European Predictions: Vault

There are many women that can challenge for a medal on this event. But the title will definitely go to one woman if she hits, and she is Aliya Mustafina. It's hers to lose. She has the greatest difficulty by far and you can always count on her to hit. In the vault final at last years worlds, her signature vault, which is a half- on McIntosh, was downgraded to a piked position and from a 6.1 to a 5.7. But when she performed her vault at the Bercy World Cup this year, it was much more open and only a judge on coke would credit it as piked. And her Amanar may not be the most graceful, but she gets lovely lift and always has a controlled landing. So in my book, she's the winner unless something dramatic happens. And in my opinion, there are six other gymnasts that could possibly medal, and the are Tatiana Nabieva of Russia, Sandra Izbasa of Romania, Diana Chelaru of Romania, Oksana Chusovitina of Germany, Mariya Livchikova of the Ukraine, and Claudia Mendez of Spain. Tatiana Nabieva of course has terrible form, but I love her to bits and she has the difficulty. We haven't seen much of Sandra's second vault, but I know it's a lay out Podkopayeva. And her first vault will either be a 1.5 Yurchenko or a double. Diana Chelaru is a good vaulter but doesn't have immense difficulty, but maybe she will throw her Amanar that she has been supposedly training. And we all know that Oksana is a huge vaulter, but I personally want to see her Rudi again! Mariya Livchikova has been on the radar since last year. She is the best vaulter on the Ukrainian team, but can be inconsistant on her double twisting Yurchenko. And she has only a pike front half as a second vault, so she loses difficulty from that. And then there is rooky Claudia Mendez. She has a nice DTY, but her second vault is only a half- on front tuck off, so she doesn't have high difficulty on here second vault. And the eighth spot can go to many people, such a Valeriya Maksuta of Israel, Nadine Yarosch of Germany, or even Renata Toth of Hungary. But we will just have to see how this all plays out!

And my prediction is-
1. Aliya Mustafina
2. Oksana Chusovitina
3. Tatiana Nabieva

Aliya Mustafina

Oksana Chusovitina

Tatiana Nabieva