The second Italian serie A meet will be held this Saturday February 28 in Milan at the Forum di Assago. The A2 competition will start at 10:00 am local time (4:00 am EST), while the A1 competition will start at 4:20 pm local time (10:20 am EST).

There won’t be any live stream, but the Italian Federation will upload videos after the meet; you can also purchase tickets if you’re in Milan and want to stop by. Forget how the meet works? Take a look at our preview for the first Serie A meet, which goes into the format and the rules.

Speaking of the first meet, how did it turn up? Let’s recap the highlights.

The Brixia Brescia team won the competition with a 168.600 (earning 25 points for the overall Serie A ranking), while Artistica ’81 Trieste came in second place with a 156.550 (earning 22 points), and then Pro Lissone was third with a 156.300 (earning 20 points).

Erika Fasana was the best all-arounder of the day, earning a 57.15 (thanks to 0.7 bonus, so internationally it would have been 56.450). She was excellent on vault, were she stuck her DTY, and also on floor, where she didn’t perform her biggest skills (her double double and the double layout full-in she’s been training). Instead, she delivered a double layout with a tiny step, a full-in with a small hop, and a double pike; she also performed a double Y-turn connected to an illusion turn, earning a 14.700 (which would’ve been a 14.300 without the bonuses).

On bars, Fasana upgraded her routine, reaching a 5.7 d-score. She performed a Maloney to bail, a toe-shoot, a Ray, and then stuck her double layout dismount, earning a huge 14.400 without the bonus, quite an achievement for Italy on bars. She did struggle a bit on beam, where she had a balance check on her bhs + layout, was short on the back foot in her switch ring, and missed the connection between her full turn and Y-turn.

Vanessa Ferrari finished second in the all-around, as she chose to perform easier routines than what she’s truly capable of. On vault, she performed a 1.5 Yurchenko, stepping OOB with her left foot. On bars, she had a clean routine overall, performing a straddle Jaeger, bail to toe shoot, Ono, and a full-in with a tiny hop.

She definitely had some issues on beam. She piked down the layout on her bhs + bhs + layout, didn’t reach the correct position in either leap in her series (a switch leap to ring leap), her leg was a bit far from her head in the switch ring, and she hopped on her double pike, earning a 13.850. She also downgraded her tumbling on floor, opting for a double layout (with quite a messy landing, finishing almost OOB with one foot), a full-in (again, with her chest very low), a double tuck, and a stuck double pike, reaching a 13.950 without the bonus.

The third best all-arounder was Enus Mariani, who was especially lovely on her favorite event, bars. She earned a 14.300 for a routine that featured a Maloney to bail, a Ray, a straddle Jaeger, and a perfectly stuck double layout dismount. On floor, she delighted the audience with her original and expressive choreography, performing a double Y-turn (in lieu of the Mustafina she’s training), double pike (step back), double tuck, and a double full. Mariani wobbled quite a bit on beam, earning just a 12.900, and then she performed a clean FTY on vault for a 14.050.

Aside from bars, where she fell three times, Carlotta Ferlito had a good day overall. There was actually a bit of controversy here, because three different teams complained that the bars were 10 centimeters lower than they should be, making several gymnasts fall.

Her best event of the day was beam, showing a routine that featured a front aerial to sheep jump, bhs + bhs + layout, switch leap to back tuck, split jump to wolf jump, sissone to side aerial (though this connection was definitely a miss), switch ring, and a 2.5 dismount, where her twisting form was a little iffy. Still, she earned a 14.250, and then went on to debut a brand new floor routine, showing a full-in, triple twist (a bit under-rotated, and again, with form issues), double Y-turn, the Ferrari leap, and a double pike for a 13.450 without the bonus. She also hit her Yurchenko 1.5 on vault with a big hop forward.

Lara Mori led her team, Ginnica Giglio, with a consistent performance overall. On beam, she had a wobble on her Y-turn and a balance check on the second loso in her bhs + loso + loso, but otherwise was clean, hitting her 2.5 dismount with no problems. She earned a 13.250 here without the 0.1 given to her in SV bonus, and managed a 13.650 on her other three events.

Martina Rizzelli struggled on bars, falling twice, but there’s a silver lining – she upgraded her routine to a 6.0 d-score, which is the hardest among the Italian girls. On vault, she performed a DTY with some form issues, and then had a good routine on floor, featuring a double Y-turn (seriously, it’s like a rule that every Italian has to compete this turn on floor!), a well-executed double layout, a full-in, a double tuck, and a double pike, with tiny hops on the latter three skills.

Polish superstar Marta Pihan-Kulesza competed as a guest on two events. She performed a good floor routine, which included a 2.5 to front tuck, a double arabian (OOB), a 1.5 split leap, a front double full, and then an attempt at a Gomez, also known as a quad turn, though she didn’t complete the fourth rotation, earning a 13.450. Unfortunately, she had two falls on bars, first on her shaposh and then again from the high bar, earning just an 11.900.

Giorgia Campana competed only on bars, with a routine that included an Ono 1.5, a Jaeger, a bail to Ray, and a double layout with a tiny hop, earning a 13.900. Unexpectedly, Elisa Meneghini didn’t take part in the competition, likely due to an injury.

Article by Valeria Violi