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Affichage des articles du avril, 2017

2017 European Championships: Nina Derwael is European Champion !

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In an exciting final, Nina Derwael came on top to win gold madeal and make history for Belgium's gymnastics! Credit: An Vanderstraeten Nina Derwael was the 7th gymnast to go on the uneven bars final, right after Germany's Elisabeth Seitz, which whom she shared the 1st place after qualifications. In a final that saw three gymnasts fall, Nina managed to stay calm and perform a clean routine.  Credit: An Vanderstraeten She even managed to improve her qualifying score by 0.1 by posting 14.633 and take the gold, ahead of Russia's Elena Eremina and Elisabeth Seitz (Germany) and Elissa Downie (Great Britain). Credit: An Vanderstraeten This is the first time EVER that Belgium wins a gold medal at the European Championships. We have to go back to 2005 and Aagje Vanwalleghem's bronze medal on vault to find the last time a Belgian gymnast was on a podium. After her 19th place finish at the 2016 Olympic Games and her 7th place at this year's Europ

2017 European Championships: 7th place finish for Nina Derwael in the AA!

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In Friday's all-around final, Nina Derwael finished in place 7th place, the 2nd best result in Belgian gymnastics' history! Credit: An Vanderstraeten She started on beam, an event where she had troubles in qualifications. But not this time, as she scored a 12.733, more than 0.4 better than in qualifications, for a routine that included a backhandspring to a layout step out, a free cartwheel and a side somersault. Credit: An Vanderstraeten On floor, her routine was clean, with controled landings. As usual, she pleased the crowd with a lot of expressivness and emotions. She once again improved her qualification score, with a 12.966. On vault, Nina performed a clean full twisting Yurchenko, with a small hop on the landing (13.533).  Credit: An Vanderstraeten She was last up on bars. She started off really well, performing a piked Tkatchev. On her signature move, a Ricna half to Ezhova, she unfortunately hit the bars with her feet, a costly mistake. She

2017 European Championships: top 20 for Maxime and Daan !

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This Friday, Maxime Gentges and Daan Kenis both competed in the all-around final. The Belgians had a good competition overall, with great things and room for improvement. They placed in the top 20! Credit: Mathias Hikketik They started on vault. Maxime Gentges had to wait for at least 10 minutes before going because of a technical issue with the scoreboard. Not an ideal way to start a competition... He did a front handspring double somersault and sat it. He got 12.866. Daan Kenis performed a Yurchenko two and a half twist. He got 14.300. On parallel bars, both Maxime and Daan got a bit off balance on one of their elements but managed to save it. It were clean routines otherwise. Maxime got 12.900 and Daan received 13.533. Credit: Belgian Gymnastics On high bar, Maxime and Daan stayed on the apparatus, had great releases but had bent arms at some point which is a costly deduction.  Daan got 12.500 and Maxime got 12.700. Great routine from Daan on floor, with l

2017 European Championships: Two individual finals for Nina Derwael

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Today, Nina Derwael and Julie Meyers competed in qualifications in Cluj. Nina Derwael qualified for two individual finals! Credit: An Vanderstraeten They started on floor exercise, an event on which our gymnasts always show a lot of expressivness. Julie Meyers was first to go and started off well, performing a double tuck, a two and a half twist and a fronthandspring to full twist (11.833). Nina  slipped on her first pass, a two and a half twist, and had to put her knee down. She finished strong with a double tuck (12.300). Credit: An Vanderstraeten On vault, they both performed a full twisting Yurchenko, with a hop on the landing. Julie scored 13.500, while Nina received 13.466. Moving on to bars, Julie Meyers unfortunately fell on her shaposhnikova with half turn. She then performed a high Tkatchev and a full twisting double back dismount (11.466). Credit: An Vanderstraeten As Nina told in her interview to FfG , her main goal was to qualify for the uneve

2017 European Championships: two finals for Team Belgium

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Today was the first day of qualifications at the European Championships in Cluj. Our boys took the stage and tried to qualify for the individual finals! Daan Kenis and Maxime Gentges both qualified for the all-around final. Credit: Belgian Gymnastics Maxime Gentges and Jimmy Verbaeys were first up for Belgium on parallel bars. They both started off well, with just a little mistake for Jimmy in the beginning of the routine. Maxime scored 13.600 and Jimmy got 13.566. On horizontal bar, the two Belgians had a complicated rotation with heavy mistakes for both of them. Jimmy had to stop on the event and was too close to the bar on one of his releases. Maxime had a great routine until the dismount when he had to put his hands down. Jimmy scored 11.133 and Maxime got 12.133. Credit: Belgian Gymnastics Mouving on to floor. Maxime stepped out of bounds but had a clean routine otherwise (13.066). Great routine for Jimmy Verbaeys with clean execution to score 13.70

2017 European Championships: all you need to know!

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In a few days, 8 Belgian gymnasts will compete at the 2017 European Championships in Cluj-Napoca (Romania). Here is all you need to know about the team and schedule! Credit: UEG On the Men's side, the team is composed of Jimmy Verbaeys , Maxime Gentges , Daan Kenis , Kristof Schroé , Dennis Goossens and Jonathan Vrolix . Verbaeys , Gentges and Kenis will compete in the all-around in qualifications and will try to make the top 24. Dennis Goossens will compete on rings, where is has a great shot at making the final. Jonathan Vrolix will compete on floor and vault, while Kristof Schroé will compete on horizontal bar. Credit: Mathias Hikketik & FfG The boys will compete in the 1st and 2nd subdivision in qualifications. We don't know yet who will compete in which subdivision, but the ones competing in the 1st subdivision will start on parallel bars and the ones competing in the second subdivision will start on pommel horse. Keep in mind that this year'

Interview - Nina Derwael : "I hope to qualify for the uneven bars final at Euros"

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In the April issue of FfG's Mouv' Magazine (that you can find here ), Nina Derwael talks about her upgrades, how was it like for her to comeback after the Olympics, and what are her expectations at the upcoming European Championships.  Credit: Spotlight Gymnastics FfG : How is it going for you lately, Nina ? Nina Derwael: For now, we are preparing for the European Championships. We are training our new routines with our new skills and we try to make them as clean and steady as possible. FfG: You had a pretty good Olympic experience. Were you expecting such good results for your first Olympics? Nina: We were mostly there to do our thing, we were well prepared. I think we just wanted to do our best in qualifications and everything that happened after that was just a bonus. FfG: Did you get more attention afterwards, from the media, the fans? How did you managed this aspect of the Olympic Games? Nina: After the Games, i