Six more teams that made it through to the team final competed during the 2nd day of qualifications.
The biggest name of the day was China who had two stunning rotations, on bars and beam. In fact they managed to outscore the US on both events, by 2.8 points on bars and by 1.2 points on beam. Due to less difficult floor routines and vaults, they still placed 2nd behind the Americans (a 4.3 points difference). But with such high variations between events and with the two teams each having the endge on two apparatuses, it will be a very exciting team final. The Chinese also managed to qualify two gymnasts in the all around – Yao Jinnan (4th) and Shang Chunsong (7th). They took top two qualifying spots on the uneven bars though Yao Jinnan and Huang Huidan respectively and also have the 3th and 4th qualifying scores on beam.
Great Britain had a very solid day, finishing the qualifying round on an anticipated 4th. Although there were mistakes, and they had to count two falls at the end of the day, a maximum was achieved out of this qualifying round. It was a bit of a nervous start on floor with execution errors here and there but crowd favorite Claudia Fragapane managed to pull a clean enough routine and qualified for the final. On vault, GB had the 4th score after three solid DTYs and an FTY; Claudia Fragapane qualified for this final too (DTY, Lopez). On bars both Becky Downie and Ruby Harrold did their job and qualified further in the event final, while Fragapane demonstrated she could be counted on to set the table in the team final. On beam Downie was again solid, Whelan and Harrold delivered, with routine in the high 13s but unfortunately Fragapane and Jupp succumbed to the emotions.
Italy qualified with the 5th total after a consistent round. The only fall that they counted was Fassana’s on beam (Erika an Marongiu both had mistakes on this event). Otherwise it was rock solid: three DTYs and an FTY for the 6th total on vault, a good bars rotation (only Rizzeli fell), pretty good beam rotation, with Vanessa Ferrari breaking into the 14s with her score… While on foor, well… Italy had the 2nd total of the qualifying round, behind only the USA. All those upgrades and hard work have finally paid off. Vanessa Ferrari had again the top score of the team with a 14.566, to qualify for the final in 4th place.
Japan placed 6th in the qualifying round. They chose execution over difficulty and it looks like it was the right call. Their highest scoring event was vault, while the lowest scoring was floor; where they also had the most mistakes but also quite low difficulty. Also, their top gymnast on this event and 2013 Worlds finalist, Mai Murakami, fell and did not qualify for the final. But Japan will have a few reps in individual finals: Teramoto made it through to the beam and all around final while Sasada will also be competing in the all around final.
Romania only placed 7th. They started well on vault with very good DTYs and an FTY. Then on bars the meltdown produced: after Stanila stayed on, Ocolisan fell twice scoring in the 10s, while Larisa had a big break on a transition. Beam followed almost too quickly and Stanila, Munteanu and Ocolisan were overcome by emotions and all had big mistakes, although Iordache and Tudorache managed enchanting routines. Floor went much better with solid performances from Stanila, Ocolisan and Munteanu (mid to high 13s). Larisa was her usual charming self and controlled superbly all her passes (14.933).
Not many will want to remember this day riddled with mistakes and falls. When these pile while you are already vulnerable due to overall low overall difficulty, a 7th place is something to be grateful for. But there are some positive aspects: the vault rotation with three 9+ execution scores for the three DTYs, the evolutions of Paula Tudorache who competed well her routines on both bars and beam, Stanila on bars and floor, Munteanu on both beam (despite the fall) and floor (despite the OOB), Ocolisan on floor. Of course Larisa Iordache managed to keep it together for Romania, looking prepared and strong for the first time at a Worlds Championship. She had the 3rd all around total (with a mistake on bars) and qualified 2nd behind Biles on both beam and floor. She is also the 1st reserve on vault. She will set the tone and turn things for her team by the end of this Worlds.
At the end of the day, not much was lost for Romania: the biggest heartbreak will be Munteanu’s absence from the beam final… and that it’s about it. Perhaps we can add to that a bruised ego. But then again a similar team total was obtained a few weeks ago in a friendly match so this was not a surprise. Unlike a few weeks ago, each gymnast gymnast contributed with some good performances, although it was unfortunate that they piled on the same event (or even the same routine).
