2010 EUROPEAN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS

2010 EUROPEAN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS NOVI SAD – SERBIA

100 ATHLETES AND A LOT OF NEW, PROMISING STARS


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by Andrew Michalak
EBFF Press Commission


Nearly 100 athletes came to Novi Sad to take part in the 2010 European Women’s Championships promoted by the Serbian Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation under the leadership of its President, Mr. Goran Ivanovic, and his efficient officials from Vojvodina province: Mrs. Biserka Sipka and her husband Zoran. All of us always go to Novi Sad with pleasure and nice expectations knowing their hospitality and friendly, helpful approach in every situation. IFBB President Dr. Rafael Santonja expressed our thanks to the Serbian Federation officials, honoring them with the IFBB awards and… announced that we can expect more top IFBB events there! Maybe next year (negotiations are in progress).

MEN’S FITNESS: THE BEST QUALITY IN THE IFBB HISTORY!
In the opinion of all experts, man’s fitness category unexpectedly presented the highest level in the IFBB history. Eight competitors showed very attractive but different type routines, performed with technical perfection, high tempo and many extremely difficult moves, taken from gymnastics, acrobatics, aerobics, break dance, etc. Routines by all six finalists: Lubomír Koumal, Ivan Nastenko, Konstantin Nekrasov, Andrzej Baczynski, Mariusz Lewandowski and Oleg Anissimov were absolutely exceptional! Anissimov won unanimously the routine round, ahead of Baczynski and Nekrasov but it was only the beginning of the battle.
Nekrasov, 25, graduated engineer from the Technical University in Novosibirsk, counterattacked in the next two rounds and having perfect physique easily won them over passing the two main rivals. We can say that a new star was born. Ivan Nastenko, 25, from Donetsk, Ukraine, presented the second best physique but lost too many points in the routine and dropped to the 4th place. Baczynski, 33, who already won two bronze medals at the world championships, kept the 2nd position and took his first continental medal. This achievement has been done after one-year break caused by the surgery of a completely torn Achilles tendon in March 2009.
Anissimov, 25, student from Tallinn, Estonia, placed 4th in both physique assessment rounds and finally dropped to the 3rd position but has enormous potentials. We can only imagine, what will be presented at the 2010 World Championships in Mexico! Better to book your flight ticket soon.

WOMEN’S FITNESS: NEWCOMER AT THE TOP!
Many top stars performed in women’s fitness tall class, including current world champion Natalia Chukaeva, world championships medal winners: Olga Bondar and Natalia Nazarenko-Kiivikas as well as two-time world junior champion Oksana Orobets. But the winner emerged from newcomers. New Russian star Tatiana Dvortsova, 31, graduated from the Pedagogical Institute in Moscow, successfully challenged all the above mentioned stars and winning both physique assessment rounds took the gold medal. Impressive beginning of the sport career after wining her stage debut at the 2010 Cup of Russia in Krasnodar over Chukaeva.
International star from Estonia, Nazarenko-Kiivikas, won the routine round but dropped to the 2nd position after the next two rounds, losing to Chukaeva and Bondar. Anyway, it is a life achievement of this graduate from two universities: in diplomacy and in physical culture. 2009 runner-up, Chukaeva, had to accept the bronze medal this time, being too smooth to win even the physique rounds. The same with Orobets, 22, who placed 2nd in the routine but dropped to the 5th position at the end.

In contrary, women’s fitness short class, up to 163 cm, was full of newcomers at the international level or former world top juniors like Liisa Otsus and Dominika Multanova. Otsus, 23, student of law from Tallinn, Estonia, won the routine round and then continued a series of victories in the next rounds, grasping her first gold medal in women’s division. Silver medal went to gymnastic coach from Smolensk, Russia, Olga Volokh, 39, also this year newcomer on the stage and 3rd place winner at the Russian Cup. 20 years younger, Multanova, high school student from Slovakia, moved to the third position due to the proportional physique with nice body lines.

WOMEN’S BODYBUILDING: BETTER QUALITY MIGHT BE EXPECTED
In women’s bodybuilding we could see the mixture of well-known athletes and younger challengers. Former European champions or medal winners: Branka Njegovec, Milka Stankovic, Eva Horvathova and Branislava Jovanovic met new stars like Anna Zelentsova, Stefanie Wötzel, Natalia Vtyurina, Emiliya Angelova or Nataliya Romashko.
In the lightweight two athletes: Branka Njegovec and Oksana Rozmarytsia ran a close battle in all rounds. Round 1 and 3 went to hard and dry Rozmarytsia but she lost too many points in the 2nd round (compulsory poses) to stay at the top. It was clearly visible that Njegovec improved her conditions (separation) till the finals and was scored higher. The next battle for the bronze medal was also close. Eva Horvathova from Trnava, Slovakia, had a good chance to fight for the silver medal but her definition made worse in the finals, so she had to focus on defending the bronze medal against attacks of Anna Zelentsova from Russia and she was successful, repeating her last year achievement.
Telling the truth, no one presented the top shape and definition in this class. Rozmarytsia looked as the hardest competitor on the stage, with nice separation (legs, abs), but her overall muscularity need to be bigger and fuller.

