Meadowside International

[Jonathan]

Hello,

Over the weekend took place the Meadowside International in Burton upon trent, GBR

Here are the results:

Team

Rank
Team
Score

1
Russia
180.175

2
GreatBritain
174.800
3
Malaysia
152.300

4
Estonia
147.875

5
Finland
140.000

6
Austria
137.600


Senior AA:

1
10
Hannah Mckibbin
23.85
24.05
25.45
24.6
97.95

2
1
Zarina Mukhitdinova
22.3
21.7
23.85
23.4
91.25

3
9
Foong Seow Ting
21.15
20.95
21.55
20.05
83.7

4
2
Hannah Walker
19.7
19.2
19.7
19.15
77.75

5
4
Heather Mann
18.45
19.55
20.6
18.75
77.35

6
7
Anna Jadrova
19.35
18.7
19.9
17.95
75.9

7
6
Elaine Kibble
16.75
18.15
20.55
18.75
74.2

8
5
Lisa Stampfl
17.15
18.1
18.9
16.8
70.95

9
8
Rachel Ennis
17.65
17.9
19.7
15.7
70.95

10
3
Suvi Lax
15.55
17.15
19.4
18
70.1


JUNIORS

Rank
No
Competitor Name
Clubs
Ribbon
Rope
Ball
Score

1
17
Elena Isaenkova
23.05
21.45
22.625
21.8
88.925

2
19
Johana Gabor
20.3
20.75
18.55
18.55
78.15

3
14
Hannah Chappell
20.05
19.2
17.7
19.9
76.85

4
12
Francesca Jones
16.4
17.35
19.15
19.35
72.25

5
16
Jelena Popova
18.275
17.15
17.85
18.7
71.975

6
11
Paulina Raatikainen
17.7
17.8
16.6
17.8
69.9

7
15
Cheong Su Er
17.4
17.15
16.45
17.65
68.65

8
18
Monika Mickova
17.5
17.6
16
16.7
67.8

9
13
Sabrina Pilhatsch
16.5
15.95
17.2
17
66.65


TEAM

Rank
Team
Score

1
Russia
180.175

2
GreatBritain
174.800
3
Malaysia
152.300

4
Estonia
147.875

5
Finland
140.000

6
Austria
137.600

I saw the Team and AA event yesterday with Nikki, and it was Very interesting!! If people are interested I can write impressions, post some videos and add Event Final scores and results.
_________________
Jon

[Celia]

Of course we are interested!!
_________________
CeLiA,
"Carpe diem"

[Brazilian Gymnast]

I’m interest too!

[flexygirl]

I am interested

[Escalina]

Medals of tournament of Burton-upon-Trent

Russia - 6 Gold, 2 Silver
GBR - 2 Gold , 5 Silver, 1 Bronze
Malaysia- 1 Silver, 3 Bronze
Germany- 1 Silver, 3 Bronze

FINAL RESULTS SENIORS
1 Hannah Mckibbin 97.95
2 Zarina Mukhitdinov 91.25
3 Foong Seow Ting 83.7
4 Hannah Walker 77.75
5 Heather Mann 77,35
7 Anna Jadrova 75.9
7 Elaine Kibble 74.2
8 Lisa Stampfl 70.95
9 Rachel Ennis 70.95
10 Suvi Lax 70.1

JUNIORS
1 Elena Isaenkova 88.925
2 Johana Gabor 78.15
3 Hannah Chappell 76.85
4 Francesca Jones 72.25
5 Jelena Popova 71.975
6 Paulina Raatikainen 69,9
7 Cheong Su Er 68.65
8 Monika Mickova 67.8
9 Sabrina Pilhatsch 66.65

TEAM
1 Russia 180.175
2 GreatBritain 174.800
3 Malaysia 152.300
4 Estonia 147.875
5 Finland 140.000
6 Austria 137.600

APPARATUS FINALS SENIORS
Zarina Mukhitdinov (RUS)
24.775 1. 25.000 1. 23.325 2. 21.375 1.
Hannah Mckibbin (GBR)
24.250 2. 24.600 2. 24.525 1. 20.600 2
Foong Seow Ting (MAS)
23.950 3. 23.300 3. 21.150 3. 20.600 2
Hannah Walker (GBR)
21.150 22.200 22.025 18.750
Rachel Ennis (GBR)
21.000 18.425 20.775 18.350
Suvi Lax (FIN)
18.550 20.850 18.700 17.425
Elaine Kibble (GBR)
18.100 21.275 19.375 18.325
Anna Jadrova (EST)
19.500 19.850 19.100 16.350
Heather Mann (GBR)
18.450 18.750 17.250 18.200
Lisa Stampfl (AUT)
18.050 17.950 18.750 16.100

