Élite Gym Massilia - Open Competition: 7th place for Team Belgium

From Friday to Sunday, Marseille is hosting the Élite Gym Massilia! This competition gathers Juniors and Seniors gymnasts from all around the World. Today, it was the Open Competition! Three Belgian gymnasts competed. 

Credit: elite-gym-massilia.com

For years, the Élite Gym Massilia is one of the most important international competitions and it is also a good springboard, especially for young Juniors, that get to compete against teams from Canada, Romania, Italy or Russia!

The Belgian junior team had some badluck in Marseille. Two of its gymnasts had to withdraw: Vanina Vallée (Club Boussu Gym), at the beginning of the week, and then Oriane Jungers (RASG Jemelle), who got injured during training. Those injuries are not too serious but the coaches and gymnasts didn't want to take any risk. 

In this Open Competition, Belgium was thus represented by Chloé Leblicq (La Nivelloise), Maellyse Brassart (Gym Phénix) and Myrthe Potoms (Gymflex vzw). And with only three gymnasts, the team couldn't make mistakes as all the scores counted. 

They started on vault, with good performances, as Chloé gets 13.200, Myrthe scores 13.000, and Maellyse gets the highest score of the team with 14.000! Things became a bit more complicated on the uneven bars. Unfortunately, Chloé only gets 8.667 after two falls. Maellyse also falls (11.400), as does Myrthe (11.500).

Credit: Élite Gym Massilia Facebook

On beam, Myrthe gets the highest score of the team, with 13.567. With one fall, Maellyse gets 12.333. Chloé scores 10 (two falls). They finish on floor exercise. It is Maellyse who gets the best score for Team Belgium (12.967), ahead of Myrthe (12.7) and Chloé (12.033).

Maellyse, Chloé and Myrthe placed 7ème as a team. France dominates this team competition.

1. France Open 1 163.200

2. France Open Junior 160.400

3. France Open 2 157.100

...

7. Belgium 145.400

The three French teams qualify for the Master Competition. They will compete again tomorrow against teams from Belgium, France, Italy, Russia and Romania.

Individually, France also shone. Juliette Bossu finishes in 1st place.

1. Juliette Bossu (France Open 1) 54.467

2. Lorette Charpy (France Open Junior) 54.000

3. Coline Devillard (France Open 1) 53.533

...

13. Myrthe Potoms 50.800

14. Maellyse Brassart 50.700

43. Chloé Leblicq 43.900

The team didn't have a good day today in Marseille but let's not forget that those gymnasts are still very young and this competition is a beautiful experience for them. It was also a good occasion to present new elements and get ready for next week's Top Gym in Charleroi. They will also continue their preparation for the 2016 Junior European Championships that will took place in Bern (Switzerland). 

Tomorrow, Senna Deriks (Gymgroep AS), Nina Derwael (P. H. H. Hasselt vzw), Axelle Klinckaert (GymMax) and Julie Meyers (P. H. H. Hasselt) will compete in the Master Competition. Finals will take place on Sunday.

Full results here