Monday, December 13, 2010

Win for Mitchell

World champion Lauren Mitchell signed off her breakthrough 2010 gymnastics season fittingly with a gold medal at the important Toyota Cup event in Japan.In a high quality beam contest featuring four finalists from the world championships, the 19-year-old from Perth nailed her routine to score 15.200 and edge out out world championship all-around gold medallist Aliya Mustafina of Russia. Skipping the floor event in which she won the world title in Rotterdam in November, Mitchell focussed on beam, the apparatus on which she completed an unsuccessful fourth at the worlds.

After finishing fourth on the horizontal bars on Saturday behind China's world championships all-around silver medallist Jiang Yuyuan, Mitchell determined to give it everything in the final routine of what has quickly become the most successful year for any Australian gymnast in history."I'm relieved that I was able to perform well and that I completed the year really well," Mitchell said from Tokyo."Today was like a worlds final so I went into the routine with the mind set to put it all out there and see what result that would bring.

It is very fulfilling to end the year with a win."Since her Common wealth Games gold medal haul in Delhi, Mitchell has criss-crossed the globe, travelling to Europe and back to Australia before finish her season in Japan.The previous year consisted of a frustrating run of injuries including a broken hand, sprained ankle and an adductor strain.In other results in Tokyo, world championships bronze medallist Prashanth Sellathurai of NSW fell during his pommel horse routine to finish in 6th place (13.750).

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