They weren't perfect, but the Russian junior women's team was undeniably the class of the field as it defeated Romania and Italy by more than nine points for the European junior title Wednesday in Birmingham, England.
The Russian junior team -- Anastasia Sidorova, Viktoria Komova, Maria Paseka, Anastasia Grishina and Violetta Malikova -- scored 173.75 in what at times appeared to be a tour de force. All five Russians finished in the top 10 in the all-around during Wednesday's qualifying round. Grishina leads the all-around competition, followed by Komova, who fell on bars, Paseka and Sidorova.
Malikova finished 10th overall, but due to the two-per-country rule in finals, only Grishina and Komova will have the chance to compete for the junior European title during Friday's junior all-around finals.
Romanians Larissa Iordache and Diana Bulimar were the highest scoring non-Russian all-around gymnasts, placing fifth and sixth. Iordache and Bulimar helped Romania to 164.7, good enough for the silver medal. They were followed by an Italian team led by Erika Fasana, the only non-Russian gymnast to compete a double-twisting Yurchenko vault. Italy scored 161.45, while France (161.35) topped Great Britain (156.325) for fourth place.
France's Natalya Zolotaryova and Italy's Carlotta Ferlito finished eighth and ninth all-around on Wednesday.
The Russians were perhaps most impressive on vault. In junior competition that featured many layout Yurchenkos and handspring front pikes, three of the five Russian juniors threw double-twisting Yurchenkos, with a stuck landing from Komova, who debuted an Amanar at the Mikhail Voronin Cup in December.
The Romanians had some difficulty on uneven bars, with Dorina Rusu recording only a 9.925 after a fall. On balance beam, Diana Bulimar fell on her flight series (13.2).
Italy finished third amidst strong uneven bars performances, but also recorded two falls on balance beam.
The junior all-around final is happening Friday, with junior and senior event finals Sunday in Birmingham.
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