We had really hoped to get out to Slovenia to cover this meet properly, but work issues got in the way and so we had to make do with the live stream. Nevertheless, it was a really enjoyable competition to watch, with some big names and plenty of up and coming gymnasts.
One of the big stars of the meet was Romania’s Denisa Golgota, who is following her very successful junior career by making an impact on the senior WAG scene. Denisa displayed some impressive and powerful skills combined with grace and elegance to make all four finals, medalling on floor, vault and beam. Many of those watching, including the official commentators, were hugely impressed by Denisa’s confidence, which is often lacking in the current crop of Romanian seniors.
Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland also made an appearance here, after a relatively quiet start to the year which saw her competing only at the Stuttgart DTB Pokal Team Challenge. She is still working her way up to her full difficulty, having sustained a fairly serious ankle injury in Rio, but put in a solid performance on all four pieces of apparatus, winning gold medals on floor and vault and a silver on beam. On vault she competed her front handspring Rudi and a full twisting Yurchenko, downgrading her difficulty from Worlds, but still managing a comfortable victory thanks to her execution.
Celine van Gerner of the Netherlands made a comeback here after months of injury, a confident and classy performance on the beam netting her a gold medal, and coming in second on bars. Slovakia’s Barbora Mokosova also had a good competition, finishing third on beam and floor and first on uneven bars, scoring a very respectable 13.450. Slovenia’s Tjasa Kysellef delighted the home crowd, winning bronze on vault and coming in fifth on floor. Dorina Boeczoego looked strong here too, with a bronze on uneven bars and sixth place on floor.
The European Gymnastics Blog 