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The Canadian women grabbed both gold medals Saturday in the first day of finals at the FIG Challenger Cup in Osijek, Croatia.

Nova Scotia's Ellie Black vaulted a layout Rudi to to take the gold medal over world finalist Giulia Steingruber (Switzerland) and 2008 Olympian Laís Souza (Brazil).

Black, 16, trains at Halifax Alta Gymnastics Club under coaches David Kikuchi and Keiji Yamanaka. Black, who turned 16 in September, missed the 2011 season due to injury but has come out strong in 2012. At the recent "Gymnastics Meeting" tournament in Brazil, Black was fourth all-around and first on vault and beam.

Ontarian Christine "Peng Peng" Lee won the uneven bars title with a clean routine featuring a toe-on blind to Jaeger, toe-on full to Bhardwaj (full-twisting Pak salto), Maloney-half and double layout (click for video).

Poland's Marta Pihan-Kulesza took second (Shaposhnikova to bail; free hip blind to Jaeger; 1 1/2 pirouette to double front). Czech Jana Sikulova used rarer releases for third (Markelov; Stalder-full to Gienger; double front).

Daniel Purvis (Great Britain) tied Greece's Eleftherios Kosmidis for the top score in an impressive men's floor exercise final (15.550/6.5 Difficulty). Purvis tumbled a piked Arabian double front; 2 1/2 front full; whip, Thomas; layout Arabian 1 3/4; Arabian double front) while Kosmidis tumbled six passes (tucked double-double; 1 1/2 to full-twisting front 1 3/4; front double full, barani; 2 1/2 front full; layout Arabian 1 3/4; tucked full-in).

Chilean Tomás González was third, mounting with a new piked double full-in (Kolyvanov), followed by a 1 1/2 to full-twisting front 1 3/4; front double full to front full; 2 1/2 to barani; layout Arabian 1 3/4. triple twist dismount (6.7 D).

Brazil's Diego Hypolito, second in qualification, nailed his opening piked Arabian double front but crashed his second pass of 1 1/2 to Randi. Despite the error, Hypolito looked extremely strong considering he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in March (click for video).

Slovenia's Sašo Bertoncelj won the pommel horse title over Belgian Donna-Donny Truyens and Ukrainian Nikolai Kuksenkov. Croatia's Filip Ude, the top qualifier, fell to place sixth.

World medalist Arthur Zanetti (Brazil) won the still rings title over France's Samir Ait Said and Greek specialist Eleftherios Petrounias, with all three medalists earning 6.8 D scores. France's Danny Pinheiro-Rodrigues went for an incredible 7.1 in difficulty but placed eighth after falling on his dismount (video).

Competition concludes Sunday in Osijek with the finals for women's balance beam and floor exercise, and men's vault, parallel bars and high bar.

International Gymnast Magazine Related Features:
"Mexican Maestro" - Daniel Corral profile (November 2010)
"Serious Contender" - Nikolai Kuksenkov profile (March 2011)
"Parallel Lives" - Marta Pihan-Kulesza/Roman Kulesza profile (April 2010)
Christine Lee interview (April 2011)
"Wisdom of a Woman" - Vasiliki Millousi interview (April 2012)
"Pure Purvis" - Daniel Purvis interview (March 2012)
Purvis on cover (November 2011)
"Aiming High" - Alexander Shatilov profile (January/February 2009)
"A New Hit for the Swiss" - Giulia Steingruber profile (December 2009)
"Great Expectations" - Filip Ude short profile (June 2011)
"Power Trip" - Yuri van Gelder profile (January/February 2009)
Van Gelder center poster (June 2008)

To order back issues, click here.

External Link: Official Website

2012 Osijek Grand Prix/FIG Challenger Cup
April 27, Osijek, Croatia

Women's Vault Final			D	E	ND	Score	Average
1.	Ellie Black		6.3	8.725		15.025	14.575
			5.2	8.925		15.025
2.	Giulia Steingruber		5.0	9.125		14.125	14.188
			5.5	8.850	0.1	14.125
3.	Laís Souza		5.3	8.625	0.1	13.825	13.800
			5.2	8.575		13.825
4.	Tijana Tkalcec		5.0	8.900		13.900	13.750
			5.0	8.600		13.900
5.	Nadia Mühauser		5.0	8.925		13.925	13.750
			4.6	8.975		13.925
6.	Valerija Grisane		4.6	9.100	0.1	13.600	13.538
			4.6	8.875		13.600
7.	Mikaela Gerber		5.0	8.900		13.900	13.513
			4.4	8.725		13.900
8.	Ida Rothe		4.8	8.650	0.1	13.350	13.263
			4.4	8.775		13.350

Uneven Bars Final			D	E	ND	Score
1.	Christine Lee		5.7	8.775		14.475
2.	Marta Pihan-Kulesza		5.7	8.100		13.800
3.	Jana Sikulova		5.9	7.675		13.575
4.	Silvia Colussi-Pelaez		5.5	7.900		13.400
5.	Vasilki Millousi		5.3	8.100		13.400
6.	Elisa Hämmerle		4.9	8.375		13.275
7.	Jessica Diacci		5.5	7.550		13.050
8.	Valeria Pereyra		5.3	7.575		12.875

Men's Floor Exercise Final			D	E	ND	Score
1.	Daniel Purvis		6.5	9.050		15.550
1.	Eleftherios Kosmidis		6.5	9.050		15.550
3.	Tomás González		6.7	8.775		15.475
4.	Alexander Shatilov		6.4	8.775		15.175
5.	Tomislav Markovic		6.4	8.550		14.950
6.	Oleg Stepko		6.4	8.500		14.900
7.	Max Whitlock		6.5	8.750	0.5	14.750
8.	Diego Hypolito		6.5	7.775		14.275

Pommel Horse Final			D	E	ND	Score
1.	Sašo Bertoncelj		6.2	9.275		15.475
2.	Donna-Donny Truyens		6.5	8.950		15.450
3.	Nikolai Kuksenkov		6.6	8.850		15.450
4.	Max Whitlock		6.5	8.850		15.350
5.	Zoltan Kallai		6.6	8.475		15.075
6.	Filip Ude		6.5	8.050		14.550
7.	Daniel Corral		6.2	8.175		14.375
8.	Daniel Purvis		5.4	8.625		14.025

Still Rings Final			D	E	ND	Score
1.	Arthur Zanetti		6.8	9.075		15.875
2.	Samir Ait Said		6.8	8.875		15.675
3.	Eleftherios Petrounias		6.8	8.825		15.625
4.	Alexander Vorobyov		6.8	8.625		15.425
5.	Yuri van Gelder		6.7	8.700		15.400
6.	Tommy Ramos		6.8	8.600		15.400
7.	Igor Radivilov		6.8	8.525		15.325
8.	Danny Pinheiro-Rodrigues		7.1	7.975		15.075

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