Women's British Gymnastics Championships

Tickets go on sale today for the 2011 Women's British Championships.

The event is moving this year from it's usual venue tucked away inside the Guildford Spectrum to Liverpool's Echo Arena, No doubt in a slight nod to 3 of britain's best gymnasts being liverpool's own (Beth Tweddle, Hannah Whelan and Jennifer Pinches).

The event will take place on the 9th and 10th July. Prices are very reasonable at £15 for adults and £10 for children. Tickets and info available here.

The schedule is
Day 1 – Saturday
 
1st Session (Juniors):
Doors open                               10.30
Competition start                       11.30 
 
2nd Session (seniors): Doors open16.00
Competition start                       17.00 
 
Day 2 - Sunday 
 
3rd Session (apparatus finals):
Registration                               09.00
Doors open                               10.00
Competition start                       11.00

Europeans - ready to roll in Berlin

With the World Cup events wrapping up, the first major gymnastics championship of 2011 is set to go next week in Berlin. The event takes a similar format to the 2009 worlds with just 4 competitors from each country (6 in the men's event) and no team competition. There will be individual all around and event finals.

The schedule (abridged) is below
April 4th - Women's podium training
April 5th - Men's podium training
April 6th - Women's qualification (4 subdivisions)
April 7th - Men's qualification (3 subdivisions)
April 8th - Men's and Women's AA final
April 9th and 10th - Event finals

The women's teams from some of the major nations are
Russia - Mustafina, Nabieva, Dementyeva and Belokobylskaya
Romania - Izbasa, Porgras, Chelaru, Racea
GB- Tweddle, Whelan, Pinches, Francis
Youth olympian Carlotta Ferlito will join veteran Vanessa Ferarri on the Italian team. Germans Elizabeth Seitz and the immortal Oksana Chusovitina will challenge in event finals.


The most recent European all-around champion and silver medals (Ksenia Semenova and Afansyeva) will not be there to defend their titles, barring major catastrophe all safe bets will still be on Mustafina (she doesn't after all have a Jordyn Wieber of Viktoria Komova to watch out for here.)

Worlds headed to Moscow!

At last the fate of the World Figure Skating Championships has been decided. The event will take place in Moscow, Russia on April 24- May 1. (ISU)

This I feel is the best result all round as the pressure is take off the people of Japan to host at such a difficult time but all skaters, including the Japanese, have a chance to compete and show unity with their colleagues from around the world.

The event will be hosted in the Megasport Arena, which seats 12,000 people. Moscow was selected out of a choice of 6 cities, the others being Vancouver; Lake Placid, Colorado Springs; Turku, Finland; Graz, Austria; and Zagreb, Croatia.

I wonder how easy it will be for those fans who had planned to make the trip to Tokyo to attend the event in Moscow at a month's notice. Hopefully this event will become memorable for all the right reasons, despite the sad circumstances for it's postponement.

Yesterday it was reported on Twitter that France (the nominated hosts of the 2012 worlds) have offered the chance to host to the Japanese.

Where in the world is Worlds?

The ISU is one step closer to resolving the fate of the world figure skating championships. On Monday the decision was made (with the Japanese Federation) that the Event should be moved from Japan to remove the strain on the country.

The ISU committee has now taken offers from other countries to step up to the plate last minute and host the event. Requirements set out were for an arena of at least 8,000 seats and for the hosts to foot the bill of providing an international TV feed.

The most talked about offer has been from Russia, with Prime Minister Putin saying that the Russian government would cover all the costs of hosting the event in Moscow.

Alongside Russia, other offers include

• Vancouver, Canada
• Colorado Springs/Lake Placid, USA
• Turku, Finland
• France and Austria (unspecified cities)

The ISU will announce it's decision later this week. ISU, Inside The Games

Naturally at this time my thoughts and best wishes go out to all the people in Japan struggling to pick up their lives and to everyone anywhere in the world waiting for news of loved ones lost.

Gymnastics, Gymnastics and more Gymnastics!

You wait for a major gymnastics international and three come along at once! In the buildup to Europeans early next month, many gymnasts are making final tweaks to their routines and seeing how they measure up to the competition. Gymnasts are competing today in France, Italy and Germany.