In the heavyweight, nobody could touch 2009 runner-up Natalia Vtyurina, physical education teacher from Omsk, Russia. She was very impressive in back pose and side chest pose. The matter of silver medal remained open. In the Prejudging, two Serbian athletes: Branislava Jovanovic and Milka Stankovic were tied with 14 points each. Just behind them, with 17 points, was Bulgarian competitor Emiliya Angelova. We needed to wait for the finals to see the final solution.
Stankovic, 36, was the 2008 European champion but then she delivered a baby and returned to the stage this spring, winning the Balkan Championships in Varvarin, Serbia. She clearly showed the most impressive, full and rounded muscles but, unfortunately, she was not in shape, holding too much underskin water, so her muscles looked smooth, especially in the finals and she dropped to the 4th place.
Angelova, 36, had similar problems, lacking harder, more defined condition. This situation allowed Jovanovic, 41, economist from Belgrade, to overpass two rivals and grasped the silver medal. She is a well-know master athlete but not so massive, so she needs the top muscle quality to place ahead of younger, more muscular girls and she was in better shape in Novi Sad.

BODYFITNESS: MANY NEW RISING STARS
As usual, the longest line-up could be seen in bodyfitness classes. What surprised me, is a completely new teams entered by Russia, Ukraine, Poland and some other countries. As they told me, their famous stars preferred to be in top shape at the 2010 Women’s Worlds in Mexico. So, there was a nice opportunity to win medals by new athletes with great potentials. Russia used this opportunity in the best way.

In 158 cm class we could see well-known names: Yolanda Esteso, Marisa Lopez and Magdalena Krajkowska, fighting against younger girls: 2009 European junior champion Jana Kolbaska, Angela Derzapf and Serbian hope Bojana Vasiljevi?. Esteso was in her top shape, so there was no problem with selection of the winner. She won all rounds almost with perfect scores. But then the judges had a difficult task. The next few competitors were in similar shape and condition, what is clearly seen from the final results: Kolbaska (52 points) – Derzapf (55 points) – Lopez (57 points). Kolbaska, 22, student at the University of Presov, Slovakia, had been doing very well in the last year, placing 3rd at the Women’s Worlds, but I think she needs a bit bigger muscularity to win over so refined athletes like Esteso.

In 163 cm category former three-time world champion and 2007 continental champion, veterinary doctor from Slovakia, Katarina Verbovska, tried to regain the title but other top level competitors: Marina Purmak, Victoria Ciudesnaia and 2009 World Fitness Cup silver medal winner Raquel Hernandez got in her way to this task. And she failed, coming 6th at the end. What a tough competition it was, enough to say that five finalists, from 2nd to 6th place, received points from 60 to 69. Only the winner, Russian trainer from St. Petersburg, Marina Purmak, 33, got 29 points, being tied in the third round with Moldavian athlete Victoria Ciudesnaia, who under maiden name Gutenco won bronze medal at the 2008 European Championships in Skopje.
Maybe, Ciudesnaia was a bit harder and drier in the finals but hadn’t so impressive “V-taper” upper body like Purmak and this was a decisive factor. Verbovska, didn’t do very well second consecutive year (5th place in Bratislava), so she should analyze, with her French trainer Rene Meme, her training and nutrition programs to find out why she can’t get the winning shape recently.
Personally, I was a fun of the Spanish athlete Raquel Hernandez, a nurse from Barcelona, who shows tiny waist, beautiful abs and perfect shoulders-lats combination. Maybe, her thighs need to be a bit fuller and tighter but she has all what is needed to be a great champion. It’s a matter of time only.

Looking on the list of competitors in the 168 cm category we could think that 2009 world runner-up Monika Korbova would be a clear favorite but time quickly verified this point of view. New Russian star, runner-up at the 2010 Russian Cup and former swimmer, Ekaterina Gamagina, 25, displayed so many qualities that she almost unanimously won all rounds. Perfect overall body proportions, evenly and symmetrically developed all major muscle groups, impressing tightness and separation. What else is needed? I think has been gifted by Nature similarly to the world champion Yulia Zabelina.
Korbova, who appeared a bit too soft and smooth, lost also to German nurse Daniela Pfeiffer, who made a tremendous progress, moving up from 8th place in 2009.

