Ghent World Cup impressions
I wrote them in other forums so I thought I could share them here.
Here are my overall impressions about the girls performances.
Ana's BB : very secure and elegant but this set looks very normal and not original and I have the same feeling of frustration just like at the end of last year (DTB Cup and Brindisi)... something is missing from it (like the great choreo that makes it so special and some of her remarkable acro series with the lo to 2 f or her Y turn used this year). I hope that it is only because she has been injured and that everything will be back soon... I'm a bit frightened as Mariana Bitang is not famous by attention to details and artistry on BB. I wish that Lili Cosma is still working with the girls for the choreo on beam. Still, since Ana could bounce back at the beginning of this year after the less eye-pleasing BB sets of november 2009 and presented a great performance at Rom Internationals, I desperately want to believe that she can do it again. In Ghent, she performed her routine in a little more than 1 minute so hopefully she has time to include some missing choreo or add a bit more difficulty until Worlds.
But IMO, her best highlight set was performed at Romanian Nationals last year followed by her Worlds performance.
Her UB : a very good exercise, great potential as usual but she's very late in her stalder 3/2 that it really disrupts the flow and the elegancy of the exercise, you feel she risks a lot on the Jaeger after. I hope she works on that but she already had these issues in the past...
Still I'm just thrilled to see her in competition shape again and very cheerful.
Sandra FX : OMG I so hate the music, but I think the girl is phenomenal. Coming back like that, after such a dreadful injury! Frankly last year at Euros, she looked totally burnt out that I never thought she would have the motivation to go on especially after this injury. And I'm happy she proved me wrong.
Yes the routine looks unpolished and not very precise yet but this is her first competition since a year ago! And she hasn't had any chance to make rehearsals at friendly meets or local competitions. I think she looks great really, I was expecting much much less and I love that she has only 3 tumbling passes yet.
And not to spoil anything, she's prettier than ever and she has still this great presence on floor.
Amelia UB looks very nice... and she performed the stalder 3/2 Jaeger combo much better than Ana! Too bad that she has some problems of consistency. It is great that both her and Ana are in the 14s scorewise and have a 6 or more D value.
About her BB, well it is the same as Ana, it is much less exciting as before, its composition has been changed and it's missing her beautiful unique combo but once again it could be because they don't want to risk anything at the moment. (I read that Mariana Bitang spoke about a growth spurt... it could be also a real problem for her DTY)
As for Diana FX, well I'm not worried about the watered down tumbling yet, it is not a competition that deserves to risk the big skills. But yes, she's still all over the place and was looking much more precise and posed at Euros. I think her 13.800 at qualies was quite a bit generous considering all the deductions she can get on most of her skills. For the final, it's too bad that she underrotated the triple as I found her more precise and focused than during qualies.
As for her VTs, I don't see any progress in her DTY preflight form issues for sorrow. Is it too late to do anything about it?
