Russians Viktoria Komova and Anastasia Grishina finished 1-2 during all-around finals at the junior European Championships Friday in Birmingham, England.
The impressive Komova, 15, already touted as one of the top gymnasts in the world, solidified her status as an early frontrunner for the 2012 Olympics by winning the junior European all-around title. In the final, Komova, who finished second to Grishina in qualifications, delivered a 58.375, an overall score that would have beaten Bridget Sloan's at the 2009 World Championships.
Komova landed an Amanar vault for the second time in competition to top Grishina (56.925), who fell from beam on her roundoff, tucked full combination. Komova had competed a double-twisting Yurchenko during Wednesday's junior team final/event final qualification round.
In spite of the miss on beam, Grishina, who is quicky becoming known for her exceptional grace and form, still managed to hold off Romanians Larissa Iordache and Diana Bulimar, who finished third (55.675) and fourth (54.175) all-around. The Romanians are very sharp on beam and floor, but do not have the difficulty of the Russians on vault and bars.
Italy's Erika Fasana finished fifth (52.925), followed by France's Anne Kuhm (52.775) and the Netherlands's Lisa Top (52.525).
The Russian team, who occupied the top four places in the all-around during Wednesday's qualification/team finals, was prohibited from exhibitioning all of its junior talent during the all-around final due to the two-per-country rule, which allows only the top two gymnasts per country to advance to the final round.
Competition continues with the senior women's team final tomorrow afternoon beginning at 3 p.m. from the National Indoor Arena.
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