Romania leads after error-filled qualification for Russians

Following training many concluded the team gold at the European championships would be decided between Russian brilliance and Romanian consistency. In the qualification in Brussels it seems consistency won the day.

Russia began with tentative perfomances on beam, and followed up with a disaster on floor, with their 3 competitors: Grishina, Mustafina and Sidorova all taking falls. They finished off stronger with the top 3 scores on bars after the first subdivision.

Romania have taken a commanding lead with strong performances on beam and floor and respectable scored on their weakest piece, bars. Sandra Izbasa appears to be limiting herself to defending her vault title here, leading the qualification so far. There is no all-around final in the senior competition here, but the unofficial all-around gold would go clearly to Larisa Iordache, with a world-class score of 60.132.

Italy currently stands in 3rd in the team standings following strong bars and floor performances from Vanessa Ferrarri

Subdivision 2 includes Great Britain, Belgium and France
Subdivision 3 includes Spain and Ukraine
Subdivision 4 includes Germany and Sweden

Intermediate results after subdivision 1
Team
1. Romania (177.472)
2. Russia (172.562)
3. Italy (168.005)
4. Poland (155.097)

All Around
1. Larisa Iordache, Romainia (60.132)
2. Anastasia Grishina, Russia (57.799)
3. Erika Fasana, Italy (55.531)
4. Marta Pihan-Kleza (55.232)

Vault
1. Sandra Izbasa, Romania (14.900)
2. Anastasia Grishina, Russia (14.266)
3. Erika Fasana, Italy (14.199)
4. Maria Paeska, Russia (14.149)

Bars
1. Victoria Komova, Russia (15.508)
2. Anastasia Grishina, Russia (15.333)
3. Aliya Mustafina, Russia (14.533) - so no bar final for Mustafina!
4. Larisa Iordache, Romania (14.266)
5. Vanessa Ferrari, Italy (14.233)

Beam
1. Larisa Iordache, Romania (15.733)
2. Catalina Ponor, Romania (15.633)
3. Victoria Komova, Russia (14.916)
4. Diana Bulimar, Romania (14.900)
5. Anastasia Grishina, Russia (14.833)
6. Carlotta Ferlito, Italy (14.466)

Floor
1. Larisa Iordache, Romania (15.133)
2. Catalina Ponor, Romania (14.800)
3. Vanessa Ferrari, Italy (14.600)
4. Diana Bulimar, Romania (14.200)
5. Marta Pihan-Kulesza, Poland (13.833)
6. Carlotta Ferlito, Italy (13.700)

Poor Bulimar misses out on 2 finals as the 3rd Romanian, hopefully this won't affect her chances for olympic selection. She will have more chance to showcase her skills in the team final on Saturday

Results will be updated later today. 3 of the big team players have stated their intentions early in the competition...