English Championships Wrap Up and Russian Championships Qualification

Credit: elitegymnast
Sisters Becky and Ellie Downie

The English Championships were this weekend as was the first few days of the Russian Championships set to finish on March 7th.

English Championships
Hannah Whelan won the all around competition and finished 1st on beam. We finally see the return of 2008 Olympian Becky Downie who was dealing with illness and injury throughout the last quad that took her out of the running for 2012. She looked fabulous on uneven bars winning that event with a 14.3.


Ruby Harrold was also seen with some great combination on bars - a toe-on Shaposh to Bhardwaj and a toe-on Shaposh 1/2 to a stoop shoot through to low bar. Not sure I named that correctly so you can check it out here. She finished in 4th after a fall on that event. English Championships saw the return of 2000 GB Olympian Lisa Mason. She won vault with a half twisting Yurchenko and a stuck front handspring on - front pike off. Watch here.



Ellie Downie won the junior all around and floor exercise title. She also placed 2nd on vault and floor and 4rd on the uneven bars. In the Espoir division, Catherine Lyons, who competed at the 2012 Australian Youth Olympic Festival, was 4th in the AA and 2nd on UB (here) and won the FX (here or below). Lyons will be a senior in 2016.


Scores can be found here and video on susanw1984's youtube channel.

Russian Championships
At the Russian Championships, all 2012 Olympians were present except for Viktoria Komova who is still recovering from back issues. Aliya Mustafina won the all-around followed by Anastasia Grishina. Aliya's new floor exercise can be found here and her UB can be found here - both HD on VK. Her new balance beam can be found below with an exciting new - switch split 1/2 - Onodi - double turn combination. In training videos, she was seen connecting it to a sheep jump. Watch her competition routine here or below:


More routines can be found on YT channel amc81 including multiple floor exercises (without music), Aliya's bars, and more from Anna Dementyeva, and Anna Pavlova. Translated scores can be found here.