#desirée carofiglio

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Italian Nats 2019 Recap

The 2019 Italian national championship was held in Meda on September 13-15 and it was also a trial for the upcoming worlds. Asia D’Amato won the AA competition, followed by Desirée Carofiglio and Giorgia Villa. Alice D’Amato came in 4th, Elisa Iorio in 5th, and Martina Maggio in 6th. These 6 gymnasts make up the team plus alternate that will compete in Stuttgart. My personal recap below the cut.

(Pic from GAI on FB)

- Asia D’Amato showed up in really good shape at this competition. She was the only one among the Brixia girls to hit 4/4 which allowed her to win the competition with a 55.200 (no bonuses). Her vault boosted her total with a 14.900 for her DTY which clearly shows that she’s been working on an Amanar lately (which hopefully she won’t debut before next year). Together with her Yurchenko half-on half-off she qualified in 1st for VT EF and went on to win that title (easily) with a 14.375 avg. On bars she struggled a bit with a close pak catch, but recovered and still made UB EF where she then counted two falls but it really wouldn’t have mattered as this is her worst event. On beam she was the only one to hit consistently at nats and also at the previous friendly meet in the Netherlands, even though she only has a 5.1D. On floor she brought her FTDLO (pretty piked and not landed very well) + DLO. She still needs to do a lot of cleaning up on the landings but I’m glad they worked on her stamina, since she finally managed to hit the full routine twice without dying. Casella revealed that the long term plan is for Asia to bring back the double arabian in third and only do 3 passes total (FTDLO, DLO, double arabian...send thoughts and prayers).

- Desirée Carofiglio also looks in an amazing shape. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen her look this confident and solid AA as she is now and I’ve been stanning her for ages so I know what I’m talking about. She was second only to Asia (who had a huge advantage with the big score her DTY earned her) in the AA and only by .2! Absolutely crazy. On vault she has her good 1.5Y back and a second vault which is a fhs pike. She unfortunately sat her 1.5Y in EF which kept her out of medals, but that’s clearly a fluke. She hit bars both in quals and EF, and she’s showing a lot more confidence and cleanliness of execution. Her Nabieva, while still on the pikey side, is getting consistent and her handstands have improved a lot and she scored a 14.000 on both days on this event, finishing in 4th in EF only because the 03s are excellent here. On beam she consistently hit her solid routine, going 13+ on both days and earning again a 4th place. But it’s FX where she truly shines with her beautiful front tumbling and great choreo. She brought back her front layout to double front tuck and her Dowell which she landed extremely well every time and this plus her awesome artistry (with a little help from Lara Mori not being very clean and Giorgia Villa not making FX EF) earned her the gold medal on floor. Overall, an amazing competition for her, and I hope this showed Casella he can count on her for more than just floor at worlds.

- Giorgia Villa, despite not having the best day in qualification (oob by two miles on her triple twist on floor and fall on beam on her tuck full), with her huge vault and bars she managed to snatch the bronze AA medal ahead of Alice D’Amato (who wasn’t exactly thrilled about her 4th place LOL, see pic, she’s in the pink leo)

Anyway, Giorgia still managed to make UB and BB EFs (beam was a bit of a splatfest in quals) and she won gold in both with superb routines. On bars Giorgia now has a consistent 6.2 routine which is full of connections including ricna-pak-maloney-bhardwaj which she sometimes connects to the VL. On beam, the roundoff tuck full has a decent hit rate, but since it’s such a hard acro, it will forever make me nervous. I’m very happy that (for now at least) she has taken out the double pike dismount in favor of a simple double twist which she can stick and, since her twisting form is great, gets wayyy less deductions. It should be noted that there have been hints from Brixia and GAI that both Asia and Giorgia are training Amanars (which is not surprising as both their DTYs are looking really good and you can tell they’ve been working on that extra twist lately, from the way they land the DTY). Hopefully and realistically, we won’t see them before next year but this is both exciting and terrifying. On floor, I’m also pretty confident that a Silivas is in the works for Giorgia, since her full-in is beautiful and high. I hope she ditches the DLO forever in favor of that. At nats (or at the dutch friendly) she hasn’t done the DLO so yay for that.

- Alice D’Amato looked like she was going to medal in the AA over Giorgia but she counted a fall on beam on her new double wolf turn and that put her in 4th place instead. Vault and bars looked great for her as well, however her floor needs extra work as her opening DLO is still short and so is her triple twist in second. This was particularly clear in FX EF, where she landed both passes kinda badly and then scratched the rest of the routine while touching her ankle...It *looks* like it shouldn’t be anything major, but she will undergo some checks before she can be declared fine. Hopefully she’ll be ok, it would be such a shame if she got injured again after all the struggle with her previous comeback. She won the bronze medal on bars with a great 14.200 routine.

