Helen Kevric | Photo by Filippo Tomasi

In a feat that is typically not possible due to the biennial nature and the junior age requirements of the competition, Helen Kevric of Germany has become the back-to-back European Youth Olympic Festival all-around champion.

With the 2021 edition of EYOF being pushed back a year to 2022, it meant juniors born in 2008 would be eligible to compete as 14-year-olds last year, and then again as 15-year-olds this year, giving several athletes a second opportunity to attend this prestigious meet. Last year, Kevric just barely won the title with a 51.750, a tenth ahead of both Amalia Puflea of Romania, who is now a senior, and Lilou Viallat of France, who is also back competing this week. But after struggling with an injury at the junior world championships in March, causing her to downgrade her vault and miss out on the all-around competition entirely, whether she’d be able to once again capture the EYOF title was questionable.

But Kevric returned to the all-around for Germany’s EYOF trials in early June, which she swept, and then she also won the junior national all-around, bars, and floor titles, putting up scores that – if she could replicate here – would make her unbeatable in Maribor. And unbeatable she was, dominating the competition with a 53.900 to win the all-around title by over a point and a half and showcasing four incredible routines to qualify in the top three on every apparatus. With an incredible combination of difficulty and execution as well as a virtuosity in her skillset and a composure beyond her years, Kevric has again proven herself as one of the best juniors in the world.

A major surprise on the podium was Sara Caputo of Italy, who defeated her two more well-known and experienced teammates to win the silver medal with a 52.350. Though she’s generally known for being strong on vault and floor, and was great on both here, I was more impressed with the balance she showed across all four events, and like Kevric, she qualified into all four finals.

There ended up being a tie for bronze, with Emma Fioravanti of Italy taking one of the medals while Ema Kandalova of Great Britain was another surprise for the second, showing an incredible rebound after a rough performance at the junior world championships. Fioravanti attempted a handspring front layout on vault, but while she unfortunately fell there, she made up for the mistake elsewhere, and especially with her big tumbling on floor, where she posted the top score of the day with a 13.25. Kandalova, meanwhile, lacked the difficulty that the other three on the podium showed, but proved that she can be consistent and clean, and her beam execution score was one of the highest of the day.

Rounding out the top eight were Marlene Gotthardt of Germany in fifth place with a 50.150 after putting up the second-best score of the competition on beam, last year’s bronze medalist Lilou Viallat of France in sixth with a 50.100, Gabriela Vanoaga of Romania in seventh with a 49.950, her best international score of the year, and Vanesa Masova of Czechia in eighth with a 49.800, improving on last year’s score by nearly three points.

Benedetta Gava of Italy, who I anticipated might have the best shot on the podium among the Italians, unfortunately had a miss on beam here, and she also wasn’t at top strength on floor, ending up in ninth with a 49.300. She did have a very strong Yurchenko double on vault, though, and qualified second into that final in addition to surprisingly qualifying sixth into the bars final, one that I thought would be a tough get for Italy here, though a weaker-than-usual bars field opened up the doors for some lower difficulty routines.

In the team competition, Germany and Italy didn’t disappoint. They were the top two coming into this meet, with Germany a favorite after winning silver to Italy’s bronze last summer, the Italians turned the tables and managed to get the gold with a 104.850, eight tenths ahead of Germany with a 104.050. I thought bars would be the thing to hold Italy back this year, especially compared to how strong their junior bars teams have been over the past couple of years, but with Germany counting a weak routine from Gotthardt, they weren’t able to make up as much ground as they’re capable of, while Italy hit both sets and had more than a point lead ahead of Germany on vault alone, giving them a significant edge to get the win.

The battle for bronze seemed like it was going to be between France, Great Britain, and Romania, last year’s team champions, and the Brits ended up stealing the show, led by an incredibly confident Kandalova, who contributed scores on all four events in addition to the team counting tidy vault, beam, and floor routines from Jemima Taylor as well as a great bars set from Ellie Lewis.

France wound up in fourth, doing mostly good work but ultimately held back by a lack of difficulty and having to count some scores in the 11s with Astria Nélo not competing on floor, while Romania ended up in sixth, looking great overall, but sadly counting multiple falls on bars.

The biggest surprise was Switzerland sneaking into fifth place, especially without the help of junior national champion Samira Raffin. All three on this team – Chiara Roveri, Kea Walser, and Angela Pennisi – had great performances, finishing 12th, 13th, and 15th in the all-around, respectively, and they ended up counting no major mistakes to upset the Romanians and come within two tenths of matching France, an incredible feat and a nice bump up from eighth place last year.

Rounding out the top eight were the Netherlands in seventh and Ukraine in eighth, with Ukraine doing super impressive work on beam, especially from Diana Lobok, who showed a side aerial to layout stepout, front aerial to split ring jump, switch ring, full Y turn, and double full dismount to qualify first into the final with a 13.45.

