2016 Belgian Championships: Onoshima, Verbaeys are the 2016 National champions

After the report of the Women's competition, let's have a look at the Men's results at this year's Belgian Championships!

Credit: GymFed
There was no real surprise on who won the titles in the Juniors and Seniors categories as both titles were won by favourites.

On the Juniors' side, Takumi Onoshima (Athanor Gym Club) won gold ahead of Lukas Fickers (Turn- und Sportverein Rocherath) and Justin Pesesse (La Vaillante Tubize). Noah Kuavita (Silok Deurne), Iliaz Pyncket (Vaste Vuist Lauwe) and Jonas Delvael (Gym Izegem) didn't compete this weekend but even with their absence, Onoshima was on the top of the list to become national champion as he really stood up for himself in the past few weeks, winning an internal test and the all-around at a friendly meet against teams from Sweden and the Netherlands. The young gymnast proves he is ready for the upcoming European Championships, where he will compete along with Kuavita, Delvael, Pesesse and Ward Claeys (Vaste Vuist Lauwe). His best event was the pommel horse (13.600). Pesesse is replacing Iliaz Pyncket, who is still injured.

Coming in second was Lukas Fickers who showed his potential on floor exercise (13.100) and still rings (13.000). And in 3rd, we have Justin Pesesse, who was just 0.100 behind Fickers. His best events were floor (13.350) and vault (13.300).

Not far behind Pesesse were Mattis Bouchet (75.500) and Liam De Smet (75.350). European Championships alternate Ruben Marx placed 6th (71.800).

Credit: Mathias Hikketik
Juniors podium:
1. Takumi Onoshima 79.250
2. Lukas Fickers 76.000
3. Justin Pesesse 75.900

On the Seniors' side, the level was sky high as almost all the National team members competed this weekend (Gilles Gentges, slightly injured, competed in the Italian Serie A instead). As I said in my preview, the battle for gold would take place between Jimmy Verbaeys (Blauwput Omnisport), Maxime Gentges (Gym Club Malmédy), Bram Louwije (Turnkring Vlamertinge) and Daan Kenis (Turnclub De Eik Lommel). I was right about two of them.

Verbaeys retained his title by posting a massive 86.350, ahead of Daan Kenis (83.250) and Luka Van den Keybus (Gymteam Sint-Niklaas - 82.800). Jimmy had an amazing competition and didn't have any major (or minor, really) mistake, his best event being the parallel bars where he scored 14.900. With a lot of suporters in the stands, Verbaeys really showed his best work and proved he's more than ready to fight for the Olympic spot. Kenis, 2nd, was also very consistent. He improved his all-around total by more than two points compared to the Flemish Championships. And he could have scored higher as he went out of bounds on floor. His best result came on pommel horse (14.500). In 3rd, we have Luka Van den Keybus, who also had a pretty good competition and showed his potential. His two best events were vault (14.550) and horizontal bar (14.250).

Maxime Gentges unfortunately didn't have the best day, as he fell twice, on vault and on floor. Without those two mistakes, he would have ended up in 2nd place but let's not rewrite the history. With those two uncharacteristic mistakes, Maxime placed 4th with 82.400. He was pretty consistent on all the other four events, posting scores between 14.100 and 14.200. On my prediction list for the title was Bram Louwije. But on Saturday, he only competed on 4 events because of a small injury. The scores he got on those events were good, and he performed really clean routines, especially on pommel horse (14.150) and parallel bars (14.100).

It was no surprise that the highest score of the day came from Dennis Goossens (TK Kerels Waasmunster) on rings with a huge 15.350. Goossens also competed on floor and vault, showing he could be an asset on the team. Siemon Volkaert (GymMax) also competed on three events, and he earned the highest score of the competition on pommel horse with a brilliant 15.100. His other two events were also very clean as he earned 14.100 on floor and 14.600 on vault. There were also gymnasts coming back from injuries and they showed they were almost back at their best level. Florian Landuyt (Sportac Deinze), injured during the all-around competition at last year's Worlds, performed very well on three events and had a mistake on parallel bars. Kristof Schroé ('T Spagaatje), who sustained a back injury, also had a mistake on that same event but was really clean on pommel horse and horizontal bar. Unfortunately, Jonathan Vrolix got injured while dismounting on parallel bars. He had an x-ray and an echo, and I hope the injury is not too serious as Jonathan really seemed to do well this weekend, even tho he had a mistake on floor. Jonathan was also on the comeback track after a 2nd ankle surgery he underwent in last December. 

I haven't seen much of Jonas Baert (TK Kerels Waasmunster), Aaron Blomme (Gymteam Sint-Niklaas) and Yureck Van Eetvelt (TK Kerels Waasmunster). Baert was 5th and doesn't seem to have had a mistake. Blomme unfortunately had one on pommel horse, while Yureck's low scores might come from his low difficulty routines. 

Credit: Mathias Hikketik
Seniors podium:
1. Jimmy Verbaeys 86.350
2. Daan Kenis 83.250
3. Luka Vanden Keybus 82.800

This competition was a preparation for the Juniors and a selection test for the Seniors, as the European Championships will take place at the end of the month in Bern (Switzerland). The Seniors team should be announced very soon by the Federations.

Full results here
Videos here
Pictures here

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