APPARATUS FINALS JUNIORS
Elena Isaenkova (RUS)
21.600 1. 20.625 2. 23.150 1. 23.550 1.
Hannah Chappell (GBR)
20.175 3. 20.725 1. 20.050 2. 20.850 2.
Johana Gabor (GER)
20.250 2. 18.575 . 19.100 3. 21.200 3.
Francesca Jones (GBR)
18.475 18.825 3. 18.450 19.100
Cheong Su Er (MAS)
18.725 16.950 19.300 19.250
Paulina Raatikaine(FIN)
18.150 17.175 17.600 18.475
Sabrina Pilhatsch (AUT)
18.100 16.800 16.825 18.000
Jelena Popova (EST)
17.400 16.200
Monika Mickova (CZE)
16.225 16.250

[Hana]

Videos and Pictures please Jon!! There is a little picture of us on BG and I was all oooooo look its me looking dumb.

Hannah McKibbin was AMAZING, she needs to win one more trial and yay olympics for her... she realy deserves it

H xx
_________________
*Rhythmic*

[Anna Kull]

It would be verry nice to have some videos!!! Especially the RUssians as we don't see those girls regulary and Malaysians. Could someone please tell me if Hanna Mc K. kept her ball and clubs routine?

[Hana]

Clubs yes (same as at worlds) Ball no. Her new ball is so good... its a simmilar (ish) style to her clubs and I think it really suits her. But saying that her old ball will always be my fave routine ever!
H xx
_________________
*Rhythmic*

[NikkiNoo]

ok here are some impressions (I will do the Seniors and leave the Juniors up to Jon, as that was the deal, although I think he gets to talk about the best ones really). I only went to the Sat urday AA session so that is all I can talk about here.

At the start there was a lovely display from Rhythmic South, really enjoyed their performance. Then there was two gymnasts with mental or physical disabilities. They were just great, especially the second one who performed a rope routine and she only can see out of the top 1/4 of her eyes!!

The March Out of gymnasts is always interesting to see from the way that they present themselves. Many to me did not look like gymnasts in that they just appeared to be going for a stroll in the park, not about to compete.

Now onto the competition.

The Seniors apparatus rotations were as follows - hoop, ball, clubs & ribbon.

First I will start with Elaine Kibble who had a nice routine but finished without one of the clubs. Elaine did not really impress me greatly overall, technically she is pretty good, but like all the other british seniors (except Hannah McKibbin) they lack 'presence' on the floor. I understand that she like Hannah McK has just been overcoming an injury so this could explain some things. She has a nice elbow promenade in her ball routine but she has 'dark music', had very balletic movements and a hot pink leotard (combined this just didn't add up to me as the right choices).

Elaine was followed by Anna Jadrova of Estonia, Anna was very nice but had too many little mistakes to challenge for medals. She would have finished further up if not for these. She also finished after the music in her ball routine. Her leotards all had skirts and she looked like she was doing irish dancing in their style.

Rachel Ennis had the start and finish of Bessanova's clubs routine from last year, (as well as alot of the other moves from that routine, although she didn't have the same music) I think her leotard for clubs was illegal, as I understand it. She had one that looked very like the egyptian display routine leotard of Gizikova (where she uses a ball and a ribbon). Rachel also had a drop and a fall in her ball routine which did not help her overall score.

Now was an impressive gymnast from Malaysia - Foong Seow Ting, who well deserved her third place. She had great technical moves, some drops in her routines unfortunately which cost her a higher placing (I would have ranked her higher than Zarina Mukhitdinov if she was able to have clean routines). Her routines were interesting in the style of the great asian gymnasts of the moment, funky routines really especially her ball. (I am very partial to Zhong Ling so hence my liking of the Malaysians )

After Foong was the real 'treat of the meet' Hannah McKibbin. I can honestly say that she very well deserved her 1st place. She is tall, elegant, able to interpret the music beatifully, has fabulous presence on the floor and made only some small mistakes which she tried to hide quite well. By this I mean that she never one lost her feeling thoughout her routines if there was a mistake and picked up the apparatus and went on her way with the rest of the routine, this is a great ability to have that can not be taught. She unfortunately did not have a great start as she finished her hoop routine without her hoop, but the rest of the routines were fabulous. As Hana has said she has changed her ball, but it is still great. Her abilities in the ribbon really showed up the lack of skills in the other gymnasts (except for Suvi Lax who also had great patterns). Her leotards have been glittered up a little bit, but they still maintain great elegance.

