Chinese nationals have just concluded in Kunshan City. Although the official Chinese Gymnastics Federation lists this as a National Championships and World Team Trials competition – realistically we are a long way from forming a world championship team.
Vault
Li Yiting took the vault title with a double twisting tsukahara and dynamic (if slightly scruffy) layout rudi:
Veteran Cheng Fei in her first competition since the 2009 Chinese National Games took the silver medal. While Cheng is not back to full difficulty performing a double twisting Yurchenko and layout Podkopayeva, but her great form and height is still there, and her goal of competing at her third Olympics looks to be on track.
17 year old Jiang Tong took the bronze medal with a 1.5 twisting yurchenko and layout podkopayeva. No sign of her vaults from EF on YouTube yet but here are her qualification vaults:
Bars
Perennial bars champion He Kexin took the bars title fairly easily with her usual routine (didn’t attempt her new double twisting front giant that she had struggled with in podium training). Although parts of the routine were a little laboured (notably the dismount) she is looking good for early in the season:
First-year senior Yao Jinnan took the silver medal with a 14.800. Yao is one of the set of younger Chinese gymnasts now performing Shaposhnikova style elements rather than the often criticised stalder and toe-shoot transitions.
Junior Huang Huidan who won’t be eligible to compete as a senior until next year took the bronze medal with a Russian-style set featuring stalder Shaposh-half, piked stalder work and a full-in dismount. Her form needs some work but she looks to be a good prospect for the future.
Beam
Sui Lu took the beam title with probably the best beam set I have ever seen her perform; she got all her connections, stuck her double pike beautifully and put the Grigoras back into her routine. Consistency has always been her problem with the beam, so it remains to be seen if she can produce this sort of routine consistently, if she can she will be of immense help to team China this year, and in 2012.
Junior Zeng Siqi (who like Huang Huidan) will not be eligible for worlds this year took the silver medal with a packed but solid set. Zeng, who also medalled in the all-around, looks to be a great addition to the Chinese team with good form and dynamic skills, as well as great audience appeal.
Second-year Senior Zhang Yilinzi, who many people were hoping would make more of an impact last year, took the bronze medal. Zhang performed an immensely difficult set, featuring two flics to a full twisting layout, and a Grigoras-Korbut combination, lets herself down with her lack of artistry and some problems with the harder dance skills. If she can improve these elements of her routines she could be a potential contender for a team place at the major events.
Floor
Sui Lu added to her medal collection with the gold on floor. She performed her trademark clean tumbling, but had some problems with her spins – under-rotating the first, and over-rotating the second.
Zeng Siqi again took the silver medal, with my favourite floor routine of the competition, performed to a remix of Carmen. She has excellent presentation to go with her clean tumbling, and like Sui Lu works wearing socks to make spins easier. Zeng is coached by 1999 World beam champion Ling Jie.
Yao Jinnan won the bronze medal, with a routine to West Side Story. Yao’s tumbling is clean and well-performed, but she lacks the presentation skills of Sui and Zeng.
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