World Cup, Paris

The third world cup competition is underway in Bercy. An individual event competition with only 4 gymnasts making each event final, there is no room for error.
Big names include Aliya Mustafina, Tatiana Nabieva, Lauren Mitchell and many others.
Gymnastics Examiner is live blogging from the event.

Trofeo di Jesolo, Italy

It may not be a world cup, but this is a big stakes event, being a team face-off between the USA and the Russians! While Russia have sent their big names to Paris though, USA has sent a full strength team including Jordyn Wieber and Alexandra Raisman, fresh from the American cup. Sadly the Japanese team couldn't make it to the event in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Official website (Italian)

SENIOR RESULTS - USA Dominates. New senior McKayla Maroney scored a massive 9.5 execution on her amanar vault to take the highest score of the day.

5-way competition, Chemnitz, Germany

For many teams this is the final trial to earn a ticket to Europeans.  GYMmedia

ESP - Claudia Menéndez, Beatriz Cuesta, Claudia Vila, Toya Rojas, Ainoa Carmona and Elena Zaldivar
GBR - Danusia Francis, Jessica Hogg, Jocelyn Hunt, Charlotte Lindsley, Jennifer Pinches and Rebecca Wing
GER - Oksana Chusovitina, Kim Bui, Pia Tolle, Giulia Hindermann, Nadine Jarosch, Lisa-Katharina Hill
SUI - Jessica Diacci, Julia Steingruber, Linda Staempfli, Nadia Baeriswil, Sarina Gerber and Jennifer Senn
NED - Celine Gerner, Joy Goedkoop, Yvette Moshage and Naoual Ouazanni Chahdi

RESULTS

1. Germany (211.00)
2. Spain (208.95)
3. Great Britain (205.30)
4. Switzerland (203.20)

All Around winner Celine Van Gerner (Netherlands)

Also check out Gymnastics Examiner, the Couch Gymnast and GymNiceTic.

Oh, and if that wasn't enough- in US college gymnastics the NCAA conference championships take place tonight.

Paris World Cup - Event Final Qualifiers

Women's vault qualifiers:
1. Tatiana Nabieva 2. Aliya Mustafina
3. Diana Chelaru 4. Jennifer Khwela

Women's bars qualifiers:
1. Aliya Mustafina 2. Huang Qiushuang
3. Elisabeth Seitz 4. Tatiana Nabieva

Women's beam qualifiers:
1. Aliya Mustafina 2. Ana Porgras
3. Anna Dementyeva 4. Lauren Mitchell

Women's floor qualifiers:
1. Sandra Izbasa 2. Diana Chelaru
3. Vanessa Ferrari 4. Anna Dementyeva

Men's floor finals qualifiers:
1. Tomas Gonzalez 2. Gael da Silva
3. Thomas Bouhail 4. Flavius Koczi

Men's pommel horse qualifiers:
1. Prashanth Sellathurai 2. Louis Smith
3. Saso Bertonclej 4. Cyril Tommasone

Men's rings qualifiers:
1. Chen Yibing 2. Koji Yamamuro
3. Konstantin Pluzhnikov 4. Alexander Balandin

Men's vault qualifiers:
1. Dmitri Kaspiarovich 2. Tomas Gonzalez
3. Theo Seager 4. Luis Rivera

Men's parallel bars qualifiers:
1. Feng Zhe2. Mitja Petkovsek
3. Epke Zonderland 4. Roman Kulesza

Men's high bar qualifiers:
1. Danell Leyva 2. Epke Zonderland
3. Marijo Moznik 4. Jeffrey Wammes.

California skaters plan benefit for Japan

A number of figure skaters from southern California will be appearing in a special benefit show to aid the relief effort in Japan.

The Skaters Care gala will take place April 3 in Ontario, California (East of LA). Proceeds will go to the American Red Cross tsunami relief fund. Click here to go to the official website.

The list of skaters so far includes

• Derrick Delmore
• Lindsay Davis and Themi Leftheris
• Courtney Hicks
• Ellie Kawamura
• Vanessa Lam
• Bebe Liang and Braden Overett
• Parker Pennington
• Sean Rabbitt
• Douglas Razzano
• Caroline Zhang
• Ice'Kateers Senior Team
• Los Angeles Theater on Ice

Expect to see more over the coming days. 

The ISU is expected to announce the fate of the world championships on Monday. Russia has offered to host the event later this spring in Moscow. Many feel this would be preferable to putting the event off until October and expecting the Japanese to still act as hosts.

