed to medal but produced solid routines in his 3 Finals, whilst debutant Ashley Watson competed in the High Bar Final.
Overall, Australian Lauren Mitchell was the star performer in the Women’s events, taking the Beam and Floor titles along with the Asymmetric Bars Bronze; Lauren said: “It’s been an amazing few months, not only for me but for the whole Australian Team. The Commonwealth Games was a great chance for us all to compete in a big event and get experience ahead of the World Championships, which were the big aim for the whole Team. To qualify for the next step of the Olympic Qualification was key so we were really happy with that and then of course for me to win the Floor title was just the icing on the cake – the day just went perfectly for me and I was amazed to get the title! Since the It’s been really hectic traveling to lots of events which have given me great experience. Here in Glasgow I’ve been really happy with my performance and winning the two title,s as the equipment wasn’t what I was used too so it show that I can adapt and work in a range of environments, which is important and shows I’m developing.”
The Men’s events were more evenly split with apparatus specialists battling it out on each separate piece.
Results-
Womens-
Vault
1 KURBATOVA Ekaterina RUS 13.912
2 CAIRNS Imogen GBR 13.875
3 PINTO ADASME Makarena CHI 13.762
Bars
1 WU Liufang CHN 14.750
2 LOPEZ Jessica VEN 13.800
3 MITCHELL Lauren AUS 13.725
Beam
1 MITCHELL Lauren AUS 14.675
2 WHELAN Hannah GBR 14.500
3 LOPEZ Jessica VEN 13.975
Floor
1 MITCHELL Lauren AUS 14.800
2 PIHAN-KULESZA Marta POL 14.250
3 PINCHES Jennifer GBR 14.150
Mens-
Vault
1 GONZALEZ SEPULVEDA CHI 15.937
2 SEAGER Theo GBR 15.875
3 WAMMES Jeffrey NED 15.775
Rings
1 BALANDIN Aleksandr RUS 15.825
1 LIAO Junlin CHN 15.825
3 PLUZHNIKOV Konstantin RUS 15.625
Pommel
1 SMITH Louis GBR 15.550
2 BERKI Krisztian HUN 15.300
3 BERTONCELJ Saso SLO 15.225
P.Bars
1 PETKOVSEC Mitja SLO 14.450
2 BERBECAR Daniel ROU 15.350
3 SABOT Hamilton FRA 15.325
Floor
1 SHATILOV Alexander ISR 15.375
2 GONZALEZ SEPULVEDA Enrique Tomas CHI 15.275
3 WAMMES Jeffrey NED 15.250
High Bar
1 MOZNIK Marijo CRO 15.225
2 KUKSENKOV Mykola UKR 15.150
2 WAMMES Jeffrey NED 15.150
Reports-
WOMENS VAULT
With Yurchenko 1 1/2 twist and Yurchenko half on piked front off Imogen vaulted to a Silver medal, 13.875. Jennifer Pinches scored 13.337 with the Gold medal won by Ekaterina Kurrbatova of Russia, certainly the most accurate vaulter with Yurchenko 1 1/2 and Yurchenko half on piked front half off, 13.912.
ASYMMETRIC BARS
Liufang Wu of China confirmed her qualifications dominance of the Bars with 6.1 difficulty and 14.75 to take Gold. Jessica Lopez, 13.8 and 13.725 for Lauren Mitchell of Australia were a league behind in difficulty and precision.
BEAM
Lauren Mitchell of Australia found herself in a real battle with Britain’s Hannah Whelan with just 0.175 sending the Gold “down-under”. A great result for Hannah establishing her as a competitor on the World stage.
WOMENS FLOOR
2 British gymnasts in such a quality final was a great inspiration for the audience. Jennifer Pinches held the Bronze medal with 14.15 as World champion Lauren Mitchell made a positive Gold performance. Hannah Whelan finished 5th.
MENS FLOOR
As World Floor Champion Eletherios Kosmidis of Greece bombed, out Alexander Shatilov of Israel won the days first Gold medal with 15.375. For Dan Purvis of Great Britain 14.925 for 5th, not as precise as he can be.
POMMELS
Head to head once again, World Champion Kristian Berki and Louis Smith. Extreme elegance versus extreme difficulty.
For Louis 100% improved form to convince the judges that his outrageous difficulty takes full credit. 15.55 was an awesome target that no other could match. Berki straddled his Wu and 15.3 scored for Silver. An interesting Bronze went to Saso Bertoncelj of Slovenia who just may be the heir apparent to Smith and Berki.
RINGS
Alexsander Balandin was the most convincing in shapes and holds, a pencil thin Maltese with 15.825. He was separated from Junlin Liao’s 15.825 by the complex countback rules using the E jury scores. Theo Seager, 13.7 for 8th; Rings is a very exclusive club.
MENS VAULT
Gold for Gonzales of Chile, he took a big risk with double piked Tsukahara and it was a good decision. For Theo Seager a hard won Silver with Roche and 2 1/2 twist for 15.75. Theo has the tenacity and single-mindedness to keep firing on all cylinders even when there is no petrol in the tank; born to succeed.
PARALLEL BARS
Mitja Petkovsek of Slovenia knocked Dan Purvis off the podium with the last routine of this final. His clarity of technique and elegance were outstanding.
HIGH BAR
Gold to Manjo Moznik of Croatia, whilst the youngest of British stars Ashley Watson enjoyed his first Grand Prix Final.
World Cup winners-
As the final event of the 2010 Grand Prix series the World Cup winners for the year were also announced-
Men’s Floor – Eletherios Kosmidis (GRE)
Pommel – Krisztian Berki (HUN)
Rings – Alexandr Baldandin (RUS)
Men’s Vault – Jeffery Wammes (NED)
Parallel Bars – Mitja Petkovsek (SLO)
High Bar – Mariji Moznik (SLO)
Women’s Vault – Tijana Tkalcec (CRO)
Bars – Liufang Wu (CHN)
Beam – Liufang Wu (CHN)
Floor – Jessica Lopez (VEN) |
F2images Alan Edwards 
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