FavGymnastics: Romanian Nationals: Larisa Iordache won the all around title, surprising no one

Romanian Nationals take place this weekend in Bucharest, with the (club) team finals and all around happening on Saturday, while the event finals will take place on Sunday.

The results of the first day (from memory):

1) Dinamo (Iordache, Bulimar, Anghelescu)

2) Deva (Ocolisan, Jurca, Iridon, Peng)

3) Constanta (Juravle, Glavan, Stanciu)

And for the AA:

1) Larisa Iordache (60.95)

2) Anamaria Ocolisan

3) Diana Bulimar

4) Laura Jurca

Larisa Iordache won the all around title, surprising no one. After battling injuries for the better part of 2015, upgrades were not possible (although she still tweaked some details), but she looks really strong for the final push in training towards Glasgow. She started on beam, with a stuck back full tuck and and round-off layout. The routine looks glorious as usual and has the same composition, smile after the side somi and great triple full dismount included

. She received a 15.6. On floor she did a watered down routine (Silivas replaced by full in) and she added a pirouette combo (double Y turn to Illusion turn). Her leaps were glorious and everything looked effortless. Her score was 15.15. She received a 15.3 for he DTY (although she had a bounce to the side and slightly crossed ankles). Her bars started out with some form issues (leg separations on low bar work, then improvised a bit on the high bar) but she picked up the pace and hit everything else. She intended the same routine composition as two weeks ago at the friendly against France (14.9 score for a 60.95 total) .

On second place was Anamaria Ocolisan. She had secure routines overall and impressed the most on vault with a dead-centre DTY for which she received a 15.1, and on bars, where she received a 14+ score. She is not perfect in execution but she has a valuable routine that looks secure and Romania will need it, at least in a qualification scenario. On floor she hit a routine with triple twist, 2 1/2 to punch front, double pike and double tuck.

Diana Bulimar had a stellar day. Considering that she’s been training at full capacity for around a month, I see her 3rd place as a huge achievement. She played it safe on beam where she didn’t exactly hit all her planned connection but she fully made up by throwing a superb, very tall double pike dismount (14.75). Had very minor shuffles on her floor passes: DLO, full in, double pike, double tuck. Her endurance was impressive, I was shocked to see that she didn’t looked about to faint at the end, considering that just two weeks ago in the verification against France she did this routine on the tumble track (14.7 today if memory serves well). On vault, she did an FTY, secure, almost stuck. On bars she presented an upgraded routine, with Hindorff and Tkatchev but a simple double tuck dismount. She was said to have had troubles with one of the releases in the days prior but she held it together wonderfully. After the competition Didi also mentioned that she will have her more difficult dismount back in time for Glasgow. What impressed me the most was that she looked far better and happier compared to last spring’s Euros. She now looks motivated, focused and “hungry”.

Laura Jurca looked really polished and mature in her gymnastics beyond her years. She started off with a beautiful floor set (her full in was said to have been better than two weeks ago), she hit her DTY, did a good bars set with only a wobble on the Hindorff release when she caught too close to the bar but otherwise with clean turns and good form ]. Unfortunately she was on her way to an individual medal but her beam jitters took the better part of her and she fell on perhaps the easiest element of her routine (a back tuck). It was a shame because she will be a very important member of the Worlds team and could have used the extra boost of morale a medal could have given her.

Andreea Iridon, who recently had to rest due to a pulled muscle, only competed on two events – bars and beam. Except for a watered down beam dismount, fortunately there were no signs of injury today and she hit both events. She had the most beautiful bars set, hitting her full difficulty (including the Ricna release) on beam I saw a 1 1/2 Y turn and a flick- flick-layout to two feet (the last element was perhaps a bit piked). If she keeps this up, she will definitely be in that Worlds team (she was quoted only as a reserve in the nominative list).

Silvia Zarzu had some form issued that lowered her scores considerably. Floor was her best event where she hit a routine composed of: triple twist, 2 1/2 to punch front, double pike and double tuck. She hit her bars but got a low 12.7 due to execution deduction and landed a DTY (with bent knees though).

Of the two Izvorani juniors competing today, Asiana Peng left a striking impression. She is a gorgeous gymnast with great leaps, good amplitude in her elements and beautiful pointed toes. Considering she was out with an elbow surgery earlier this year, her bars work looked decent (she just needed spotting on dismount). It was a shame that she fell on a tuck full on beam. Andreea Ciurusniuc had a good beam routine, despite some issues on leaps, her difficult routine and wobble-free execution were enough to qualify for the event final.

There were a few absentees as well: Catalina Ponor, out with an injury discovered as recently as last Thursday – she said she felt pain in her leg and upon investigation a hematoma was found indicating a 1st degree muscular tear and that she is still hopeful she will be able to compete at Worlds, but she was really upset for this setback. Andreea Munteanu, the European Beam champ of this spring was said during the TV commentary to have had some motivation issues. Allegedly, she trains infrequently and mostly on beam. While 2014 Euro and Worlds team member, Stefania Stanila is in a similar situation. It’s such a shame because they are very talented gymnasts and Romania really cannot afford to lose anyone at this point.

See Videos Of The Competition

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