Krystyna Sankova and Maksym Semyankiv of the Ukraine were the champions of the Sokol Grand Prix in Brno, Czech Republic held over the weekend. The Austrian team of Jasmin Mader and Daniel Kopeinik placed second, while the Czech team of Anna-Maria Kanyai and Daniel Radovesnicky were third.

Like the Swiss Cup, the meet was a mixed pairs event with the format featuring three rounds of competition. In the first round, all gymnasts competed on two apparatus. In the semi-finals, the top eight pairs performed on a third apparatus with scores from the first round not counting into their total. In the final round, the four best pairs from the semi-finals again began on a fresh slate and competed on any one apparatus (including one already competed in a previous round).

Due to the lack of full teams from each country, some gymnasts competed as pairs with gymnasts from other nations, though none of these mixed nation teams made it through to finals.

Ukraine was in the lead at the very beginning with a 55.0. Sankova hit her routines on vault (including a lovely FTY) and floor while teammate Semyankiv looked clean and polished on floor and pommel horse. The Czech gymnasts qualified to semi-finals with a 53.6 thanks to Kanyai’s excellent beam routine and hit bars set, and then Radovesnicky’s polished, albeit easy, vaults and decent p-bars. A mixed team featuring Czech junior Veronika Cenkova (the nation’s Youth Olympic Games competitor this summer) and Swedish gymnast Michael Trane qualified in third place with a 52.7 after both showed their skill on vault and floor.

Eliminated in the first round were two mixed teams, one featuring Marie Nevrklova of the Czech Republic and Christopher Soos of Sweden, and the other featuring Dagmar Lovetinska of the Czech Republic and Victor Pozuelo of Spain.

Qualification Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Event 1	Score	Event 2	Score	Total
1	Krystyna Sankova	Ukraine	FX	13.050	VT	13.500	55.000
	Maksym Semyankiv	Ukraine	FX	14.100	PH	14.350
2	Anna-Maria Kanyai	Czech Republic	UB	13.350	BB	14.250	53.600
	Daniel Radovesnicky	Czech Republic	VT	13.050	PB	12.950
3	Veronika Cenkova	Czech Republic	VT	13.325	FX	12.750	52.700
	Michael Trane	Sweden	FX	13.600	VT	13.025
4	Christina Meixner	Austria	FX	12.100	BB	13.250	52.475
	Michael Fussenegger	Austria	HB	13.050	VT	14.075
5	Marlies Männersdorfer	Austria	FX	11.450	BB	11.950	50.625
	Christian Bazan	Spain	VT	13.275	PB	13.950
6	Jasmin Mader	Austria	FX	12.800	UB	12.800	50.350
	Daniel Kopeinik	Austria	PB	12.000	SR	12.750
7	Johanna Deutschmann	Germany	VT	13.150	UB	11.150	49.500
	Ismael Romero	Spain	SR	12.950	FX	12.250
8	Jana Weisserova	Czech Republic	BB	11.200	FX	11.750	49.300
	Pontus Kallanvaara	Sweden	FX	13.400	HB	12.950
9	Marie Nevrklova	Czech Republic	VT	12.650	FX	10.100	48.650
	Christopher Soos	Sweden	FX	13.500	PB	12.400
10	Dagmar Lovetinska	Czech Republic	FX	11.600	VT	12.550	47.375
	Victor Pozuelo	Spain	VT	11.775	PB	11.450

Sankova and Semyankiv stayed at the top with a 28.4 during the semi-finals, despite Sankova’s struggles on her difficult beam set. Her difficulty and a textbook p-bars set from Semyankiv made them no match for the competition, however, as the Czech team followed right behind them with a 28.05 after Kanyai’s lovely vaults and Radovesnicky’s clean floor.

The Austrian team of Christina Meixner and Michael Fussenegger was the third team to qualify to the final with a 27.825. Meixner hit her vaults while Fussenegger killed it on rings, earning the top score of the semi-final with his 14.9. Finally, Mader and Kopeinik of Austria qualified fourth with a 27.225 after Mader hit some beautiful vaults but Kopeinik struggled a bit on floor.

