Greek gymnasts picked up two titles on Saturday in the first day of finals at the Ljubljana World Challenge Cup in Slovenia.
2010 world champion Eleftherios Kosmidis claimed the floor exercise gold medal with tumbling runs of 1 1/2, punch double front; tucked double-double; double-twisting front to barani, 2 1/2 to punch front full; layout Thomas; tucked full-in.
Teammate Eleftherios Petrounias won the still rings gold with the high score of the day (15.650/6.9 Difficulty), taking the title by nearly a full point. The victory is his third FIG World Cup victory this year after gold medals in Cottbus and La Roche-Sur-Yon in March.
Slovenia’s Sašo Bertoncelj won a strong pommel horse final, with seven out of eight gymnasts hitting.
American Alex Naddour was the most successful gymnast of the day, with medals in all three men’s finals. Naddour, an alternate to the U.S. Olympic team in 2012, was second on floor and third on pommel horse and still rings.
Canada’s Ellie Black, who led three events in Friday’s qualification, won the women’s vault title. South Africa’s Kirsten Beckett won the silver over Vietnam’s Phan Thi Ha Thanh, who crashed her layout Rudi second vault.
On uneven bars, two-time Czech Olympian Kristýna Pálešová (Stalder-blind to Jaeger; bail, Stalder-full to Stalder shoot to high; Tkatchev; double layout) earned a narrow victory over Hungary’s Noémi Makra, 13.850-13.825. Makra, a first-year senior, impressed with beautiful body line (Maloney; high Jaeger; toe-on, toe-on Tkatchev; double layout).
Competition concludes Sunday with the remaining finals.
(source: intlgymnast)
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