Angela Andreoli
The long-awaited senior debut of Italian prodigy Angela Andreoli happened at Serie A over the weekend, where the 15-year-old stunned on beam to help Brixia get the win.
Andreoli performed a complicated set that included a layout stepout mount, front handspring to front tuck, layout full series, and full-in dismount, coming in at a 6.5 start value…and she did it very well. Aside from coming in a bit shaky on the mount, this was an overall strong routine, bringing in a 14.45, the highest beam score of the competition by nearly a full point.
She also competed a solid Yurchenko 1½ on vault, and on floor she debuted a full-twisting double layout, which was a bit piked and short, but I’m sure it’ll get there eventually. I think the exertion on this opening pass took some steam out of her, as she landed the next pass – a really unique front tuck into a roundoff whip through to full-in – with her hands down, though she cleaned up by the end, doing a double tuck and a double pike to finish things out.
Also representing Brixia were 2020 Olympians Martina Maggio and the D’Amato twins, almost Olympian Giorgia Villa, and Veronica Mandriota.
2021 world vault silver medalist Asia D’Amato was the only member of this squad to compete all four events, and she looked fantastic, like she hasn’t needed a break at all after her two successful trips to Tokyo last year. She put up a 55.300 all-around score thanks to a 14.1 for her powerful Yurchenko double, a 14.05 for a hit bars set, a 13.6 on beam for a routine with only a couple of minor mistakes, and a 13.55 on floor, where she landed a full-twisting double layout, arabian double front, double pike with a big hop back out of bounds, and a double tuck with a great landing.
Alice D’Amato competed every event but beam, doing her best work with a gorgeous bars routine, posting the high score of 14.65, but then faltering a bit when she got to the leg events. On floor, she came up short on her full-in, and then put her hands down on the triple full before sitting the double front, and then on vault, she was a little short on the Yurchenko double, getting the landing there, but it looked a bit weaker than what she’s capable of.
A couple of days following the meet, there were a number of Instagram posts offering support to D’Amato, who reportedly suffered a minor knee injury in training on Monday after landing hyperextended. Hopefully they’re right and it’s not bad, but regardless, we hope she takes the time she needs to heal up before coming back.
Maggio had a few iffy moments on bars, including an arch over on her bail and a messy toe full, but her opening Church to Pak to toe full to Maloney to Tkachev series was done well, and she put up the second-best score of 14.55. She had a fall on her side somi on beam, where she wasn’t fully on the ball, but her Yurchenko 1½ was solid for a 13.9.
We saw Villa’s return following her ill-timed injury at the Arthur Gander Memorial last November, where she competed on just bars and beam. She stuck to these two events here as well, putting up a 14.3 on bars for a good routine, and a 12.9 on beam, where she looked mostly good, but she had a fall on her tuck full series. Mandriota, meanwhile, competed just on floor, getting the highest score of 13.7 after clean tumbling, lovely dance – especially her Mustafina to double spin! – and elegant movement in her choreography.
The team from Civitavecchia came in second, led by first-year senior Manila Esposito, who had a 53.150 all-around score in addition to the second-best score on floor with a 13.6, showing a double tuck with a small hop, a 1½ to front full, and 2½ with a step. She was also lovely to watch on bars, performing a Church to Pak, Maloney to Bhardwaj, van Leeuwen, blind full, and double pike with a hop back, just showing a few form issues throughout but as a whole it was a good routine.
Artistica 81 Trieste was third, where strong work on beam gave them a leg up over the rest of the field, especially thanks to Vittoria Usoni. Ginnica Giglio was in a close fourth, led by 2020 Olympian Lara Mori with a 12.4 on beam (she had a fall on her acro series but was mostly good) and a 12.3 on floor, as well as junior Viola Pierazzini with a 13.1 on bars (a really promising set featuring a Maloney to stalder to bail to stalder full to toe shoot, piked Jaeger, and just a layout dismount) and a 12.45 on beam.
Others of note in the Serie A1 field included Eleonora Calaciura of Juventus Nova Melzo with a 12.95 on beam, Caterina Vitale of Ionica Gym with the third best all-around score of 49.250 (she fell on floor, but had an excellent landing on her Yurchenko full, Alessia Guicciardi of Biancoverde with a 12.45 on beam (her back tuck mount and triple flight series were fantastic!), and 2008-born Aida Colamonici of Ginnastica Romana, who didn’t have the best scores, but she showed immense promise and beautiful work on all three of her events, including a Komova II to toe-on to bail to inbar to inbar full and a big piked Jaeger on bars, as well as clean tumbling on floor, where she also proved to be a talented performer.
The Serie A2 competition saw a win from Estate 83, followed by Ginnastica Pavese in second and Renato Serra in third a tenth over fourth-place Ginnastica Heaven.
13-year-old Helen Kevric of Germany was a standout guest competitor for GAL Lissone, putting up the top scores on her two events, including a 13.35 on vault and a 13.55 on bars, though the team overall didn’t post many other scores over a 12, pushing them down to seventh place. Arianna Belardelli of Ginnastica Heaven had the top beam score of 12.6, and Giulia Antoniotti of Corpo Libero – which is Italian for “floor exercise” – fittingly had the best floor score of 12.7.
Corpo Libero took the lead for the men’s team competition, thanks to steady work from a few strong all-arounders as well as a 13.9 from Andrea Canazza on pommels and a 14.6 from Carlo Macchini on high bar.
In second was Virtus Pasqualetti, getting some great work out of Andrea Cingolani and Matteo Levantesi along with guest Vladyslav Hryko of Ukraine, who was a tremendous help on pommels and parallel bars, while Pro Patria Bustese was third, led by Nicola Bartolini, Ludovico Edalli, Ares Federici, and Marco Lodadio.
A number of guests competed in the men’s competition, including Adria Vera, Thierno Diallo, and Nicolau Mir of Spain, Illia Kovtun and Petro Pakhniuk of Ukraine (Kovtun was a standout on pommels, p-bars, and high bar, while Pakhniuk had great work on floor, vault, and p-bars), and Artur Dalaloyan of Russia, who had a bit of a rough day with several falls, though he was the second-best of the day on rings, where he put up a 14.1.
Results from the women’s and men’s competitions are available here.
Article by Lauren Hopkins