Celine van Gerner

France hosted the Netherlands and Austria in a friendly meet, the Recontre Internationale de Gymnastique, in Rouen over the weekend.

The World Championships team from the Netherlands hasn’t yet been officially decided – it should be announced on September 17 – but the Dutch federation sent who would likely represent the nation in Nanning, China in October. Though they were without Sanne Wevers in an effort to keep her healthy, they performed very well, winning the team title with a 214.65.

The French team looked a little rough around the edges, placing second with just a 206.65. Their Worlds team was decided earlier this month, and the entire squad was present, minus Mira Boumejmajen (who was named to the team in place of the injured Maelys Plessis) and plus alternate Laura Longueville, perhaps to give her a trial. The Austrian team, set in stone since August, was also fully in attendance and came third with a 193.7.

Celine van Gerner of the Netherlands was first in the all-around, hitting an FTY in addition to clean bars, beam, and floor routines for a 54.55 total. She was followed by Marine Brevet of France (who had a mostly solid day despite beam, earning a 52.75 for silver), and teammate Lisa Top with a 51.75 for bronze.

Especially impressive was the Netherlands’ Lieke Wevers, who hit a solid bars set and had the best beam and floor routines of the day; she should be a solid presence for the country at Worlds. Her teammates Maartje Ruikes and Shirley van Deene proved to be strong vaulters, taking the top two vault scores – the only scores above 14.

Best on bars was 2012 Olympian Youna Dufournet of France, who made her international comeback at this meet after becoming French all-around, bars, and beam champion earlier this year. Though it wasn’t the smoothest of comebacks – especially on beam, where she fell – it was nice seeing the 2009 World vault bronze medalist back in action. I believe she is planning on competing in the all-around in Nanning, and hope we see her back in solid form.

All-Around Results

Team Results

Article by Lauren Hopkins