 Brazilian Flávia Saraiva placed first on both women's events as qualification concluded at the FIG World Challenge Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, the first first of seven FIG events scheduled for this spring. Pictured: Brazilian gymnasts Daniele Hypólito and Flávia Saraiva with coach Alexandre Carvalho in Baku.Brazilian Flávia Saraiva placed first on both women's events as qualification concluded at the FIG World Challenge Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, the first first of seven FIG events scheduled for this spring.
Saraiva led the qualification on balance beam and floor exercise. Saraiva presented a beautiful exercise on beam (consecutive layouts, RO two-foot layout; , punch front; front aerial, front aerial, side somi; RO double pike) for 15.100, the highest score so far in the women's competition.
Sweden's Emma Larsson qualified second on beam ahead of Uzbekistan's Dilnoza Abdusalimova. Abdusalimova's teammate, the six-time Olympian Oksana Chusovitina, qualified fifth to the beam final. Chusovitina, who turns 41 in June, qualified first to the women's vault final on Thursday in Baku.
The spritely Saraiva also topped Larsson on floor exercise. Two-time Hungarian Olympian Dorina Böczögő, who qualified to finals on vault and beam, qualified third.
Japan's teenage superstar Kenzo Shirai led qualification on men's vault, topping Israel's Andrey Medvedev and Canada's Scott Morgan. Shirai, the 2013 and 2015 world champion on floor exercise, qualified third to the floor final after falling on Thursday.
Azerbaijan star Oleg Stepko turned in the highest score of the competition with his 15.700 on parallel bars (6.8 Difficulty score). Turkey's Ahmet Onder qualified second over Japan's Kazuma Kaya.
Ümit Şamiloğlu from neighboring Turkey clinched the top qualification spot on high bar over Japan's Tomomasa Hasegawa and teammate Onder.
The World Challenge Cup in Baku is the first in a series of events over the next six weeks:. Coming up is the American Cup (all-around), March 5 in Newark, New Jersey, USA; the Glasgow World Cup (all-around) March 12 in Scotland; the DTB Cup (all-around) March 19-20 in Stuttgart, Germany; the Doha World Challenge Cup (apparatus) March 24-26 in Qatar; the Turnier der Meister (apparatus) March 31-April 3 in Cottbus; and the Ljubljana World Challenge Cup (apparatus) April 4-8 in Slovenia.
Competition concludes Sunday at Baku's National Gymnastics Center with the finals.
External Link: Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation
2016 FIG Challenger Cup
February 20, Baku, Azerbaijan
| Balance Beam Qualification | D | E | ND | Score |
| 1. | Flávia Saraiva |  | 6.5 | 8.650 | | 15.150 Q |
| 2. | Emma Larsson |  | 5.8 | 8.000 | 0.1 | 13.700 Q |
| 3. | Dilnoza Abdusalimova |  | 5.3 | 8.400 | 0.1 | 13.600 Q |
| 4. | Tutya Yılmaz |  | 5.9 | 7.600 | | 13.500 Q |
| 5. | Oksana Chusovitina | | 5.3 | 8.150 | | 13.450 Q |
| 6. | Dorina Böczögő |  | 5.4 | 7.900 | 0.1 | 13.200 Q |
| 7. | Marina Nekrasova |  | 5.1 | 8.000 | | 13.100 Q |
| 8. | Florine Harder |  | 5.8 | 7.000 | | 12.800 Q |
| 9. | Elisa Hämmerle |  | 4.9 | 7.950 | 0.1 | 12.750 R |
| 10. | Tzuf Feldon |  | 5.0 | 7.400 | | 12.400 R |
| 11. | Yuliya Inshina | | 5.2 | 7.000 | 0.1 | 12.100 R |
| 12. | Daniele Hypólito | | 5.8 | 6.200 | | 12.000 |
| 13. | Demet Mutlu | | 4.9 | 7.000 | | 11.900 |
| 14. | Lina Philipp | | 5.4 | 6.200 | 0.1 | 11.500 |
| 15. | Yana Horokhova |  | 5.6 | 5.850 | | 11.450 |
| 16. | Tjaša Kysselef |  | 4.4 | 6.800 | | 11.200 |
| 17. | Lisa Ecker | | 5.2 | 6.000 | | 11.200 |
| 18. | Lara Omahen | | 4.1 | 5.750 | | 9.850 |
| Women's Floor Exercise Qualification | D | E | ND | Score |
| 1. | Flávia Saraiva | | 5.4 | 8.400 | | 13.800 Q |
| 2. | Emma Larsson | | 5.4 | 8.100 | | 13.500 Q |
| 3. | Dorina Böczögő | | 5.4 | 8.050 | 0.1 | 13.350 Q |