- Elisa Iorio looks like she will be the one not doing AA at worlds out of the 03s right now, unless they’re having her peak riiiiiiight before worlds. She’s looking strong on bars, her best event, but on beam, the other event where she should shine, she’s still inconsistent. On vault, she brought back her DTY which, despite not looking dangerous, is not up to speed with the D’Amato and Giorgia’s, “only” scoring a 14.400 (for comparison, Desy’s 1.5 scored a 14.3). This has me wonder whether she’ll be vaulting or not. She definitely won’t be doing floor I’d say, since she got a 12.900 for a hit routine. I think unless her DTY improves in the next few days (unlikely) they should just have her do UB and possibly BB. I don’t know if I would bet on her or Desy’s consistency more tbh. Right now I’d go with Desy. She won silver on bars with a good routine. She didn’t connect out of the pak but she did connect Ezhova-VL which is very impressive. I wish she’d be able to bring back her endo dismount combo but I think she’s been having issues with it since she’s grown quite a bit. So now she’s just doing a double front.

- Martina Maggio proved once again that she can be a great backup asset and she will most likely be the alternate at worlds. She brought back her 1.5Y that is looking strong. Her bars and floor have a low D, but because she’s so clean and precise, she gains in E what she lacks in D. It’s on beam that she could offer the most to the team, with her cleanliness and consistency. She has added a double wolf turn on beam With her 5.3D, she managed to win silver in EF on this event, right behind Giorgia Villa. I’m so happy that she’s back on all 4 events after being injured repeatedly for such a long time.

- Lara Mori didn’t do AA and generally didn’t look too sharp BUT this is definitely understandable as she’s not planning on going to Worlds. This was her decision, she specifically asked Casella not to go because she wants to try and go the world cup route to qualify for Tokyo and get a spot no one will take away from her (smart). For this reason, she doesn’t need to do AA or to peak until Cottbus. Despite this, she still managed to make BB and FX EF and to win a silver medal on floor after a good routine, if a bit unpolished, with a .2 oob. I truly hope she will manage to qualify for Tokyo, however unlikely. It breaks my heart to think that it’s gonna be either her or Vanessa (or neither), but tbh if I had to pick one I’d 100% go with Lara, no matter how sentimental I am towards Vany. Lara is an amazing gymnast and she deserves so much more than what life (and Casella) has dealt her so far. Best of luck to her.

This competition also marked the return from injuries of Giada Grisetti, Maria Vittoria Cocciolo, and Noemi Linari. Giada especially looked very sharp and ready on all 4 events, despite some downgrading. I hope all 3 of them will manage to stay injury free because they can really be assets for the future.

Another notable result is Irene Lanza’s solid AA performance. She made all EFs but beam (where she was third reserve) and snatched a bronze medal on vault with just a FTY. For someone who seemingly came out of nowhere last year (in terms of national team assignments), she’s grown immensely and she should be really proud of herself.

Here are the EF rankings.

VT

UB

BB

FX

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Russian juniors enjoying the sunny beach with the Italians in Jesolo this morning 💜

(Pic from GAI’s FB)

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Padova Serie A 2019

Because I haven’t updated my blog in a while, here’s the latest “news” about team Italy.

- Giorgia Villa injured her middle finger in Jesolo (I read in the papers that it was broken and needed a 3 week rest period) and also hurt her ankle in training (no idea about the extent, they made it sound like just a bump but you never know with them). This is why she “only” competed bars at the latest Serie A (hit and scored really well, the routine is just way too long and her form isn’t great nowadays). I think the plan is to send her to Euros regardless.

- Asia and Alice D’Amato both competed DLOs and DTYs. Asia still has consistency issues with her floor routine (hands down on one pass)

- Elisa Iorio competed her DTY again (usual low landing, I hope they didn’t rush her so they could count 3 DTYs despite Giorgia not competing sigh). She also upgraded bars which now features a badass Ricna - Pak - Maloney - Stalder half - Ezhova - Chow half (!!!) connection

- Desirée Carofiglio has her Dowell back and also went for a Nabieva on bars (it was pikey and she didn’t catch it, but I still love her endlessly).

- Carlotta Ferlito once again hit the hell out of her two events (BB and FX) confirming her rock-solid status.

- Martina Maggio competed AA again and brought back the 1.5 yurchenko on vault (knees were soft in flight).

- A few gymnasts went back competing after injuries/time off at the latest Serie A meet, among them Federica Macrì (legend), Maria Vittoria Cocciolo, and Giada Grisetti (did a yurchenko layout on VT and a watered down but solid UB).

- Universiade will be held in Naples, Italy, this year (July 3-7) which means Italy will likely send a team. To my knowledge, the gymnasts from the NT currently attending university are Lara Mori, Martina Rizzelli, and Carlotta Ferlito, so they are likely to be selected for this (and they would make a pretty decent and well-balanced team, considering Martina is a VT/UB person and Carlotta a BB/FX person).

