Yesenia Ferrera of Cuba and Jessica Lopez of Venezuela became vault and bars champions this evening at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico.

Though Ferrera wasn’t quite as tidy as she was in her qualifications performance, she managed to hit her Rudi and Tsuk double full with no major problems tonight, averaging a 14.887 to win the title by nearly half a point. Her Rudi had form issues in the air and she had to take a step back on the landing, though compared to other Rudis currently competed internationally, hers is probably the strongest.

Her teammate Dovelis Torres earned the silver medal with a decent DTY – nothing superb but nothing scary, either – and a front handspring tuck full, which looked clean overall. Puerto Rico’s Nicolle Vasquez was the surprise bronze medalist after hitting the best DTYs I’ve seen her compete. She hit a clean handspring layout half, and looked thrilled with her performance – and started crying when she realized she’d reach the podium.

Alexa Moreno of Mexico pulled out of the vault final due to pain sustained during qualifications, leaving the spot open for first reserve Yamilet Peña of the Dominican Repubic. Peña’s second chance landed her in seventh, however, as she got a weak block for both her DTY and her Rudi, a new vault not quite ready for competition. She limped off of the podium after landing the Rudi with her knees a bit locked…and to add insult to injury, the start value on her Rudi was downgraded.

Honorable mention for clean form goes to Mexico’s Elsa Garcia, who performed a beautiful Yurchenko 1.5 to huge cheers from the crowd, and Colombia’s Catalina Escobar, who has a pretty textbook Yurchenko half on front pike.

Though Lopez was last to go on the uneven bars, she had a very strong performance aside from some leg separation on her pak salto and a stumble back on her double front dismount. Her giant full to Tkatchev to Gienger was awesome, as usual, and she hit an awesome straddle on her Jaeger, sealing her win with a 14.1 and adding a second gold to her collection.

Ana Sofia Gomez of Guatemala isn’t typically known as a bars gymnast and she qualified last into this final, but ended up the silver medalist thanks to a calm, skilled routine that included a nice Maloney to hip raise to Ray, a toe full to Gienger (with some leg separation when she caught), and a full-in dismount for a 13.5.

In the bronze medal position was Colombia’s Bibiana Velez, who had an excellent beginning to her routine – a giant full (with leg separation) to Gienger before a nice piked Jaeger and then a hop to blind to straddle Jaeger. Her Ray was caught a bit in dead hang, but overall it was a solid exercise, earning a 13.35.

Honorable mention again goes to Garcia. Despite leading after qualifications and putting up a mostly gorgeous routine in finals, she unfortunately arched over on her bail and had to take an extra swing. Otherwise, she looked very clean, and I loved her 1.5 pirouette to piked Jaeger…a lovely combination, and performed well! Ivet Rojas of Venezuela, who tied Garcia in fourth, also performed a 1.5 to piked Jaeger and had probably the cleanest routine of the night, though her difficulty was no match for the others who placed above her.

Though she was unable to vault, Moreno was well enough to do bars – but things got scary for a minute when she whacked her knees on the high bar on her Deltchev, which was a rough skill from the start as she came in late from her clear hip full. Despite hitting her knees, however, Moreno still managed to catch the bar, and then rotated underneath before hopping off to safety, laughing the whole way to the chalk bowl. Overall, the routine was pretty rough, even for her – admittedly not a bars gymnast. She missed nearly every handstand and arched over at least twice, having to take extra swings to change direction. A nightmare of a routine, but she came off the podium happier than the gold medalist!

The Central American and Caribbean Games continue tomorrow, November 21, with balance beam and floor finals, which you can watch on the Veracruz 2014 website beginning at 6 pm EST.

Vault Event Final Results

Uneven Bars Event Final Results

Article by Lauren Hopkins