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Ferrari, Devyatovsky Win Europeans

Sunday, April 29, 2007 By John Crumlish

Italy's Vanessa Ferrari and Russia's Maxim Devyatovsky won the women's and men's all-around titles, respectively, at the European Championships in Amsterdam on Saturday.

Ferrari, the 2006 world all-around champion, placed first over Romania's Sandra Izbasa and Ukraine's Alina Kozich. Izbasa finished third all-around at the 2006 World Championships, and Kozich won the 2004 European all-around title.

Ferrari began the all-around final on balance beam, where she had a minor balance check on a flip-flop, full. Her floor exercise was solid, and she clinched the title on uneven bars in the fourth round, waving to the crowd after landing a double layout with a hop.

"If you want to win the all-around, you have to be consistent and concentrate until the end," said Enrico Casella, Ferrari's coach. "This is what Vanessa did today."

Izbasa started on uneven bars, where she scored her lowest mark of the day. She earned her highest two scores in the next two rotations (balance beam and floor exercise).

Kozich won the bronze medal, finishing her competition with the day's highest score on balance beam.

2004 European junior champion Steliana Nistor of Romania dropped to fourth place, after falling on balance beam (flip-fop, full) and floor exercise (2-1/2 twist, layout punch front).

In the men's competition, Devyatovsky overcame a near-miss on high bar in the third rotation to take the title over top qualifier Fabian Hambüchen (Germany). Third was Yuri Ryazanov, Devyatovsky's teammate.

Devyatovsky began well on vault, with a solid double front. After a steady routine on parallel bars in the second rotation, he came up short on a Weiler kip on high bar. Devyatovsky finished his day on rings, and pumped his fist after sticking his dismount on rings in the sixth rotation.

"For me it's a very important success, because I was first in the Russian Championships, and I tried to do my best here to show everybody that I am first in Russia and first in Europe," Devyatovsky said.

Hambüchen, the 2006 world all-around bronze medalist, almost fell during his dismount sequence on pommel horse in the fifth rotation. He landed on his feet, but scored his lowest of all six events. On rings in the final rotation, Hambüchen dismounted with a conservative double front, and took his second-lowest score.

The competition concludes Sunday with individual even finals for women and men.

IG is on hand in Amsterdam, so look for complete coverage in an upcoming issue of IG Magazine.

Full results can be downloaded from the official site, ecgymnastics2007.com

2007 European Gymnastics Championships
April 28, Amsterdam

Women's All-Around
1. Vanessa Ferrari ITA 61.075
2. Sandra Izbasa ROM 59.900
3. Alina Kozich UKR 59.300
4. Steliana Nistor ROM 58.175
5. Yekaterina Kramarenko RUS 57.825
6. Oksana Chusovitina GER 57.450
7. Kristina Palesova CZE 56.675
7. Kristina Pravdina RUS 56.675
9. Verona Van De Leur NED 56.225
10. Anja Brinker GER 56.025
11. Daria Zgoba UKR 55.825
12. Stefani Bisbikou GRE 55.750
13. Cassy Vericel FRA 55.625
14. Federica Macri ITA 55.600
15. Patricia Moreno ESP 55.475
16. Gaelle Mys BEL 54.900
17. Lichelle Wong NED 54.825
18. Viktoria Karpenko BUL 54.725
19. Veronica Wagner SWE 54.600
20. Hannah Clowes GBR 54.550
21. Nicole Pechancova CZE 53.900
22. Yelena Zanevskaya LTU 53.825
23. Mercedes Alcaide ESP 53.675
24. Anastasia Marachkovskaya BLR 23.650

Men's All-Around
1. Maxim Devyatovski RUS 90.250
2. Fabian Hambüchen GER 89.675
3. Yuri Ryazanov RUS 89.000
4. Rafael Martinez ESP 88.425
5. Flavius Koczi ROM 87.825
6. Epke Zonderland NED 87.675
6. Manuel Campos POR 87.675
6. Razvan Selariu ROM 87.675
9. Jeffrey Wammes NED 87.600
10. Dmitry Savitsky BLR 87.550
11. Ilya Giorgadze GEO 87.350
11. Enrico Pozzo ITA 87.350
13. Daniel Keatings GBR 87.225
14. Robert Juckel GER 87.200
15. Dmitry Karbanenko FRA 87.125
16. Claudio Capelli SUI 86.875
17. Filip Ude CRO 86.675
18. Sami Aalto FIN 86.375
19. Matteo Morandi ITA 86.225
20. Vahag Stepanyan ARM 84.750
21. Nicolas Boschenstein SUI 84.575
22. Alexander Shatilov ISR 84.500
23. Ross Brewer GBR 84.050
24. Marcell Hetrovics HUN 83.200