The tallest class, over 168 cm, has been dominated by Nordic athletes: Nina Furseth, Jutta Gustafsberg, Marina Richardson and Tea Eriksen, with only two girls from other countries: Patrycja Kozyra (Poland) and Ljuba Pantovi?-Suboti? (Serbia). Norwegian official Tone Opheim, who was sitting just beside me, had her moments of happiness, listening to the Norwegian anthem after victory of her athlete Nina Furseth. Last year in Bratislava silver medal went to the other Norwegian, Nina Moe, who is pregnant now, as Tone told me.
The next three girls had been running an incredibly tough combat for silver medal. They were: the second Norwegian, therapist from Oslo, Tea Eriksen, English language teacher from Poland Patrycja Kozyra and body guard from Serbia Ljuba Pantovic-Subotic. At the end of the finals they had: 51; 51 and 52 points respectively! Silver medal went to Eriksen who got the best score in the finals.
I thought that Swedish girl Marina Richardson would be more demanding rival to them. She is tall (178 cm) and looked good in the semifinals, with very proportional and athletic body. Her skin had a nice brown color and proper amount of glazer. The hardness and separation of her muscles (legs, abs) were clearly visible. But in the finals she made some “cosmetic” mistake, I suppose. Her skin color was matt, with almost no glazer, so she looked smoother and lost the chance to win a medal. But I need to tell you that many athletes tried different coloring techniques with different effects at this contest since widely used in the past removable bronzers were forbidden.
Combat for the overall bodyfitness title was extremely exciting: Esteso vs. Gamagina vs. Purmak vs. Furseth. Finally, Esteso slightly won over Gamagina (8:11) and was announced the best European bodyfitness athlete of 2010!

In my opinion, this year championships had two faces: in some categories we saw extremely high sport level (men’s fitness, women’s fitness tall class, women’s bodyfitness) and in the rest of categories – average level. What is interesting, many new stars with great potentials emerged at these Championships (Tatiana Dvortsova, Marina Purmak, Raquel Hernandez, Ekaterina Gamagina, Nina Furseth, Konstantin Nekrasov, Oleg Anissimov) to mention the best. On the other hand, some of the well-known top stars were not in their best shape and lost top positions. The next opportunity to take revenge will be at the upcoming World Women’s Championships in Mexico City in the beginning of October. A lot of world famous athletes already announced their participation, so the Championships should be extremely spectacular.

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all photos by Pawel Kleineder



Parade of Nations on the stage of the SPENS Exhibition Center in Novi Sad.



IFBB and EBFF President Dr. Rafael Santonja delivering his opening speech.



Serbian Federation President Mr. Goran Ivanovic honored with the EBFF Silver Medal presented to him by Dr. Rafael Santonja.



Member of the City Council in charge of sport Mr. Aleksandar Kravic receiving the EBFF Silver Medal presented to him by Dr. Rafael Santonja.



President of the Vojvodina Province Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation and promoter of the Championships Mrs. Biserka Sipka with the IFBB Achievement Medal presented to her by Dr. Rafael Santonja (right), EBFF Vice-President Mr. Pawel Filleborn (left) and EBFF General Secretary Mr. Bill Tierney (second from right).



IFBB Medal for the member of the Organizing Committee Mr. Zoran Sipka, flanked by Mr. Filleborn (left), Mr. Tierney (second from right) and Dr. Santonja (right).



IFBB Achievement Medal for the Serbian Federation Vice-President Mr. Zoran Stoic, flanked by Mr. Filleborn (left), Mr. Tierney (second from right) and Dr. Santonja (right).



Beautiful plate with Novi Sad code of arms presented to Dr. Rafael Santonja by Biserka Sipka.



And a special gift from Biserka Sipka for Mr. Pawel Filleborn.

WOMEN BODYBUILDING UP TO 55 KG:



Women bodybuilding up to 55 kg victory ceremony (from L to R): Oksana ROZMARYTSIA (2nd place); Branka NJEGOVEC (1st place) and Eva HORVATHOVA (3rd place).



The winner: Branka NJEGOVEC (Croatia).



The finalists (from L to R): Branka NJEGOVEC (1st place); Eva HORVATHOVA (3rd place) and Anna ZELENTSOVA (4th place).



