6th Aerobic Gymnastics European Championships
Liberec (CZE), November 20 – 22, 2009

LAUSANNE (SUI), FIG Office, November 19, 2009: 22 federations with 197 gymnasts in the Senior and 226 in the Junior categories will participate in the competitions of the 6th Aerobic Gymnastics European Championships. Several champions will be defending their titles. For the first time a Step Aerobic Dance Contest will take place with 19 groups from eight federations. After Szombathely (HUN), the 6th Aerobic European Championships and Step Aerobic Dance Contest are slated for the Tip-Sport Arena in Liberec (CZE), November 20 - 22.

Disciplines and categories

Gymnasts will be competing in Individual Women, Individual Men, Mixed Pairs, Trios and Groups (6 gymnasts) and in the categories Juniors (age 15 and 17) and Seniors (minimum age 18).

Competitions

Competitors will participate in a qualifying competition (Juniors on Friday, Seniors on Saturday) and eight from each category will qualify for the Finals on Sunday.

Favourites

Several title holders and medallists from Szombathely (HUN) 2007 will defend their positions in Liberec.

Women: The 2007 Champion and runner-up will not be present. Bronze medallist Aurélie Joly will compete and has a good chance to claim the victory as her adversaries are still at the beginning of their international careers.

Men: The three medallists from 2007 will compete: Mircea Zamfir (ROU), Vito Iaia (ITA), Julien Chaninet (FRA).

Mixed Pairs: The French Aurélie Joly and Julien Chaninet, title holders, as well as the rest of the French team prepared themselves well and are legitimately ambitious. The Romanian Pair Cristina Antonescu and Mircea Brinzea, 2nd in 2007 and with a gap of .2 only, will be awesome adversaries.

Trios: The new French-Romanian Trio with Valentin Mavrodineanu, Mircea Brinzea and European Champion Mircea Zamfir (ROU) will be there, as will the French Nicolas Garavel and Morgan Jacquemin, contending alongside Benjamin Garavel this time around. The Italian Trio, 3rd in 2007 and now including female gymnast Ylenia Giugno, will fight for the victory with Emanuele Pagliuca and Vito Iaia. But the second Romanian Trio, 5th in 2007, (Porime/Muj/Popa) may just come and spoil it for them!

Groups: The three collective medallists from Russia, France and Romania will again be competing, possibly with a change or two in the line-up. Both Romania and France are presenting a Men’s and a Women’s Group, while Russia has signed up two Mixed Groups.

The 2007 results were very tight, meaning that everyone has a real chance to win here; but keep an eye on certain outsiders that may end up surprising us.

Programme

Wednesday and Thursday, November 18 and 19: Podium Training

Friday, November 20: 14:00 – 20:00 Juniors Qualifications

Saturday, November 21: 11:30 – 13:00: Step Aerobic Dance Contest: Juniors and Seniors Qualifications; 14:00 – 20:00 Seniors Qualifications

Sunday, November 22: 10:00 – 12:30 Juniors Finals; 15:30 – 18:30 Seniors and Juniors Finals alternating
from 14:00 on: Finals Step Aerobic Dance Contest Juniors and Seniors

(source: UEG / adapt. FIG)