Worlds Update

Apologies for the lack of posts, being a full time medical student can often get in the way of blogging.

The ISU decided Monday to postpone the World Championshis until further notice. There is much debate and no firm decisions yet on what the final outcome will be.

The ISU has 3 choices

• To cancel the event outright - this removes the pressure from a distressed Japan but also denies huge numbers of skaters the chance to compete at Worlds (for some this may be their only chance)
• To postpone the event - The infrastructure is still in place but the people of Tokyo have more on their plate at the moment. Plus this adds pressure to skaters to stay in top form for longer, there is only so long the event can be put off for. There has been some mention of hosting the event in October (this would be close to the Gymnastics worlds, which are also slated to take place in Tokyo.
• To move the event elsewhere, there have been offers from several countries (reportedly the US, Italy and South Korea) The ISU hasn't seemed so keen on this idea so far, and the logistics of arranging an event like worlds at short notice are huge.

Whatever the decision is, it should be made sooner rather than later.

Also in skating news, Italians Faiella & Scali have announced their retirement after a season full of injuries. They are long-time rivals of Brits Sinead and John Kerr who had withdrawn from worlds with Sinead's persistent shoulder problems, but with the event postponed, the door could be slightly open.

Pressure on ISU to cancel world championships.

The International Skating Union and the Japan Skating Federation have been faced with a tough decision in the days since the natural disasters hit Japan. The World Figure Skating Championships were due to start next week in Tokyo. Whilst no damage to the competition venue itself have been reported, there has been growing pressure from skaters, federations and fans to move, postpone or cancel the event.

The ISU recently released this statement, promising a final decision by Monday morning (European time). The German Skating Federation has withdrawn its entire team to add pressure to the federations and other countries may follow suit.

My opinion is that the event should be called off but that a separate charity event to raise money for the relief fund should be held elsewhere as soon as possible. 

Understandably this will mean significant costs to the federations, but would be an ideal way to show support to a country in distress.

Skaters worldwide have also been spreading support via twitter. Special wishes go out to Fumie Suguri who's grandfather died yesterday morning and to Mirai Nagasu who has been waiting anxiously to hear news of her Japanese grandparents. 

Dube & Davison end partnership.

Three-time Canadian pairs champions Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison are ending their partnership.

The 2008 world bronze medallists announced their decision Thursday, nearly five months after Davison underwent season-ending knee surgery.Dube, 23, skated singles this season after the 25-year-old Davison had surgery on Oct. 26 to replace a broken bone chip in his knee, the result of a joint disorder called osteochondritis dissecans.

Dube, from St-Cyrille-de-Wendover, Que., and Davison, from Huntsville, Ont., who were sixth at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, plan to remain involved in the sport.
They scheduled a conference call for later Thursday to discuss their decision.

(From TSN)

Many bloggers saw this coming, it will be interesting to see how soon they return to pairs skating and with who (if at all......) That said, I will miss this pair and particularly the romance of their 'blower's daughter' routine from '08.

Cottbus - Tournament of Masters

The second event of the World Cup season takes place this weekend in Germany.

Despite the withdrawal of the Romanian ladies, the field is still pretty packed. (Full entries)

Faces to look for
Youth Olympic competitiors Tan Sixin, Natsumi Sasada and others making their senior debuts
Germany's Elizabeth Seitz, Kim Bui and Oksana Chusovitina
Newly crowned russian floor champ Yulia Belokobylskaya (bidding to earn a place on the Russian team for Euros)
Former Russian- Now Uzbekistani Darya Elizarova

Event Website (translated)

GB gymnasts - home and away

Great Britain's gymnasts did not have a happy outing at yesterday's American cup, Sam Hunter and Dan Purvis finished 7th and 8th in the men's event and Hannah Whelan fell on bars and beam to finish 8th among the small field of ladies.

Was it a question of jetlag (The English Championships were just last week) or pressure?

Meanwhile the GB ladies back at home had a better time of it- beating Australia in a friendly event with Jennifer Pinches and Danusia Frances finishing first and second all-around ahead of Australia's Georgia Wheeler who was 3rd. Beth Tweddle debuted a new harder bars dismount too.

If I were to stick my neck out now and predict the Ladies team for Europeans my bet would be on
Tweddle, Whelan, Pinches and Frances, with most likely Pinches and Whelan going All Aroun.

