Russia and the US were the biggest names of the first day of qualification. Several “regulars” of Olympic and Worlds finals also competed – Canada, Brazil, Belgium, Spain – to varying degrees of success.
Russia opened the day on floor with five secure but not so difficult routine. With the exception of Aliya Mustafina they all scored in the 13s. But the Russian superstar managed to pull a solid routine with a difficulty of 6.0, hitting her difficult artistic elements (14.500). On vault, Russia presented three solid DTYs (Mustafina’s being the best – 14.900), while Alla Sosnitskaya threw the Cheng (vault with a difficulty of 6.4) for a 15.133.
Their best event was uneven bars, where they posted five routines of 14.4+, with Mustafina and Spiridonova breaking into the 15s to qualify for the event final. On beam unfortunately Russia did not live up to its potential after top-scorer Kharenkova had a very nervous performance and eventually fell on the double pike dismount. Spiridonova also had a fall, while Kramarenko and Sosnitskaya and ok routines but lower difficulty. Mustafina was again the top scorer with a 14.308 after a solid yet not error-free performance.
USA entered the competition in the 5th subdivision, starting on beam. Their top performance came from Simone Biles, with a 15.133 (best beam score of the first day). She was followed by Kayla Ross with a 14.466 for a beautifully executed routine. Alyssa Baumann had a few wobbles, most notably on the standing Arabian, but also contributed to the team total and will probably be the 3rd beam worker in the team final (14.066).
Floor and vault were two amazing rotations for team USA: Simone managed to earn again the highest scores for these events, a 15.366 for floor and a 15.45 for vault (Amanar and layoud Podkopayeva). MyKayla Skinner followed closely with good scores – 14.700 on floor and 15.349 on vault (Cheng and DTY). On floor the other contributors to the team total were Baumann (14.00) and Ross (13.800 respectively).
Kyla Ross had an fine day overall although you could see that she was working through some kind of pain. She also downgraded slightly on floor (5.4 D score) but the hip injury which happened a few days before traveling to worlds didn’t seem to affect her much otherwise. Besides the 2nd score of her team on balance beam, she also managed to obtain the 2nd score of the US on bars, with 14.650.
Bars was the event where you could see some vulnerability from the US team. It was far from a disaster but between Biles’ almost fall and Kocian’s foot peeling off the bar, a few tenths were lost. But it was not all bad, Ashton Locklear, who only competed on bars manged to hit her difficult routine earning the highest score of the day on the event (15.233).
Netherlands and Belgium are 3rd and 4th respectively after the first day of qualifications. This position will probably not be maintained though to the rest of the qualifying round, not with GBR, Italy, Germany, Romania and China yet to compete. But the fact that they defeated teams like Brazil or Canada is still a testimony to the good performance they put on the day. Netherlands was very consitent, hitting 19 out of 20 routines on the day. While Belgium were most impressive in that they have, at the end of the first day, three of the top 20 all around scores.
Other stand-out performances were put on by Roxana Popa, who is at the moment the 5th qualifier for the all around final, and with high chances of making it into the floor final (she is 4th at the moment). A pleasant surprise came from Marta Pihan, 6th all around qualifier after the 1st day, above Giulia Steingruber and Elsabeth Black.
Team totals:
1 USA 235.038 2 Russia 228.135 3 Netherlands 214.662 4 Belgium 214.469 5 Canada 214.102 6 Mexico 212.795 7 Spain 211.727 8 Brazil 211.621 9 Poland 210.369 10 Switzerland 208.037 11 Hungary 207.278 12 Sweden 207.111 13 Colombia 203.002 14 Ukraine 202.663 15 Argentina 201.187 16 Azerbaijan 196.195 17 Uzbekistan 196.069 18 Peru 193.828 19 Irland 187.445 20 Egypt 184.928 21 India 166.878
All Around (top 24 so far):
1 BILES Simone USA 59.599 2 MUSTAFINA Aliya RUS 58.87 3 ROSS Kyla USA 57.941 5 SOSNITSKAYA Alla RUS 56.740 6 POPA NEDELCU Roxana ESP 56.398 9 PIHAN-KULESZA Marta POL 55.665 10 BLACK Elsabeth CAN 55.532 11 STEINGRUBER Giulia SUI 54.966 13 WAEM Laura BEL 54.241 14 ONYSHKO Isabela Maria CAN 53.899 15 VERSCHUEREN Lisa BEL 53.865 16 VAN GERNER Celine NED 53.466 17 MATIAS HYPOLITO Daniele BRA 53.399 20 MORENO MEDINA Alexa Citlali MEX 52.998 21 RUIKES Maartje NED 52.899 22 GOMEZ PORRAS Ana Sofia GUA 52.898 23 LARSSON Emma SWE 52.8320 25 DE OLIVEIRA Mariana BRA 52.632 28 JURKOWSKA-KOWALSKA Katarzyna POL 52.066 30 BOCZOGO Dorina HUN 51.799 31 ABDUSALIMOVA Dilnoza UZB 51.798 33 SINGMUANG Kim SWE 51.482 34 KYSLA Angelina UKR 51.266 35 ESCOBAR GOMEZ Catalina Elena COL 51.224
** Here are the top 8 (so far) per event:**
Vault:
1 BILES Simone USA 15.450 2 SKINNER Mykayla USA 15.349 3 SOSNITSKAYA Alla RUS 15.016 4 MORENO MEDINA Alexa Citlali MEX 14.816 5 PHAN Thi Ha Thanh VIE 14.800 6 STEINGRUBER Giulia SUI 14.700 7 KARMAKAR Dipa IND 14.483 8 BLACK Elsabeth CAN 14.483
Uneven Bars:
1 LOCKLEAR Ashton USA 15.233 2 MUSTAFINA Aliya RUS 15.166 3 SPIRIDONOVA Daria RUS 15.100 5 ROSS Kyla USA 14.650 9 ADLERTEG Jonna SWE 14.100 10 POPA NEDELCU Roxana ESP 14.033 11 PIHAN-KULESZA Marta POL 13.933 12 ONYSHKO Isabela Maria CAN 13.933
Beam:
BILES Simone USA 15.133 BLACK Elsabeth CAN 14.46 ROSS Kyla USA 14.391 MUSTAFINA Aliya RUS 14.308 STEINGRUBER Giulia SUI 14.033 WEVERS Sanne NED 13.933 LARSSON Emma SWE 13.866 WAGNER Veronica SWE 13.766
Floor
1 BILES Simone USA 15.366 2 SKINNER Mykayla USA 14.700 3 MUSTAFINA Aliya RUS 14.500 4 POPA NEDELCU Roxana ESP14.166 6 CROKET Julie BEL 13.900 7 PIHAN-KULESZA Marta POL 13.900 9 KHARENKOVA Maria RUS 13.666 11 GARCIA RODRIGUEZ BLANCAS Elsa MEX 13.633
All the results, live [Link]
Videos – qualifications and podium training [piibunina]
– highlights of qualifications [FIG]
Article by Bea Gheorghisor
Photo cover: Nadia Boyce
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter