L Sit elbow position

I've been working through the first few MN/SE's and have confused myself somewhat over elbow position on l sits. On SE1 the gymnast has the crook of his elbow pointed forward and locked which I have been trying to emulate. On SE2 Allan has his elbows turned in yet still locked.

I was attempting SE4 today with the elbow crook forward but couldn't keep my feet up level at my hips with that elbow position.

The elbows forward seems to emulate a support position and makes the l sit more reliant on core compression which I'm guessing is the idea.

Any thoughts?

To me a proper L-sit with the hips in line with the shoulders and with some retraction, looks like this, look at the elbow position.

 

Personallu lock for pointing-forward elbows, it is a good habit for future manna development.

I found my L sits got a lot more stable, with longer hold times and less weird muscle strains once I started pointing my elbow pits forward.