This morning, the Netherlands held a trial competition to aid in their selection of the women who will attend the 2015 European Championships while also releasing the men’s team selection.

According to the Dutch Gymnastics Federation, five men met the qualification requirements specified, though coach Mitch Fenner decided to add one more gymnast to the team so they could attend with six gymnasts, upping their chances for finals.

Bart Deurloo, Yuri van Gelder, Boudewijn de Vries, Jeffrey Wammes, and Epke Zonderland all reached the required scores on at least one event. De Vries is expected to compete in the all-around, and though Zonderland didn’t hit the minimum on p-bars, he is expected to compete there in addition to high bar. Van Gelder will compete on rings, and Deurloo and Wammes will compete on floor, vault, and high bar.

Though Anthony van Assche didn’t meet requirements, he was named to the team with the expectation of competing on pommel horse, rings, and p-bars in France next month.

Fenner, who was diagnosed with cancer last fall, will not be present at Euros, but has “full confidence in the gymnasts [he] selected.” For continued preparation for the meet, all Euros team members will participate in the World Challenge Cup in Cottbus next week, while all but Zonderland and de Vries will also compete at the Challenge Cup in Ljubljana two weeks later.

As for the women’s trial competition…

Eythora Thorsdottir, who trains at SV Pax, placed first with a 53.500 despite a really rough day on bars, where she fell twice. The rest of her day went smoothly, as she hit a very clean FTY in addition to her difficult beam routine and a solid set in her beautiful floor routine.

Aside from Celine van Gerner (who is forgoing Euros in order to compete at the inaugural European Games), Thorsdottir definitely has the most all-around potential for the Dutch, as well as a good chance at beam and possibly even floor finals, so she’ll be a no-brainer for the team.

Right behind Thorsdottir was Noel van Klaveren, finishing with a 53.250. She had falls on bars and beam and hit a decent floor, but her ticket to Euros will be her vaults. She has a very strong DTY in addition to an equally clean Lopez, averaging a 14.800 which would make her a very strong contender for a vault medal.

The Wevers twins both competed bars and beam, with Lieke Wevers also showing some work on floor. There has been much drama in their gym lives recently, as they have been without a consistent training facility which has thrown a wrench into their preparation. Bars and beam were somewhat rough for both, though Sanne Wevers has a super difficult beam routine that when hit could be a medal contender. Lieke lacks difficulty throughout, though still managed to place second on both bars and beam, with scores of 12.700 and 13.500, respectively.

Also there were Reina Beltman, Dyonnailys Supriana, and Isa Maassen. I think each of these ladies has definitely improved since last year, though I don’t think there’s a place for any on the Euros team. They all lack difficulty, though Maassen has done a good job of upping hers, especially on beam, where she has a start value of 5.7 (she unfortunately had some struggles all day, though, including a very deep landing on her DYT But beam is overall a strong event for the Dutch already, so I’m not sure she would be a contender there internationally over her teammates.

As mentioned, there is another trial next week, to be held March 21. Full results from today’s meet are below.

Women’s All-Around Results

* Van Klaveren competed two vaults, receiving scores of 14.900 and 14.700 for an average of 14.800.

Article by Lauren Hopkins