Apologies for the not-very-descriptive descriptions. It's hard to take notes and photos at the same time. :-) Ivankov: Full of confidence all night. He seems to have no weak event. His FX passes were (1) front handspring, layout front full, layout front, rudi; (2) double layout (hop); double pike (hop). His side pass was a layout to punch front 1/4, and he did a beautiful Y-scale before his final tumbling pass. Lots of single pommel work on the horse. On R, he and Wilson has the best inverted crosses. Vault was a double twisting layout Yurchenko. On HB, he did 2 or 3 Kovacs (not in sequence). He and his coach were very happy with this win, and probably with the $10,000 prize money also. Bondarenko: Just like World Cup finals in Sabae, he was very short on his 2nd tumbling pass (1.5 twist to 1.5 twist?) -- a hands down/prone drop combo. :-) On the other hand, his final pass of double tuck was executed perfectly: tight tuck, legs glued together, stuck landing. He had a slight leg separation on PH (during a Maltese). His R featured a layout Guczoghy to tucked Guczoghy. On V, he did the new men's "compulsory" tucked double front, with a large step forward. His HB showed 2 Kovacs (not in sequence), and he hit his full-twisting layout Tkachev. Wilson: PH was nice, with lots of single-pommel work, but there were little foot and leg separations throughout. His R was impeccable, though, with the best inverted crosses in the meet. His double front V ended with a step forward (during warm-ups, he did a huge front layout as if it were nothing). He had a problem on HB, where he was short on a swing element (front stalder?) and had to support himself momentarily on the bar to restart. On FX, his final pass was overrotated, resulting in 4-5 steps out of bounds (and nearly off the podium). Zozulia: Quiet and unassuming in demeanor, his routines made quite an impression on the tiny crowd. His gymnastics is very clean. I can't remember any stand-out elements in his PH or R exercises, only that they were performed so well. He was perhaps best on V, where his double front had only a tiny step sideways on landing. Lu Yufu: He performed an amazing 1st pass on FX -- double layout with 2 twists in the second salto! [Maybe I was just imagining this; can someone confirm?] Unfortunately, he put his hands down on his closing double layout. His V was a double tucked Tsuk, nearly stuck but he had to take a small step finally. Tsukahara: He was first up on PH and did a solid, if unexciting, routine. On V he did a RO 1/2 on to layout front 1/2. His father was there, videotaping Naoya's routines. Nemov: Definitely a crowd favorite, he began on FX and took a step out of the area on his opening layout full-out. The rest of the routine (including double twist to punch front 1/4; double pike) was fine. He was as surprised as the audience when he came off PH during a flairs sequence, but came back nicely on R (piked Guczoghy to tucked Guczoghy). He had to take a few steps on his hands during PB to regain balance but ended with a tight double pike. He caught all of his Kovacs releases, much to the delight of the Russian coaches. When he dismounted, he held a hand to his ear, to encourage applause, and performed some macho muscle poses on his way off the podium. Huang: On FX, his passes were front handspring, layout front full, punch front, rudi (steps) to open; and whip to double twist to end. He had a break on PH and ended up sitting on the horse. Townsend: If he was intimidated by the more seasoned competitors, he didn't show it. Beginning on PH, he did good one-pommel work but had some small foot separations. His R dismount is cool -- Guczoghy to tucked full-out (step). Like a lot of others, his V was a double front, done well with a step. And like Wilson on HB, he had a break which neccessitated a momentary support on the bar to restart his routine. Lopez: On FX, he opened with a tucked double double and ended with a tucked full-in. His R was awesome, beginning with a kip to iron L-cross. His dismount was a tucked full-in full-out (step). He was also very impressive on V: 2 1/2 twisting layout Tsuk with only a small hop on landing. On HB, his Jaeger was too far away from the bar and he couldn't regrasp. All in all, though, a much better gymnast here than in March at the American Cup. Hatakeda: His FX passes were double layout; 2 1/2 twist to punch front; and double tuck (steps). He had trouble holding a handstand following a front giant on R. His PB and HB dismounts (double pike and triple tuck, respectively) were well performed. Fedorchenko: Not his day. On PH, he had a slip which left him sitting on the horse. He ended up on in a sitting position after his double front V, as well. On HB, he did a Kovacs (fall), remounted and did a full-twisting Kovacs (fall), remounted again and did another Kovacs (fall). After each fall, he rubbed his left shoulder and, after the final fall, he saluted the judges and left the podium. He scratched from his final event, FX. On both nights of AA, the meets ran quickly with no judging delays. Prior to the awards ceremonies, sports acro teams performed (women's trio on Sunday, mixed duo on Monday) which the audience loved. Give us more sports acro! There were less than 6,000 spectators for the women's AA, and less than 3,000 for the men's AA (with many more tickets actually sold). Someone on the list wondered where the ticket holders were. Two words: Whitestone Bridge! Maybe one reason for low attendance is the fact that Long Island is difficult to get to (even with a car). There is nearly no public transportation, and parking cost $5.50. Hopefully, the weekend sessions will attract more people. Debbie :-)
1. Ivan Ivankov (Belarus) 57.500 points
9.3 floor, 9.65 pommels, 9.75 rings
9.45 vault, 9.775 parallel bars, 9.575 high bar
2. Alexei Bondarenko (Russia) 56.700
8.95 floor, 9.3 pommels, 9.625 rings
9.575 vault, 9.775 parallel bars, 9.475 high bar
3. Blaine Wilson (U.S.) 56.575
9.375 floor, 9.20 pommels, 9.725 rings
9.65 vault, 9.675 parallel bars, 8.95 high bar
4. Roman Zozulia (Ukraine) 56.450
9.10 floor, 9.375 pommels, 9.70 rings
9.575 vault, 9.25 parallel bars, 9.45 high bar
5. Yufu Lu (China) 56.250
9.00 floor, 9.45 pommels, 9.50 rings,
9.625 vault, 9.40 parallel bars, 9.275 high bar
6. Naoya Tsukahara (Japan) 56.175
9.325 floor, 9.225 pommels, 9.50 rings
9.475 vault, 9.45 parallel bars, 9.20 high bar
7. Alexei Nemov (Russia) 55.70
9.45 floor, 9.10 pommels, 9.125 rings
9.55 vault, 8.95 parallel bars, 9.525 high bar
8. Xu Huang (China) 54.65
9.125 floor, 8.30 pommels, 9.525 rings
9.475 vault, 9.725 parallel bars, 8.50 high bar
9. Sean Townsend (U.S.) 54.325
8.625 floor, 8.50 pommels, 9.425 rings
9.625 vault, 9.55 parallel bars, 8.60 high bar
10. Eric Lopez (Cuba) 54.300
8.40 floor, 9.50 pommels, 9.675 rings
9.60 vault, 9.275 parallel bars, 9.25 high bar
11. Yosttiaki Hatakeda (Japan) 53.350
8.55 floor, 9.35 pommels, 8.30 rings
8.70 vault, 9.20 parallel bars, 9.25 high bar
12. Sergei Fedorchenko (Kazakstan) 37.850
Scratched-floor, 8.10 pommels, 8.725 rings
9.150 vault, 8.675 parallel bars, 3.20 high bar