The list of the top 24 all-arounders and top eight teams is below, along with lists of everyone who qualified into the individual apparatus finals, which take place this Friday and Saturday.

All-Around Final Results

1. Helen Kevric, Germany, 53.900
2. Sara Caputo, Italy, 52.350
3. Emma Fioravanti, Italy, 50.400
– Ema Kandalova, Great Britain, 50.400
5. Marlene Gotthardt, Germany, 50.150
6. Lilou Viallat, France, 50.100
7. Gabriela Vanoaga, Romania, 49.950
8. Vanesa Masova, Czechia, 49.800
xx. Benedetta Gava, Italy, 49.300
9. Diana Lobok, Ukraine, 49.200
10. Chloe Baert, Belgium, 49.000
11. Chiara Roveri, Switzerland, 48.800
12. Kea Walser, Switzerland, 48.600
13. Alij de Wijze, Netherlands, 48.400
xx. Angela Pennisi, Switzerland, 48.300
14. Jemima Taylor, Great Britain, 48.150
xx. Lisa Wötzel, Germany, 48.100
15. Mila Prpic, Croatia, 48.050
16. Miruna Botez, Romania, 47.600
17. Maud Aldenzee, Netherlands, 47.450
18. Yali Shoshani, Israel, 46.950
xx. Tara Hanaseth, Netherlands, 46.900
19. Hannah Ifeanyi, Norway, 46.850
20. Maelys Mrozkowiak, France, 46.800
21. Maria Drobniak, Poland, 46.750
– Maryna Klishchevska, Ukraine, 46.750
23. Evelin Veistelehto, Finland, 46.300
24. Leire Escauriaza, Spain, 46.150

Team Final Results

1. Italy 104.850
2. Germany 104.050
3. Great Britain 100.400
4. France 98.700
5. Switzerland 98.500
6. Romania 97.550
7. Netherlands 96.800
8. Ukraine 96.450

Vault Qualification Results

1. Helen Kevric, Germany, 13.675
2. Benedetta Gava, Italy, 13.600
3. Sara Caputo, Italy, 13.525
4. Ema Kandalova, Great Britain, 12.975
5. Vanesa Masova, Czechia, 12.850
6. Gabriela Vanoaga, Romania, 12.775
7. Jemima Taylor, Great Britain, 12.775
8. Leire Escauriaza, Spain, 12.775
– Kea Walser, Switzerland, 12.775

R1. Miruna Botez, Romania, 12.675
R2. Mila Prpic, Croatia, 12.600
R3. Tara Hanaseth, Netherlands, 12.550

Bars Qualification Results

1. Helen Kevric, Germany, 13.750
2. Vanesa Masova, Czechia, 12.850
3. Sara Caputo, Italy, 12.650
4. Ema Kandalova, Great Britain, 12.450
5. Ellie Lewis, Great Britain, 12.400
6. Benedetta Gava, Italy, 12.250
7. Astria Nélo, France, 12.250
xx. Emma Fioravanti, Italy, 12.200
8. Angela Pennisi, Switzerland, 12.150

R1. Lilou Viallat, France, 12.100
R2. Hannah Ifeanyi, Norway, 12.050
R3. Chloe Baert, Belgium, 11.950
R3. Chiara Roveri, Switzerland, 11.950

Beam Qualification Results

1. Diana Lobok, Ukraine, 13.450
2. Marlene Gotthardt, Germany, 13.050
3. Helen Kevric, Germany, 13.050
4. Emma Fioravanti, Italy, 13.050
5. Gabriela Vanoaga, Romania, 13.000
6. Sara Caputo, Italy, 12.950
7. Miruna Botez, Romania, 12.900
8. Alij de Wijze, Netherlands, 12.500

R1. Chloe Baert, Belgium, 12.500
R2. Ema Kandalova, Great Britain, 12.450
R3. Despoina Sagka, Greece, 12.400
R3. Lilou Viallat, France, 12.400

Floor Qualification Results

1. Emma Fioravanti, Italy, 13.250
2. Helen Kevric, Germany, 13.100
3. Sara Caputo, Italy, 12.750
4. Lilou Viallat, France, 12.650
5. Lisa Wötzel, Germany, 12.550
xx. Marlene Gotthardt, Germany, 12.550
6. Gabriela Vanoaga, Romania, 12.450
7. Angela Pennisi, Switzerland, 12.400
8. Jemima Taylor, Great Britain, 12.400

R1. Chiara Roveri, Switzerland, 12.350
xx. Kea Walser, Switzerland, 12.250
R2. Chloe Baert, Belgium, 12.150
R3. Mila Prpic, Croatia, 12.150

Article by Lauren Hopkins