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Jesolo 2019 - Team Italy

SENIORS: Alice D’Amato, Asia D’Amato, Elisa Iorio, Giorgia Villa

JUNIORS: Angela Andreoli, India Bandiera, Camilla Campagnaro, Giulia Cotroneo, Alessia Federici, Veronica Mandriota, Micol Minotti, Chiara Vincenzi

SENIOR INDIVIDUALS (competing AA): Martina Basile, Desirée Carofiglio, Martina Maggio

Source: IGF

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Italian juniors and seniors at prep camp for Jesolo 2019

Bottom row, L-R: Martina Basile, Alice D’Amato, Asia D’Amato, Martina Maggio, Elisa Iorio, Giorgia Villa, Desirée Carofiglio

Top row, L-R: Angela Andreoli, Giulia Cotroneo, Giorgia Leone*, India Bandiera, Micol Minotti, Camilla Campagnaro, Alessia Federici, Chiara Vincenzi, Veronica Mandriota

*Giorgia Leone was added as a second thought, so one of the juniors will be the alternate since there’s 9 of them now.

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Italian Serie A 2019 - Busto Arsizio

All the Brixia routines from Alice and Asia D’Amato, Elisa Iorio and Giorgia Villa can be found on this channel.

Overall, they counted quite a few falls but they also competed upgrades pretty much everywhere plus new routines, so that was to be expected.

Alice D’Amato brought back the DTY and it’s looking a lot cleaner (she posted the top score for Brixia). She hit beam and on floor she competed full-in, whip double tuck, triple full, front lay to front double full (fall). I think this is the first time she competed 4 passes.

Elisa Iorio only competed a FTY and had a fall on her bhs loso loso acro on beam, but hit floor (front lay to double front twist, triple (more like 2.75) twist, double tuck, double pike) and bars (ricna-pak, maloney-stalder half-ezhova, chow half, full turn in L grip to double front).

Asia D’Amato had a nightmare day with falls on beam (dismount), vault (hands down after low DTY), and floor (full-in). On beam she successfully competed a roundoff layout to 2 feet (pikey) mount, and on floor she opened with her new DLO which looked very solid, then her double arabian and then I think she ran out of steam and underrotated her full-in.

Giorgia Villa nailed beam featuring LOSO mount, roundoff tuck full, double spin, bhs loso, L turn and double pike. Fell on her triple full (last pass) on floor after DLO (bit low), full-in, double wolf turn, fhs double front twist. She also fell twice on her turn in L grip on bars but competed her upgraded routine with Chow-tkachev, Ricna-pak-maloney-bhardwaj, L grip work into full-in. DTY was alright.

It’s worth mentioning Lara Mori’s excellent performance on all 4 events (no upgrades, but everything looked very solid). Carlotta Ferlito competed on beam and floor and posted the second and third highest scores on those events (scores that her club desperately needed since Meneghini did not compete and the other younger teammates couldn’t handle their nerves). Desirée Carofiglio competed again after her injury and already has her 1.5Y on vault back and her old UB routine which she hit very solidly.

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The Italian Gymnastics Federation celebrated its 150th anniversary this year and held a Gala event at the Venice theater La Fenice with performances from the WAG, MAG, RG, and Aerobics national teams. You can watch here (most likely geoblocked so you need a VPN outside of Italy).

It’s highly choreographic, with laser beams, veils, and smoke, with live opera singers and musicians. At the end there is also a moment with former gymnasts who made the history of Italian gym, like Jury Chechi, Igor Cassina, Marta Pagnini, etc.

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Arezzo Serie A 2018

Desirée Carofiglio’s front tumbling never fails to impress (13.400, no bonuses)

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Desirée Carofiglio had successful knee surgery today. Hoping for a speedy recovery!

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Martina Maggio and Andrea Russo will go to Mediterranean Games replacing Desirée Carofiglio and Nicola Bartolini who are both injured ://

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So Desirée Carofiglio is an actual angel ok?

After the FX EF competition in Jesolo where she got a bronze medal (tied with Grace McCallum), the interviewer asked her what this medal meant to her and she said “It represents a beginning, a push to keep improving. For example, I had a little mistake on my last pass even though I managed to save it.”

She also said that the audience clapping and cheering for her during her floor pumped her a lot and it was a really good experience for her.

About future upgrades, she said she needs to work on her back tumbling because she’s not strong enough on her ankles (which is why she favors front tumbling), and she wants to add a full twist after her 1.5 twist pass.

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THE FORM

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Montreal 2017 - Team Italy

Nominative WAG

Lara Mori (AA), Sara Berardinelli (AA), Noemi Linari (BB/FX), Desirée Carofiglio (VT/UB)

Nominative MAG

Lorenzo Galli (AA), Marco Sarrugerio (AA), Nicola Bartolini (PH/FX), Marco Lodadio (SR), Matteo Levantesi (PB/HB), Carlo Macchini (PB/HB)

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Happy Italian babies with Nastia

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Team ITA for Montreal

Final team Italy for Montreal 2017 is (surprise surprise):

Vanessa Ferrari, Lara Mori, Sara Berardinelli, Desirée Carofiglio (alt. Noemi Linari)

Vanessa will do BB/FX, Lara AA, Sara AA, and Desirée VT/UB, unless Casella decides Desi’s FX is more competitive than Sara’s, in which case he’ll have Sara do UB/BB and Desi VT/FX.

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Team Italy on their way to Montreal!