Road To Doha : Gold for the women, bronze for the men !

This weekend the girls competed in Bruges against the Netherlands and Romania, while the boys faced the Netherlands and France in Ghent. The ladies won their match while the men finished third, just a few weeks before the 2018 World Championships.

Maellyse Brassart, Senna Deriks, Nina Derwael, Rune Hermans and Axelle Klinckaert competed as a team. Julie Meyers and Dorien Motten competed as individuals in this competition that served as the final test for the Worlds Championships, later this year in Doha, Qatar.

credit: Gymfoto.eu

The girls started their competition on floor. Maellyse was first up and showed a steady routine with a beautiful piked full-in. Nina wowed the crowd with her expressive choreography and excellent leaps (13.400). Rune was as expressive and steady (12.550). Axelle closed the rotation for the team. She performed a high double layout, a piked full-in and a double pike (12.650).

Senna competed as an individual in the floor rotation and also performed steadily. She scored 12.250, as did Maellyse. Veteran and veterinarian gymnast Dorien Motten performed a skyhigh double arabian but sadly went out of bounds with both feet, which cost her several tenths. 

On vault, all the Belgian girls showed clean full twisting Yurchenko's. Only Dorien did a full twisting Tsukahara with a 4.8 difficulty-score, 2-tenths more than the full twisting Yurchenko. Axelle got the highest score with 13.800, closely followed by Nina (13.750),  Senna (13.650), Maellyse (13.600) and Julie (13.550). Dorien scored 13.350.

On uneven bars, all eyes were set on Nina, but the other girls also showed steady and impressive work. They all scored 13+,  only Naomi Visser from the Netherlands did the same. Senna was first up and scored 13.150 for her exercise including a piked Jaeger. Axelle got 13.450, while Rune added 13.500 to the team total. Nina showed a great Nabieva and a connection of the Derwael-Fenton combinaison to a shaposhnikova and pak salto with full turn. She scored 15.150. Maellyse, Julie and Dorien all showed decent routines.

Credit: Gymfoto.eu

Nina crashed during her beam mount but that didn't phase her. Apart from the mount, she performed cleanly and showed impressive wolf turns. She scored 13.250. Rune had some troubles on her wolf turn but managed to stay on the beam, with a new combination, free carthweel to a layout sommersault. Axelle and Maellyse were both rocksolid and scored 13.550. 

With 162.200, the Belgian team won the competition ahead of the Netherlands, competing without Sanne Wevers, and Romania. Our girls showed their readiness for the World Championships in Doha. A few more weeks are left for fine-tuning. 

Credit: Gymfoto.eu

Individually Nina Derwael won the gold, Dutch Naomi Visser the silver and Axelle Klinckaert got bronze.

Team results:

1. Belgium162.200

2. The Netherlands 157.05

3. Romania 151.25

Individual all-around:

1. Nina Derwael (BEL) 55.550

2. Naomi Visser (NED) 53.900

3. Axelle Klinckaert (BEL) 53.400

4. Denisa Golgota (ROU) 52.550

5. Maellyse Brassart (BEL) 52.350

6. Tisha Volleman (NED) 52.250

7. Senna Deriks (BEL) 51.250

...

12. Dorien Motten (BEL) 48.750

13. Julie Meyers (BEL) 48.700

In Ghent, our Men's team faced the teams from France and The Netherlands. Maxime Gentges, Noah Kuavita, Daan Kenis, Jonathan Vrolix, Jimmy Verbaeys, Takumi Onoshima, Luka Van den Keybus and Dennis Goossens took the bronze medal.

Credit : FfG

The Belgian team started really well on vault, with impressive performances from Noah Kuavita and Jonathan Vrolix with front handspring double front. Jonathan got the highest score with 14.550, followed by Daan Kenis (14.400) and Noah (14.250).

On parallel bars, Daan Kenis had to count a fall, and Jonathan made some mistakes, but the rest of the team did very well, with highlights from Luka Van den Keybus (14.550) and Jimmy Verbaeys (14.400).

On horizontal bar, Jimmy was once again impressive (13.800), but Noah stole the show with his releases (13.600). Maxime also got a good score for his routine and a full twisting double back dismount (13.500). The Flying Dutch Man Epke Zonderland was way above the rest of the field, with a 15.350 for his crazy combinations !

On floor, Belgium showed interesting routines, with 4 gymnasts breaking the 14 mark. Maxime got the highest score (14.350), followed by Jimmy (14.100), Noah and Luka (14.000). Jonathan unfortunately fell on his first pass but managed to get 13.700.

Pommel horse was a struggle for the Belgians, with Takumi, Jimmy, Jonathan and Daan falling at least once. Maxime struggled but didn't fall, to earn Belgium's highest score (12.950). The boys finished on rings, where the highlight came from Dennis Goossens, who got 14.950. Only France's Samir Aït Said did better, with 15.000. 

With a total score of 248.150, the boys took the bronze medal. France won the gold, with 251.150, and the Netherlands earned the silver (248.650).

Individually, France's Julien Gobaux won the all-around with 84.000, ahead of Maxime Gentges (81.650) and Noah Kuavita (81.550).

Credit : FfG

Team results:

1. France 251.150

2. The Netherlands 248.650
3. Belgium 248.150

All around results:
1. Julien Gobaux (FRA) 84.000
2. Maxime Gentges (BEL) 81.650

3. Noah Kuavita BEL) 81.550

4. Luka Van den Keybus (BEL) 81.000

...

6. Jimmy Verbaeys (BEL) 79.850

8. Jonathan Vrolix (BEL) 79.100

12. Takumi Onoshima (BEL) 76.750

16. Daan Kenis (BEL) 64.800 (5 events)

21. Dennis Goossens (BEL) 14.950 (1 event)

Next stop : Doha and the World Championships! The goal for our teams will be to place in the top 24, in order to qualify for the 2019 Worlds. But our gymnasts can also hope for more than one individual final!

WAG results: click here

MAG results: click here