Kramarenko won the qualification at the Sky Grace tournament. Two Russians are in the final

The eight finalists of the individual all-around were determined on the second day of qualification.

The rest of the qualification at the Sky Grace tournament was on the second day of the competition. The top three remained unchanged after performing in three more all-around kinds. Lala Kramarenko won, Anastasia Salos finished second, and Anastasia Guzenkova was third. The rest of the girls either lost several positions or then climbed up again during the performance — the struggle was for participation in the finals.

Exercises

Saturday exercises were more difficult for gymnasts than Friday ones. It was necessary to perform with a ball, clubs and a hoop. The load has increased, so errors have appeared. Specific features were to be taken into account in the remaining three programs just as for the jump rope and the ball. "We gave the opportunity to make a choice for the ball: gymnasts can incorporate into the exercise the elements they are best at. The clubs mainly contained elements for equilibrium, for the balance. Spins and pirouettes were to be the base for the ribbon," said Vera Sesina, the world champion and the tournament judge.

Competition leader Lala Kramarenko had minor mistakes that time. She had a loss when performing with the ball, ends of turns were not very accurate with the clubs, and the gymnast had a knot tied when performing with the ribbon — and she decided to take a spare item. Despite these shortcomings, the Russian star looked very confident and did not lose to her opponents in any kind, and in total her advantage was 15 points. The leader’s score was less than 40 points only for the jump rope, with which Lala hadn't performed for a long time, and for the ribbon where she made a mistake.

Anastasia Salos from Belarus came as close as possible to Kramarenko, compared to other participants. Truly, she also had flaws. The most obvious was a loss in the exercise with clubs. However, this is only the qualification — the medal part of the competition will take place on Sunday. Salos' programs are the ones I would like to note separately. She deserves special praise from her unique choice of music and choreography to emotionality. Like Vladislava Sharonova, who unlocked herself at this tournament. While the Russian national with the line of her own was close to the tops earlier, now she is one of them. And not only in the eyes of fans, but also in the eyes of judges.

Anastasia Guzenkova performed smoothly with all subjects and did not make obvious mistakes anywhere. She never fell below third place and deserved to reach the competition final. Nastya got there together with Lala Kramarenko from the Russian national team.

Feature

The rest of the girls, although they were among the top eight, were excluded due to the rule that only two representatives of a country can take part in the all-around final. Therefore, Mariia Borisova, a talented junior who finished fourth in qualification, was not among the finalists. Similarly to Vladislava Sharonova and Maria Pobedushkina, who had their positions right after Borisova. However, this rule is fair — this is usually the case at all international tournaments.

The Sky Grace combined the rules of 2001-2005 and 2022-2004 last year. As a result, neither the difficulty of the body nor the difficulty of the subject were limited. Exactly such regulations are now effective at Russian competitions — probably, the idea was taken from Sky Grace. If judges, athletes and coaches like these innovations, is it possible that domestic rules will change again? Vera Sesina believes that indeed this is what rhythmic gymnastics should strive for: "Athletes, especially high-level ones, are slightly better in some ways, a bit stronger than others. Slightly different physical abilities should be unlocked here. If a 7-8-year-old child can cope with international rules for nine elements for adults and seven for juniors, then this is not the height of perfection," said the world champion.

It will be interesting to see in the final how the gymnasts will cope with five exercises in a row — this requires serious physical and mental resources. Not only because of the number of subjects but also because of changes in the rules. The approximate rating vector is already known, but everything will start all over again in the all-around final.

Source: Sport-Express daily.