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Ukrainians Maria Livchikova and Maxim Semyankiv joined forces Saturday to win the Brno Grand Prix, a mixed-pairs competition in the Czech Republic. The competition holds a similar format to the Swiss Cup, held two weeks ago in Zurich. One male and one female gymnast pair up to form one team. Each gymnast chose two events to compete in the qualification competition, and one event in the semifinal and four-team final. Gymnasts who choose to compete on the high-scoring vault event must show two different vaults for an averaged score.  The Ukrainians topped qualification but qualified only third to the final, where the pair successfully gambled by selecting the riskiest events. Livchikova, who crashed and burned at the Swiss Cup when paired with Oleg Stepko, competed balance beam and floor exercise in Brno. She nailed her beam routine when it counted in the final rotation for 15.250 (6.2 Difficulty/9.05 Execution). The elegant Livchikova, 17, was Ukraine's top hope for the 2012 Olympics until a knee injury in training forced her out of the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo. Semyanikov, 20, competed still rings and parallel bars during the first two rounds, then chose pommel horse in the finals. He hit for 14.200 (5.6 D). Two-time Czech Olympian Kristýna Pálešová paired up with Spain's Ignacio Losantos to take second. Pálešová, who was part of winning teams in 2007 and 2008, hit uneven bars for 14.200 in the final round. Losantos, 24, was equally solid on still rings (14.450) but it wasn't enough to overcome Ukraine. Mixed-mixed pair Jana Šikulová (Czech Republic) and Mark Ramseier (Switzerland) finished third, with both gymnasts scoring above 14 in the final. Šikulová is also a two-time winner in Brno (see list of past champions below). Czech gymnast Petra Hedbávná paired with American David Jessen, 15, for fourth in the final. Jessen, who was born in Brno, is the son of Czechoslovakian legend Hana Ricna. A member of the U.S. junior national team, Jessen trains at Rhode Island Sports Elite under coaches Vasili Vinogradov, Vladimir Mureso and Ricna. Teams from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia rounded out the field in Brno. External Link: Official Website 2012 Brno Gymnastics Grand Prix
Brno Grand Prix Champions, 1997-2012
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