But the American Cup shows that they need to work on handling the pressure in high profile events before the Olympics come to town.

Wieber edges Mustafina for the American Cup

Neither was perfect, Wieber fell on bars and Mustafina stumbled on floor- it came down to hundreths of points. Mustafina looked severely displeased that alternate Wieber was allowed to compete at all and then came back to beat her to a title she just about owned. Jonathan Horton of the US won the men'e event by an equally slim margin.

That's one not unhappy Diva....
(Results)

Sotnikova is junior world champion

And expect her to give the seniors a run for their money next year- the tiny teen has capped off an undefeated season.

Also interestingly - the 6 skaters I profiled in Bright Young Things held their nerve and finished the top 6 at the end of the competition :-)

1	Adelina SOTNIKOVA	RUS	174.96	1	1
2	Elizaveta TUKTAMISHEVA	RUS	169.11	2	2
3	Agnes ZAWADZKI	USA	161.07	5	3
4	Christina GAO	USA	155.27	3	6
5	Risa SHOJI	JPN	151.27	7	5
6	Courtney HICKS	USA	150.92	10	4
7	Polina SHELEPEN	RUS	149.93	4	8
8	Miyabi OBA	JPN	148.62	6	7
9	Zijun LI	CHN	139.81	8	10
10	Ira VANNUT	BEL	133.51	18	9
11	Yretha SILETE	FRA	128.60	9	11
12	Yuki NISHINO	JPN	121.14	11	15

Weekend Winners

Figure Skating Junior Worlds: (Results)

Ladies: Elizaveta Tuktamisheva (RUS,2nd), Adelina Sotnikova (RUS,1st), Agnes Zawadski (USA,3rd)

 Mens: Keiji Tanaka (Japan, 2nd), Andrei Rogozine (Canada, 1st),  Alexander Majorov (Sweden, 3rd)

Dance: Pushkash/Guerriero (RUS,2nd), Monko/Khaliavin (RUS,1st), Lichtman/Copley (USA,3rd)

Gymnastics: Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup (Results)

Rachel Spicer (3rd), Grace Williams (1st), Amelia Hundley (2nd) and Nastia

American Cup Champions Jonathan Horton & Jordyn Wieber

Sizing up the competition: American Cup

USA Gymnastics has posted photos from today's podium training at the American Cup in Florida. World Champ Aliya Mustafina left the arena without giving any interviews to the media. She was reportedly annoyed at her training. According to the Gymnastics Examiner she looked generally good but had trouble on her piked jaeger release on bars. When you're Mustafina, mistakes just won't do.

New American senior Jordyn Wieber (added to the lineup after Brit Nicole Hibbert got injured at the English championships) and world team member Aly Raisman looked strong and focused and ready to challenge a strong international field.

The competition on Saturday is preceded tomorrow by the Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup, which includes a field of 'newcomers'......including 2009 world vault champion Kayla Williams.

Sui & Han win second World Jr title.

The Talented chinese pair made a splash on the senior scene this year, although in the wake of the recent age scandal surrounding the ages of chinese skaters, this is likely to be the highest honour they will take this season. If the reports are true, Wenjing Sui was not age eligible to compete at last years junior worlds or senior grand prix season.

That said, the pair dominated here, winning gold by a clear 8 points. Bronze medallists Takahashi & Tran will have to quickly pack their bags and get back on the ice. They compete at the senior world championships in their home country in 2 weeks time.

Top Ten in Pairs (for full results click here)

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Wenjing SUI / Cong HAN	CHN	167.01	1	1
2	Ksenia STOLBOVA / Fedor KLIMOV	RUS	159.60	3	2
3	Narumi TAKAHASHI / Mervin TRAN	JPN	154.52	2	3
4	Ashley CAIN / Joshua REAGAN	USA	135.40	8	4
5	Natasha PURICH / Raymond SCHULTZ	CAN	129.97	4	6
6	Brittany JONES / Kurtis GASKELL	CAN	129.28	7	5
7	Kristina ASTAKHOVA / Nikita BOCHKOV	RUS	118.75	5	11
8	Klara KADLECOVA / Petr BIDAR	CZE	117.24	9	9
9	Cassie ANDREWS / Timothy LEDUC	USA	117.11	11	7
10	Carolina GILLESPIE / Luca DEMATTE	ITA	116.44	12	8