Zarina Mukhitdinov - Jon and I had a great guessing game with both russians of who has used their music and worn the leotards before. She was nice, good technical skills but was not outstanding. I preferred Elena Isaenkova (the rus junior) as a better gymnast (especially her quadruple pivots in penchee where she looked as if she was an iceskater such was her smoothness in pivoting. Although her heel was raised only a couple of centimetres off the floor!) Zarina had nice routines and some good little tricks, but most had been seen before being done by other gymnasts.

Hannah Walker I was looking forward to seeing after I watched her hoop from Worlds last year. I was disappointed in the reality of her. She has nice skills and good apparatus tricks but overall her routines in their music are too slow for her. She has lovely arm and body movements in time with the music to show some feeling and choreography but she does them too quickly. I think it would benefit her if she had some music with a slightly faster beat to it. She also annoyed me from the start by using music from Gladiator and persisted in smiling throughout the routine. But she was not the only gymnast who did this to Gladiator music at the Competition. It was amazing how many gymnasts did not have original music. Hannah W's clubs routines was the best of her four routines but she is not up to Hannah McK's level. She was also very heavy in her landings which showed up quite a bit on the floor.

Suvi Lax from Finland has to be one of the most beautiful people on the planet! Absolutly stunning in looks and was a nice gymnast with nice routines but not high enough Technical Value in her skills which explains where she finished. Her apparatus skill though was quite outstanding, especially her ribbon which was very clean and excellent pattern work.

Heather Mann was ok but has not really left an impression on me at all, except she has lovely long legs . I understand that she has only been doing RG for 4 years so it was a great achievement to get to this level. Although she had some strange music for ball, starts as egyptian and then segways into spanish - weird.

And lastly was Lisa Stampfl from Austria who was very nice too with slightly better technical level but had a few too many mistakes and looked too worried on the floor. Some of these mistakes were not her fault, anyone would be put off if at the start of your routine you could hear a coach behind the curtain yelling at a gymnast (it was distracting for the audience as well). Plus Lisa does the moonwalk in her clubs routine!

So that is all of the seniors, it's now up to Jon to tell you about the Juniors but here is a little bit from me as they were good - Johanna Gabor really reminded me of a little Evgenia Pavlina, especially in her ball routine which was one of the best choreographed routines, the little malaysian Cheong Su Er and Monika Mickova were great to watch but had too many mistakes in their routines. But the best part was watching the expressions of the Rus Junior Elena during presentations. She really wasn't happy that her teammate didn't win the AA! and when given a present for winning herself she was very bemused by what was in the box, even shaking it and listening to the noise it made as she walked back to the (it was explained in english what her and Hannah McKibbin was being given but she obviously couldn't understand. Both Russian girls also had a giggle as their anthem was cut short (I think it is very long anthem to begin with and the competition did run over time by 2 hours! ) But the best expression was Elena practising 'winking' with her mouth - by this she would squeeze one side and then the other in a fast movement (it's hard to explain but was very funny watching as she was having a photo taken at the time.

all from me for now and remember that this is just my opinion
_________________
NikkiNoo

el canguro español

[Hana]

Nikki, im glad you enjoyed our display, that was the 1st time we had all done it together and luckly we pulled it off.... just.
I was also ammused at the whole present thing and the russian gymnast was so cute, I think even Hannah looked slightly confused.
Hannah deserved her 1st place and I think if all the others had performed with no little mistakes, she still would have been way out in front, almost untouchable.
Elaine has had a bad shoulder since British champs in december and she is slowly regaining full use of it as well as full flexibility so a big for her. Considering Ela and Heather have only been seniors for 4 months, I think they did great and with a few lessons from Hannah McK in expression and elegance they will be well on their way.

H xxx
_________________
*Rhythmic*

[Jonathan]

Ok, I think its my turn to comment on the juniors!

On a whole, I think the juniors were more impressive than the seniors (perhaps the countries didn't send their top senior gymnasts, as there was 5 international competitions going on over the world at the same weekend!)

Sabrina Pilhatsch is a nice gymnast, she is stong and has very good back flexibility, she lacks expression on the floor area (I noticed she looks at the floor when performing) she wore one of Caroline Weber's old leotards for ribbon and has nicely presented routines. She performed quite cleanly but sometimes is a bit untidy with the feet, and in her clubs routine she had a drop.

Monika Mickova from Czech Republic is like a Dominika Cervenkova clone! She started ball with her hoop starting position and leotard. She has a good body for RG, tall and lean and I think she could be a good gymnast of the future. She was one of the few to have a good personality on the floor area. She has very good basic technique, especially with the apparatus. She seems to always do specific skills very accurately with them, especially clubs.

