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NASTIA LIUKIN WINS GOLD IN US CLASSIC INCLUDING QUADRUPLE TWIST ON FLOOR!
ASHLEY PRIESS WINS JUNIORS!
Nastia Liukin from WOGA won the US Classic All Around Senior Title, and Cincinatti’s Ashley Priess won the Junior All Around Title in Virginia Beach. Jana Bieger won Silver with Alicia Sacremone from Brestayne winning Bronze in the Senior event, and Chellsie Memmel finished 4th after an unfortunate fall on Floor scoring 36.965.
15 year old Nastia was the US Junior Champion in 2003 and 2004 and performed her quadruple twist in her Floor Exercise for the first time in competition, a move which is not even in the F.I.G. Code of Points yet! Patricia Moreno from Spain also attempted the quadruple twist. Nastia said “ I am so glad I did the quad today. It felt great. I got it out of my system and now I know I can do it”. Nastia’s father and Coach at WOGA, World and Olympic Champion Valery Liukin, was the first gymnast in the World to perform triple back on floor. Her mother Anna is a former World Champion in Rhythmic Gymnastics. WOGA have a fantastic record of producing top class gymnasts including Vanessa Atler, Carly Patterson, Marie Fjordham, Kaitlin White and last year’s Bars and Beam Gold medallist Hollie Vise.
Nastia also won individual titles on Bars and Beam, with Alicia Sacramone from Brestayn’s winning Gold on Floor and Annie DiLuzio from Byers first on Vault winning Gold for the second year running. Annie tied with Katie Lieberman for the US Classic Vault Title in 2004. Alicia said “I competed my old floor routine today because it is more fun, but added my new tumbling passes. I’m happy with how things went and I am ready for the Visa Championships.”
Jana Bieger from Twisters Gymnastics Academy scored 37.749 to win Silver, and is coached by her Mother 1976 German Olympian Andrea Bieger. Jana performed new skills including double layout with front full through to triple full on Floor, and a double twisting Yurchenko on vault . Her Beam routine was superb and consisted of barani, front aerial, back layout to one knee, front aerial to one knee, front tuck, one-armed back handspring, layout, front aerial 1/4, perfectly stuck punch double front dismount. Jana also won Silver in last year’s Junior Competition, and was delighted with her performance.
Grace Taylor’s floor routine was exquisite with superb choreography, and although she only began practising the routine a month before the event, it is already very polished and beautifully performed.
Former Olympian Dominique Moceanu was due to compete but withdrew due to an Achilles injury. Moceanu, announced her elite comeback in May 2005, but has been suffering from Achilles tendinosis for two months. She said the injury is not severe, but that she decided to withdraw after reviewing the results of an MRI. "I'm confident that the choice is a wise one as I look to 2006 and beyond," Moceanu said.
In the junior competition, Cincinatti finished first and second with Ashley Priess winning Gold for the second year running and Monica Shiji Silver, with Shawn Johnson (Chow's) winning bronze.
Gymnasts scoring 35.000 (senior) and 32.500 (junior) will advance to the U.S. National Championships, which will take place from August 10th to 13th in Indianapolis. Many of the gymnasts in Virginia Beach had previously qualified to the championships through the national team testing program. 14 advanced to the sport’s national championships based on their performance at the U.S. Classic.
Full results were as follows:-
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