By Mari Ilona Szutenberg
Italy’s Giorgia Villa won the all-around title in Buenos Aires in convincing style yesterday, more than half a point ahead of silver medalist Amelie Morgan from Great Britain. The vastly experienced Villa was the top scorer on vault, bars, and floor, and coming off her recent junior European all-around title, she has cemented her reputation as one of the most exciting juniors in the world.
Morgan, who was also runner-up to Villa this summer in Glasgow, had a great meet, looking confident and polished to take the silver. Ukrainian top qualifier Anastasia Bachynska was unable to repeat her stellar performance from earlier in the week, when she qualified first in the all-around rankings, dropping two places to take the bronze with a fall on floor.
The competition proved disappointing for Tang Xijing and Ksenia Klimenko, both of whom had been favorites for the podium. Tang fell twice on her exceptionally difficult beam routine, while Klimenko counted falls on beam and bars as well as struggling on vault, leaving them in 4th and 5th place respectively. Canada’s Emma Spence also had a bad day, with problems on beam and floor leaving her in 10th.
Emma Slevin had a breakout performance as the first Irish gymnast to compete at a Youth Olympic Games, hitting all of her routines to finish in an unprecedented 6th place. This is a huge result for Ireland, and along with the successes of compatriot Rhys McClenaghan, 2018 has been an incredible year for Irish gymnastics.
Photo: FIG