Jelena Popova first performed with clubs for Estonia, like the senior girl, her leotards were pretty horrible, but she is really a very promising gymnast! She has very good strength on balances, and performed cleanly. She sometimes has difficulty in keeping cominations clean (i.e she broke alot) but she is flexible, but doesn't overdo it. I'd like to see a bit more care made in her music choices, I think they didn't really suit her style.

Paulina Raatikainen, was for me less impressive than Suvi Lax, not so typically Finnish and had some odd music choices that she didn't express (she always had a semi-smile on her face). For example, for her ribbon music she chose the theme tune of a british programme about a Casualty department of a hospital (well, she didn't choose it for that, but thats how british people know this music) and the audience seemed to give a bit of a giggle at this. She has a nice balance ability, but alot of her balances were supported and I'd like to see her build the difficulty of her routines, maybe at this stage of her carear playing safe with the apparatus is a good thing to do, I'm not sure.

For Germany came Joanna Gabor, what a dynamo! She has a real strong presence on the area, and she is sooo tiny (during the final routines of the competition Nikki pointed out to me that she was sitting next to Hannah McKibbin and she looked so small compared to her!) She's certainly a Krylenko student, great style and music choices (although in her gladiator routine she smiled throught it and used pink clubs). Her fouettes are a nightmare though, but I just love the way she isn't scared to throw herself around the floor area, she is a young Pavlina (with the same hear aswell). Her rope routine was probably her worst routine, but still far superior to some of the other gymnasts we saw.

For Malaysia same Cheong Zu Er, she is an interesting gymnast but not the presence as Foong Seow Ting. She didn't really use original music and isn't very experssive. But she is fine technically and did some interesting things with the apparatus (came onto the floor area with her rope wraped around her bun!). Just before her final routine, her coach was shouting at her (she is Russian) and as there was only a curtain seperating the competition floor from the training floor, everyone could hear it (including Sabrina Pilhatsch who was performing ribbon) it was really offputting for her and a bit awkward for everyone, as everyone could hear it! Well, Cheong came onto the floor area and looked as if she was just about to burst into tears, it wasn't very nice.

For me, with Russia came the highlight of the junior competition - Elena Isaenkova. She is technically wonderful, but above all she FEELS THE MUSIC. Although like Zarina Mukhitdinova, she has regurgitated music form past Russians. For rope - Belova's old rope music. For ball - Tchachina's 1999 rope music. For Clubs - Alina's/Aliya's/Golubenko's old clubs music. For ribbon - maybe an original! her ribbon routine was stunning, although she had a small tangle, which was corrected immediatly the impression of that routine was wonderful, and it was surely great to have the priviledge to see it live (I will post is, honest). Her penché turn is her speciality, in her clubs routine she did it 4 and 1/2 times and the crowed gasped and applauded. I especially liked Isaenkova because she demonstrated more of a true Russian RG style, like Rosliakova, Beslova, Kostina etc... which is refreshing to see from someone who trains in Viner's centre.

Representing Great Britain, there were 2 junior gymnasts : Hannah Chappell and Francesa Jones. Hannah is from Coventry, the same club as Hannah Walker. She is very flexible and has very nice body technique, but lacked something for me. She doesn't have the sparkle of Hannah McKibbin and made some silly errors like dropping both clubs in her clubs exercise. She has beautiful leaps, and good apparatus handling especially in clubs (although rope is a big shoddy). I think she needs to think about her ball music, she's had it since 2002 and its not very dynamic (and the routine has a pretty ugly beginning). Also, she took a nasty fall during her rope routine, I think hurting herself, and went out of the floor area. Francesca Jones, from Northampton is less acomplished than Hannah Chappell but is still a good gymnast. She's flexible and strong and has good body technique in general. She doesn't have much sparkle on the floor area, but I think that could come in the future.

Overall, it was a very nice competition. For me the highlights were: Hannah McKibbin... REALLY she is such a star. She is so expressive and able to carry off skills with such ease. Isaenkova was very very impressive too, I'm looking forward to seeing her. Suvi Lax is beautiful and so typically Finnish. And it was really nice to see Rhythmic South doing that very intriguing display.

Well, thats all I can remember (I'll try hard to post a few vidoes).
_________________
Jon

[Anna Kull]

Thank's to Nikki anf Jon for your reports!!!!!!!

[True Fan]

Thanks for the reports!

[Escalina]

Thanks for your impressions!

[Hana]

hey.... another person who likes our routine! Thanks Jon.
Paulina Raatikainen and her ribbon music, we had a giggle too followed by the comment form one of our U8 gymnasts of " why doesnt she have a nurses leotard! " You couldnt help but laugh at the little ones cute comments, ta for the impressions... you sumed the day up very well
H xx
_________________
*Rhythmic*