By Mari Ilona Szutenberg
Competition at the Youth Olympic Games wrapped up last night with the last two event finals, having showcased a group of exceptional WAG juniors over the past two weeks.
Chief among these is all-around champion Giorgia Villa, who took the vault title on Saturday to add to her haul. Coming in hot on her heels was Hungarian Csenge Bacskay, who debuted a DTY for the silver, and crowd favourite Emma Spence who performed solidly to take the bronze.
The bars title went to a delighted and relieved Ksenia Klimenko, who finally hit her routine after falling on it in both qualifications and the all-around competition. In a great final with everyone hitting to potential, her beautifully-executed performance was rewarded with the gold medal, ahead of Villa’s exhilarating display of sky-high releases, and Tang Xijing’s intricate pirouette work for the silver and bronze respectively.
Tang found herself in much the same position as Klimenko, going into the beam final without having hit a routine so far in competition. As the top qualifier even with a fall, she was a definite favourite, and managed to pull everything together on the day to take the title with some excellent work. Silver went to Klimenko, and Britain’s Amelie Morgan took the bronze with her consistent work, just edging out Villa’s hit routine. Ukraine’s Anastasia Bachynska who came in as the second-highest qualifier was disappointed, falling on her acro series and performing uncertainly to finish in 6th.
In the final event of the competition, Giorgia Villa came in strong to take the floor title, with her beautifully performed routine overtaking the rest of the field based on E-score. Amelie Morgan’s lovely routine was rewarded with the silver, and Anastasia Bachynska’s breathtaking choreography helped her to the bronze. Ksenia Klimenko had a few problems on landings, leaving her in seventh, and Tang Xijing’s pretty routine couldn’t quite catch up to the podium on the D-score side of things, finishing in fourth.
Photo: FIG