This round, two mixed Czech and Swedish teams were eliminated (one featuring Cenkova and Trane, and the other featuring Jana Weisserova and Pontus Kallanvaara), as were the Austrian/Spanish team featuring Marlies Männersdorfer and Christian Bazan, and finally the Germany/Spanish team featuring Johanna Deutschmann and Ismael Romero.

Semifinal Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Event	D	E	ND	Score	Total
1	Krystyna Sankova	Ukraine	BB	6.0	7.650	-0.1	13.550	28.400
	Maksym Semyankiv	Ukraine	PB	5.8	9.050		14.850
2	Anna-Maria Kanyai	Czech Republic	VT	4.4 4.4	9.150 9.250		13.600	28.050
	Daniel Radovesnicky	Czech Republic	FX	5.5	8.950		14.450
3	Christina Meixner	Austria	VT	4.4 4.2	8.650 8.600		12.925	27.825
	Michael Fussenegger	Austria	SR	6.2	8.700		14.900
4	Jasmin Mader	Austria	VT	5.0 4.4	9.000 9.250		13.825	27.225
	Daniel Kopeinik	Austria	FX	5.2	8.200		13.400
5	Veronika Cenkova	Czech Republic	BB	5.1	7.850		12.950	26.250
	Michael Trane	Sweden	SR	4.9	8.400		13.300
6	Marlies Männersdorfer	Austria	VT	4.2 2.4	7.800 9.000		11.700	26.200
	Christian Bazan	Spain	SR	5.7	8.800		14.500
7	Jana Weisserova	Czech Republic	UB	3.4	7.350		10.750	24.400
	Pontus Kallanvaara	Sweden	PB	5.0	8.650		13.650
8	Johanna Deutschmann	Germany	FX	3.4	6.950		10.350	22.450
	Ismael Romero	Spain	VT	4.8 2.8	8.650 8.350	-0.1 -0.3	12.100

In the final round, Sankova competed on vault again, performing another very clean FTY as well as a handspring front pike for a 13.85 average. Semyankiv went for a high bar routine, and though it wasn’t without mistakes, he still managed to pull in a 14.75, helping them to their 28.6 finish.

Mader also opted to compete on vault this round, and though she hit her handspring front tuck rather nicely, she fell on her FTY, earning a 13.225. Kopeinik on pommel horse meanwhile hit a decent routine for a 13.7, giving them a 26.925 to end their day in silver medal position.

Radovesnicky finished things up for the Czech team on high bar with a solid routine for a 13.95. Despite the rest of her day looking strong, Kanyai unfortunately fell on floor, coming up with just a 12.5 to give them a 26.45 overall finish, earning bronze.

Though the Austrian team of Meixner and Fussenegger also earned a 26.45, they were awarded fourth place, though I’m not sure what the tie-breaker was. Meixner made mistakes on her very low-difficulty beam routine, earning a 12.0, while Fussenegger hit his floor routine nicely for a 14.45.

Final Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Event	D	E	ND	Score	Total
1	Krystyna Sankova	Ukraine	VT	5.0 4.6	9.200 8.900		13.850	28.600
	Maksym Semyankiv	Ukraine	HB	6.3	8.450		14.750
2	Jasmin Mader	Austria	VT	5.0 4.4	7.900 9.250	-0.1	13.225	26.925
	Daniel Kopeinik	Austria	PH	5.4	8.300		13.700
3	Anna-Maria Kanyai	Czech Republic	FX	5.2	7.300		12.500	26.450
	Daniel Radovesnicky	Czech Republic	HB	5.3	8.650		13.950
4	Christina Meixner	Austria	BB	3.9	8.100		12.000	26.450
	Michael Fussenegger	Austria	FX	5.7	8.750		14.450

Article by Lauren Hopkins