Larisa Iordache Tops Women's Qualification at Europeans - Giulia Steingruber 9th Place AA - 1st for the VT Final

Competing in the second of two sessions of qualification, the Romanian duo nailed everything but uneven bars, that event that continues to plague the Romanian women's program. Bulimar fell off her Tkatchev for just 12.700 while Iordache fell apart for 12.966. Iordache earned the top spot on balance beam (excellent ff, tucked full and RO, ff, triple twist dismount) and qualified to finals on vault and floor exercise.

The final subdivision saw Russian stars Aliya Mustafina and Ksenia Afanasyeva come out fighting. Both began well on floor exercise, where reigning world champion Afanasyeva earned the highest mark (despite a .3 deduction for landing out of bounds on her 2 1/2, layout front). Both Olympians scored well on double-twisting Yurchenkos vaults in rotation two.

Mustafina, the 2012 Olympic champipn, swung a watered-down routine on uneven bars for 15.025 (6.3 Difficulty score), the highest score on bars. Afanasyeva, one of the few Russians who does not wear grips, crashed her full-twisting double dismount for 12.466. Mustafina, who needed less than 13.000 on balance beam to pass Iordache, instead fell twice for 11.666 to land behind Grishina in the rankings. Afanasyeva managed to stay on beam, but costly wobbles brought her a 13.100 and brought Mustafina sighs of relief as she advanced to the all-around final.

Switzerland's Giulia Steingruber (layout Rudi and Tsukahara full) edged Russia's Maria Paseka (double-twisting Yurchenko and layout Podkopayeva) for first on vault.

18.04.2013, 17:30
 
Ergebnis der Mehrkampf-Qualifikation der Turnerinnen:

1. Iordache (ROU) – 57,198
2. Bulimar (ROU) – 56,132
3. Grishina (RUS) – 56,065
4. Mustafina (RUS) – 56,057
(5. Afanaseva (RUS) – 55,099)
6. Popa (ESP) – 55,065
7. Harrold (GBR) – 54,799
8. Meneghini (ITA) – 54,782
9. Steingruber (SUI) – 54,732
10. Campana (ITA) – 54,299
11. Martins (POR) – 53,099
12. Vargas (ESP) – 53,032
13. Makra (HUN) – 52,699
14. Böczögö (HUN) – 52,732
15. Fellows (GBR) – 52,566
16. Van Klaveren (NED) – 52,065
17. Hill (GER) – 51,965
18. Kaeslin (SUI) – 51,499
19. Sikulova (CZE) – 51,132
20. Vasylieva (UKR) – 50,933
21. Ecker (AUT) – 50,866
22. Gustafsson (SWE) – 50,698
23. Akyol (GER) – 50,499
24. Kysla (UKR) – 50,432
(25. Schulte (SUI) – 50,383)
26. Haemmerle (AUT) – 50,365