Ostrava Grand Prix event finals: Kieran Behan makes history, Belarus and Ukraine emerge as strong contenders
The curtain fell on the last tournament of the FIG Artistic Gymnastics Challenge Cup series this past weekend, on December 3, 2011.
The highlight of the event finals was Kieran Behan paving history by earning his nation, Ireland, its first FIG gold medal.
Belarus and Ukraine were the best competing nations and walked out of the Winter Stadion Porub with six and five medals, respectively.
The Irish gymnast, Kieran Behan, staged the preview to his win in the event qualifiers a day earlier, whereby he tied in the first place with the defending titlist, Eleftherios Kosmidis, on the floor exercise qualifiers.
In the event finals Belarus’ Andrey Likhovitsky tied in the first place with Behan on the floor exercise with his matching score of 14.675 points. Ukraine’s Oleg Stepko secured the silver with his 14.425 points.
Representative gymnasts of Belarus were able to attain two gold medals, two silver medals and two bronze medals, five of which were contributed by the two male gymnasts.
Aliaksandr Tsarevich and Andrey Likhovitsky brought in the gold on the high bar and floor exercise, respectively.
Tsarevich bested Czech Republic’s Martin Konecny (14.575) and Japan’s Hiroyuki Imai (14.500) with his topping score of 15.175 points.
Likhovitsky definitely proved himself to be the best of Belarus, as the credit for half the medal wins goes to him.
He secured the silver on two more apparatus – the pommel horse (14.975 points) and the vault (15.175 points).
On the vault, Spain’s Fabian Gonzalez displayed an impeccable form on his routine which featured a Tsuk 2.5, Tsuk double full, and earned himself the gold medal with a total of 15.650 points.
Marek Lyszczarz, defending titlist and top qualifier for this event in the Challenge Cup dropped to the third position in these finals.
Likhovistky was only second to the two-time World Championships finals qualifier on the pommel horse. Slovenia’s Saso Bertoncelj had a brilliant hit routine on the apparatus and bagged the gold.
Tazrevich managed to capture the bronze medal on the men’s parallel bars, missing the silver by only 0.125 points (taken up by Oleg Stepko – Belle, front straddle sonie, Stutz, double pike).
Japanese gymnast, Hiroyuki Imai took the title for this event with his scrupulous double pike dismount (15.325).
On the women’s side, Volha Makhautsova contributed a bronze medal to Belarus on the vault with 13.275 points. Her score was topped by Slovenia’s Teja Belak (13.550) and Israel’s Valeriia Maksiuta (14.175).
The next most prominent contending nation, Ukraine, gained one gold medal, three silver medals and another bronze.
The bronze medal was earned by Igor Radivilov on the men’s still rings with 14.900 points to his claim.
The women’s floor exercise was a strong event for Ukraine as both the top positions were taken up by its representatives.
Angelina Kysla (1.5 to 2.5, long step,full in pike,front layout, double pike) took the gold with 13.325 points.
Alina Fomenko was hot on her heels with 13.050 points doing her routine (full in tucked, double tuck, step back, punch front, double full, double pike after pause) to opera music.
Overall, the event finals at the Ostrava Grand Prix Challenge Cup 2011 were a jubilant close for Ireland, Belarus and Ukraine.
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