The finalists (from L to R): Oksana ROZMARYTSIA (2nd place); Katerina MERINSKA (6th place) and Stefanie WÖTZEL (5th place).

WOMEN BODYBUILDING OVER 55 KG:



Women bodybuilding over 55 kg victory ceremony (from L to R): Branislava Jovanovi? (2nd place); Natalia VTYURINA (1st place) and Emiliya ANGELOVA (3rd place).



The winner: Natalia VTYURINA (Russia).



Branislava JOVANOVIC in her routine.



Emiliya ANGELOVA in her routine.

OVERALL:



Women bodybuilding overall: Natalia VTYURINA (left) vs. Branka NJEGOVEC.



Natalia VTYURINA (Russia): bodybuilding the overall winner.

WOMEN FITNESS UP TO 163 CM:



Fitness up to 163 cm victory ceremony (from L to R): Olga VOLOCH (2nd place); Lisa OTSUS (1st place) and Dominika MULTANOVA (3rd place).



The winner: Lisa OTSUS (Estonia).



Lisa OTSUS in her routine.



Olga VOLOCH in her routine.



Dominika MULTANOVA in her routine.

WOMEN FITNESS OVER 163 CM:



Fitness over 163 cm victory ceremony (from L to R): Natalia NAZARENKO-KIIVIKAS (2nd place); Tatiana DVORTSOVA (1st place) and Natalia CHUKAEVA (3rd place).



The winner: Tatiana DVORTSOVA (Russia).



Tatiana DVORTSOVA in the routine.



Natalia CHUKAEVA in her routine.



Natalia NAZARENKO-KIIVIKAS in the routine.

OVERALL:



Fitness overall: Tatiana DVORTSOVA (right) vs. Liisa OTSUS.



Tatiana DVORTSOVA declared as a fitness overall winner.

MEN FITNESS, OPEN CLASS:



Men fitness victory ceremony (from L to R): Andrzej BACZYNSKI (2nd place); Konstantin NEKRASOV (1st place) and Oleg ANISSIMOV (3rd place).



The winner: Konstantin NEKRASOV (Russia).



Konstantin NEKRASOV in the routine.



Andrzej BACZYNSKI in his routine.



Oleg ANISSIMOV in the routine.

WOMEN BODY-FITNESS UP TO 158 CM:



Women bodyfitness up to 158 cm victory ceremony (from L to R): Jana KOLBASKA (2nd place); Yolanda ESTESO (1st place); Marisa LOPEZ (3rd place).



Women bodyfitness up to 158 cm second round comparisons (from L to R): Natalia ISCHENKO (7th place); Angela DERZAPF (4th place); Marisa LOPEZ (3rd place) and Yolanda ESTESO (1st place).



The winner: Yolanda ESTESO (Spain).

WOMEN BODY-FITNESS UP TO 163 CM:



Women’s bodyfitness up to 163 cm victory ceremony (from L to R): Victoria CIUDESNAIA (2nd place); Marina PURMAK (1st place) and Ann-Christine Rode Klemo (3rd place).



The winner: Marina PURMAK (Russia).



One of the 2nd round comparisons (from L to R): Marina PURMAK (1st place); Victoria CIUDESNAIA (2nd place); Renata RICHTEROVA (14th place).

WOMEN BODY-FITNESS UP TO 168 CM:



Women bodyfitness up to 168 cm victory ceremony (from L to R): Daniela PFEIFFER (2nd place); Ekaterina GAMAGINA (1st place) and Monika KORBOVA (3rd place).



The winner: Ekaterina GAMAGINA (Russia).



One of the 2nd round comparisons (from L to R): Ekaterina GAMAGINA (1st place); Daniela PFEIFFER (2nd place); Elena MISHURINA (13th place).

WOMEN BODY-FITNESS OVER 168 CM:



Women bodyfitness over 168 cm victory ceremony (from L to R): Tea HAVSTAIN ERIKSEN (2nd place); Nina FURSETH (1st place) and Patrycja KOZYRA (3rd place).



The winner: Nina FURSETH (Norway).



One of the 2nd round comparisons (from L to R):Erika TORRONEN (13th place); Patrycja KOZYRA (3rd place); Nina FURSETH (1st place); Jolana VACLAVIKOVA (9th place).

OVERALL:



Women bodyfitness overall winner: Yolanda ESTESO (Spain).



Women bodyfitness overall line-up (from L to R): Nina FURSETH (4th place); Ekaterina GAMAGINA (2nd place); Marina PURMAK (3rd place) and Yolanda ESTESO (1st place).



Yolanda ESTESO.



Yolanda ESTESO.

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