A feat by the PGF gymnasts who, having entered sixth in the final six, had a thrilling race, taking second place in the semi-final, coming close to entering the final three by just a few tenths. The measure of the result is made even greater by the consistency that sees the Palestra Ginnastica Ferrara in the elite of the Italian artistic scene for the third consecutive year, the championship final among the best six of the championship.
The Final Six formula is designed to be as adrenaline-filled as possible: the 6 teams admitted based on the regular season ranking are divided into 2 groups of 3 teams each, on each of the 6 apparatus (free body, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, bars) there will be 2 3-way matches in which 3 points are awarded to the person with the highest jury score, 2 points to the second and 1 point to the lowest score. And so on for all the tools. At the end, the scores obtained by the various teams are added and the ranking of each group is defined. The winner of each group goes directly to the final. The third team admitted to the final is the best of the 2 runners-up, determined by adding the jury scores obtained for all the equipment. Exciting race to be experienced moment by moment. The group of the Palestra Ginnastica Ferrara is very tough and includes Virtus Pasqualetti from Macerata (reigning champion) and the Pro Carate of the bronze medalist in the round of the last European Championships Yumin Abbadini.
We start with the Free Body where the first positive surprise arrives for the PGF with Tommaso Bertarelli who goes beyond all expectations and with a clean exercise snatches a point from the Pro Carate Gymnastics. Then the Kovtun-Show begins with the three-time European champion from Ukraine creating the gap on horseback with pommels and rings. Then came 2 spectacular vaults by Captain Andrea Passini and Steven Matteo, who obtained 5 of the 6 points available in this apparatus, already ensuring the mathematical second place in the group already halfway through the race. At this point it is mandatory to look at the score of SPES Mestre, second in the other group and ahead by more than three points. Kovtun in succession on parallel bars and bars, the exercises where a month ago in Rimini the European championship was sewn on, lights up the hopes of an Este comeback but the Venetians are perfect and erode “only” 2 points and twenty-five to the gap, not enough to conquer the last place for the final to which Vitus Pasqualetti, Romagna Team and Spes Mestre enter.
The Palestra Ginnastica Ferrara is 4th overall and confirms itself as a star of the first magnitude in Italian men’s gymnastics, thanks also to the role played in the regular season by Pietro Miserti, Emiliano Landi and Filippo Rossi, who yesterday did not have the opportunity to get on the platform but supported his teammates greatly.
Alternation of emotions from the “bench” with the technicians Claudio Pasquali, Emanuele Menegozzo, Loriana Ferrari and Irina Gorbacheva who “suffer”, like the many who arrived in Florence to follow the test (including a delegation of the Bavarian twins of TVS Monheim) and those connected from home live on TV. A bit of disappointment at how the final which would have been fully deserved slipped away, but satisfaction that comes from the awareness of what has been achieved in this splendid year.
President Mantero summarizes his team’s performance thus: “It was a truly exciting and enthralling race. We knew we were competitive, but we were up against very strong teams featuring members of our national team which has just won the bronze medal at the European Championships in Rimini. We played it with our very good boys who worthily supported an amazing Illia Kovtun who puts his heart into it when he competes for our team. In the end only 2 indecisions on the pommel horse and the rings prevented us from reaching the final where we could also have had our say for the title. But that’s okay too. The 4th place in the top championship is an important result that adds to the excellent performances in the minor championships and in individual races. I hope that the project we started years ago will also be adequately supported from outside; if this happens, gymnastics in Ferrara will be able to continue to grow and provide great satisfaction”.
