Ekaterina Kramarenko shines at Pas-de-Calais, France; Gustafsson, Cheong and Singmuang help Sweden and Russia dominate
Russian gymnast Ekaterina Kramarenko had anything but a neat gymnastics career but now she is back on track, proving her mettle as a gymnast. The 16th Pas-de-Calais tournament held in Arques, France, recently, where she won the all around title,
is standing proof of Kramarenko’s bounce back.
The annual tournament spanned three different types of finals, which were: junior all-around, senior all-around and event finals – the latter most saw seniors and juniors compete together, with no distinction.
Kramarenko was part of the senior all-around competition and topped the meet with her score of 52.400 points, easily besting Ida Gustafsson and Niamh Rippin.
Swedish gymnast, Ida Gustafsson missed the all-around title by 0.866 points, with her total score amounting to a 51.534. Finishing in third place was Great Britain’s Niamh Rippin with 50.734 points.
Kramarenko also earned herself an event title on the uneven bars, scoring a 13.700, once again besting Ida Gustafsson who received 13.267 points from the judges. In the third place was Kim Singmuang, also from Sweden, with 13.067 points.
Kramarenko’s journey as an elite gymnast has been peppered with disappointments and has been known to spur controversies.
Ever since her sudden bail cost the Russian national team its medal contention in the 2007 World Championships team finals, people’s faith in Kramarenko’s abilities has been shaken.
In the junior all-around, Russia reigned superior once again with the title secured by Russia’s Anastasia Cheong (51.267 points). She just managed to swipe the title from under Kim Singmuang’s nose, who was painfully close to the gold but came in second
with 51.234 points.
The two gymnasts seemed to be having a competition with each other in the meet, as they dominated several finals between themselves.
Singmuang won the title on the vault (13.700 points) and stood second on floor exercise (13.170).
On the vault she bested Anastasia Cheong (13.367 points). While the floor exercise saw Cheong taking the lead with 13.330 points.
The floor exercise final saw Gustafsson and Kramarenko tie for the third place with 12.900 points.
Perhaps it was the event final that most accurately depicted who all owned this meet, with all four of the most prominent contenders squeezed in the top three positions.
Cheong also tied second place with Maddie Copiack on the balance beam, with Laura Waem taking the title.
Also visibly strong, was senior Niamh Rippin from Great Britain and juniors Maddie Copiack from Canada, Ida Roth from Sweden and Laura Waeem from Belgium.
The Pas-de-Calais tournament is another reinforcement of Russia’s traditional recognition as a power gymnast nation and has revealed Sweden to be a strong contender too.
Perhaps the athlete who walks away benefitting the most from this tournament is Ekaterina Kramarenko, as she covers significant distance on her road to completely relinquishing the 2007 stigma.
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