| 4. | Florine Harder | | 5.3 | 7.950 | 0.1 | 13.150 Q |
| 5. | Tutya Yılmaz | | 5.4 | 7.500 | | 12.900 Q |
| 6. | Lisa Ecker | | 5.3 | 7.500 | | 12.800 Q |
| 7. | Marina Nekrasova | | 5.2 | 7.450 | 0.1 | 12.550 Q |
| 8. | Oksana Chusovitina | | 4.9 | 7.800 | 0.2 | 12.500 Q |
| 9. | Lina Philipp | | 5.0 | 7.750 | 0.3 | 12.450 R |
| 10. | Dilnoza Abdusalimova | | 5.1 | 7.300 | | 12.400 R |
| 11. | Yuliya Inshina | | 5.2 | 7.100 | | 12.300 R |
| 12. | Ekin Morova | | 5.0 | 7.250 | | 12.250 |
| 13. | Yana Horokhova | | 5.1 | 7.000 | | 12.100 |
| 14. | Tzuf Feldon | | 4.9 | 6.900 | 0.3 | 11.500 |
| 15. | Elisa Hämmerle | | 4.9 | 6.850 | 0.6 | 11.150 |
| 16. | Lara Omahen | | 4.6 | 6.450 | 0.1 | 10.950 |
| 17. | Lana Voler | | 4.5 | 6.900 | 0.6 | 10.800 |
| Men's Vault Qualification | D | E | ND | Score | Average |
| 1. | Kenzo Shirai |  | 6.0 | 9.000 | | 15.000 | 14.850 Q |
| 5.6 | 9.100 | | 14.700 | |
| 2. | Andrey Medvedev | | 6.0 | 9.000 | | 15.000 | 14.775 Q |
| 6.0 | 8.650 | 0.1 | 14.550 | |
| 3. | Scott Morgan |  | 5.6 | 8.800 | | 14.400 | 14.325 Q |
| 5.6 | 8.750 | 0.1 | 14.250 | |
| 4. | Oleg Stepko | | 5.6 | 8.800 | | 14.400 | 14.325 Q |
| 5.6 | 8.650 | | 14.250 | |
| 5. | Vitālijs Kardašovs |  | 5.6 | 8.650 | | 14.250 | 14.300 Q |
| 5.2 | 9.150 | | 14.350 | |
| 6. | Volodymyr Hrybuk | | 5.6 | 8.850 | | 14.450 | 14.200 Q |
| 5.2 | 8.850 | 0.1 | 13.950 | |
| 7. | Adrià Vera |  | 5.6 | 8.850 | | 14.450 | 14.200 Q |
| 5.2 | 8.750 | | 13.950 | |
| 8. | Ahmet Onder | | 5.6 | 8.450 | 0.1 | 13.950 | 14.050 Q |
| 5.2 | 8.950 | | 14.150 | |
| 9. | Ferhat Arıcan | | 5.6 | 7.750 | 0.3 | 13.050 | 13.550 R |
| 5.6 | 8.550 | 0.1 | 14.050 | |
| 10. | Artem Dolgopyat | | 5.6 | 7.650 | | 13.250 | 13.550 R |
| 5.2 | 8.650 | | 13.850 | |
| 11. | Marcus Conradi |  | 5.2 | 8.600 | 0.1 | 13.700 | 13.400 R |
| 4.4 | 8.700 | | 13.100 | |
| 12. | Odin Martin Kalvo | | 5.2 | 8.100 | 0.3 | 13.000 | 12.575 |
| 3.2 | 8.950 | | 12.150 | |
| 13. | Vladyslav Hryko | | 5.2 | 7.400 | | 12.600 | 12.075 |
| 2.8 | 8.750 | | 11.550 | |
| Parallel Bars Qualification | D | E | ND | Score |
| 1. | Oleg Stepko | | 6.8 | 8.900 | | 15.700 Q |
| 2. | Ahmet Onder | | 6.7 | 8.700 | | 15.400 Q |
| 3. | Kazuma Kaya | | 6.8 | 8.400 | | 15.200 Q |
| 4. | Kenzo Shirai | | 6.4 | 8.650 | | 15.050 Q |
| 5. | Ferhat Arıcan | | 6.2 | 8.600 | | 14.800 Q |
| 6. | Nestor Abad | | 6.4 | 8.200 | | 14.600 Q |
| 7. | Alexander Shatilov | | 5.8 | 8.650 | | 14.450 Q |
| 8. | Maxime Gentges |  | 5.9 | 8.400 | | 14.300 Q |
| 9. | Illia Yehorov | | 6.3 | 7.650 | | 13.950 R |
| 10. | Stian Skjerahaug | | 5.3 | 8.600 | | 13.900 R |
| 11. | Moran Yanuka | | 5.5 | 8.400 | | 13.900 R |
| 12. | Odin Martin Kalvo | | 4.9 | 7.700 | | 12.600 |
| 13. | Anton Olivson | | 5.9 | 6.450 | | 12.350 |
| 14. | Ruben López | | 5.6 | 6.150 | | 11.750 |
| High Bar Qualification | D | E | ND | Score |
| 1. | Ümit Şamiloğlu | | 6.0 | 8.650 | | 14.650 Q |
| 2. | Tomomasa Hasegawa | | 6.7 | 7.950 | | 14.650 Q |
| 3. | Ahmet Onder | | 5.9 | 8.400 | | 14.300 Q |
| 4. | Alexander Shatilov | | 6.4 | 7.850 | | 14.250 Q |
| 5. | Tin Srbić |  | 5.9 | 8.250 | | 14.150 Q |
| 6. | Maxime Gentges | | 5.9 | 8.100 | | 14.000 Q |
| 7. | Oleg Stepko | | 5.6 | 8.350 | | 13.950 Q |
| 8. | Moran Yanuka | | 5.3 | 8.500 | | 13.800 Q |
| 9. | Jackson Payne | | 6.6 | 7.100 | | 13.700 R |
| 10. | Stian Skjerahaug | | 5.2 | 8.350 | | 13.550 R |
| 11. | Naoto Hayasaka | | 5.5 | 7.950 | | 13.450 R |
| 12. | Andres Martín | | 5.8 | 7.250 | | 13.050 |
| 13. | Eduard Shaulov | | 4.8 | 7.950 | | 12.750 |
| 14. | Nestor Abad | | 5.3 | 7.450 | | 12.750 |
| 15. | Marcus Conradi | | 5.4 | 7.350 | | 12.750 |
| 16. | Oleksandr Petrenko | | 5.6 | 6.900 | | 12.500 |
| 17. | Petro Pakhnyuk | | 5.8 | 6.700 | | 12.500 |
| 18. | Maksym Semiankiv | | 5.8 | 6.250 | | 12.050 |
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