Maisa Kuusikko achieved a historically strong Finnish result in the women’s quadruple of the World Gymnastics Championships.
Matti Lehtisaari,
Riku Porvari
The great Finnish promise of balance beam gymnastics Maisa Kuusikko kept his cool at Liverpool’s World Cup. The 17-year-old Kuusikko reached 13th place in the women’s quadruple in Liverpool and almost reached her record score of 51.999. 52,198 points were accumulated during the European Championship week in Munich at the end of the summer.
Kuusikko, who was the first Finnish woman to compete in the World Cup final of the four-event, was the sixth best athlete among Europeans.
– It’s a great feeling, I’m super happy. The only bigger mistake was a wobble on the boom, but otherwise everything went really well. I’m most satisfied with the support, because I’ve had difficulties with my series, Kuusikko told Urheilu.
Kuusikko, representing the Tampere Gymnasts, was almost in awe of the fun setting of the World Championships.
– A great experience. I’ve never competed in front of such a big crowd. It was absolutely amazing that the crowd was so supportive. I’m excited to start training hard at my home gym again.
Kuusikko knows in which areas there is still room for development.
– The difficulties are already at a good level, but the purity of performance still needs to be achieved, says Kuusikko.
Great stretch in tight spots
The six performed gymnastics in an exciting place with steady confidence. He improved his performances compared to the qualifying competition by three racks. 13,500 points were accumulated from the vault, 13,300 from the balance beam and 12,466 from the beam. Permanto also went well, although the score (12.733) was lower than the qualification.
– An unbelievably tough young athlete. A fantastic performance, our entire women’s tumbling team is extremely happy and proud of this result, Women’s tumbling sport manager Satu Murtonen anneal.
Murtonen gave Kuusikko clean papers from all racks.
– There wasn’t really any weak stand. Permantoka wasn’t bad by any means, although Maisa didn’t improve her points from qualifying. The tighter Maisa is in, the better she seems to succeed. That’s a great quality for a top athlete, Murtonen emphasizes.
If there are no setbacks, Kuusikko has good conditions to become the next Olympic representative.
The Finnish women were more in tune at the World Cup in Liverpool, as a result they finished 16th in the team competition.
– Our team result was the second best of all time, in 1958 the Finnish team was 13th, now the result was 16th place. This gives us faith that we have made the right choices in women’s trapeze gymnastics, Murtonen sees.
Watch Rebeca Andrade’s performance in the World Championship quadruple jump in the video below.
After three knee surgeries, WC gold
Brazilian Rebecca Andrade gymnasts won the World Championship gold in the quadruple event. There is a wild story behind the success, as the 23-year-old Andrade has had knee surgery no less than three times. Injuries forced him to the sidelines of the 2015, 2017 and 2019 World Cups.
– Andrade is certainly a good role model for Maisa. A fighter and has gone through hardships to victory. He is a very stylish athlete and does gymnastics cleanly. The movements are performed precisely, all steps are very clearly visible, Murtonen describes Andrade.
– Cleanliness is best seen in Andrade’s jump. The precision of his movements is emphasized in other stands as well, but it is best noticed especially in the jump.
American Simone Biles has shined in recent years as the biggest superstar of gymnastics.
– Biles has done phenomenally difficult moves that no one else has been able to do. His portrayal and speed characteristics are in a class of their own. But the things where Biles loses to Andrade are cleanliness and long straight lines, where I think Andrade is even better than Biles, Murtonen compares.