Australia was the last addition to the team final, in the 8th position. In the absence of their star gymnast, Lauren Mitchell, who had to withdraw less than 36 hours before the start with a sprained ankle, this was a heroic effort. Despite their the comparatively low difficulty on all four events (not a single DTY on vault), Australia pushed through, never gave up and achieved the impossible. Larrissa Miller was their top scoring gymnast with a 14.666 on bars (she’s only the 1st reserve for the final unfortunately) and a 14.166 on floor (where she did qualify for the final, who would have thought!). Georgia-Rose Brown will be their other individual finalist, qualified on 22nd place for the all around final.
Here are the results:
Qualified for team final:
1 USA 61.599 (1) 58.083 (3) 57.490 (2) 57.866 (1) 235.038 Q 2 China 58.265 (5) 60.890 (1) 58.633 (1) 52.965 (9) 230.753 Q 3 Russia 59.265 (2) 59.632 (2) 54.473 (6) 54.765 (5) 228.135 Q 4 Great Britain 58.400 (4) 56.431 (4) 54.999 (5) 54.766 (4) 224.596 Q 5 Italy 57.965 (6) 54.231 (8) 54.098 (8) 56.165 (2) 222.459 Q 6 Japan 57.266 (8) 55.298 (6) 55.464 (3) 53.332 (8) 221.360 Q 7 Romania 58.565 (3) 49.499 (25) 55.331 (4) 55.866 (3) 219.261 Q 8 Australia 55.807 (16) 55.998 (5) 54.065 (9) 52.264 (12) 218.134 Q
All Around final:
1 358 BILES Simone USA 59.599 2 325 MUSTAFINA Aliya RUS 58.874 3 311 IORDACHE Larisa Andreea ROU 58.365 4 156 YAO Jinnan CHN 58.032 5 362 ROSS Kyla USA 57.941 6 242 FERRARI Vanessa ITA 57.231 7 153 SHANG Chunsong CHN 57.123 8 196 HARROLD Ruby GBR 56.766 9 327 SOSNITSKAYA Alla RUS 56.740 10 182 POPA NEDELCU Roxana ESP 56.398 11 253 TERAMOTO Asuka JPN 56.331 12 195 FRAGAPANE Claudia GBR 55.999 13 300 PIHANKULESZA Marta POL 55.665 14 141 BLACK Elsabeth CAN 55.532 15 241 FASANA Erika ITA 55.398 16 204 HILL Lisa Katharina GER 55.233 17 252 SASADA Natsumi JPN 55.132 18 337 STEINGRUBER Giulia SUI 54.966 19 371 LOPEZ AROCHA Jessica Brizeida VEN 54.966 20 269 GARCIA RODRIGUEZ BLANCAS Elsa MEX 54.833 21 315 STANILA Alina ROU 54.765 22 106 BROWN Georgia Rose AUS 54.698 23 303 MARTINS Ana Filipa POR 54.532 24 130 WAEM Laura BEL 54.241
R1 210 MILLOUSI Vasiliki GRE 53.933 R2 143 ONYSHKO Isabela Maria CAN 53.899 R3 128 VERSCHUEREN Lisa BEL 53.865 R4 202 BUI Kim GER 53.765
And the lists for apparatus finals containing the gymnasts qualified, the ones taht had scores high enough for finals if not the 2 per country rule, and the reserves:
Vault:
1 358 BILES Simone USA 1 6.300 9.500 15.800 15.450 Q 2 5.600 9.500 15.100 2 304 HONG Un Jong PRK 1 6.300 9.533 15.833 15.354 Q 2 6.400 8.575 0.1 14.875 3 363 SKINNER Mykayla USA 1 6.400 9.266 15.666 15.349 Q 2 5.800 9.233 15.033 4 327 SOSNITSKAYA Alla RUS 1 6.400 8.833 0.1 15.133 15.016 Q 2 5.800 9.100 14.900 5 271 MORENO MEDINA Alexa Citlali MEX 1 6.200 8.700 0.1 14.800 14.816 Q 2 6.000 8.833 14.833 6 377 PHAN Thi Ha Thanh VIE 1 5.800 9.000 0.1 14.700 14.800 Q 2 6.200 8.800 0.1 14.900 7 195 FRAGAPANE Claudia GBR 1 5.800 9.200 15.000 14.716 Q 2 5.600 8.833 14.433 8 337 STEINGRUBER Giulia SUI 1 6.200 9.100 15.300 14.700 Q 2 5.000 9.100 14.100 9 311 IORDACHE Larisa Andreea ROU 1 5.800 9.333 15.133 14.649 R1 2 5.200 8.966 14.166 10 229 KARMAKAR Dipa IND 1 5.200 8.666 13.866 14.483 R2 2 7.000 8.100 15.100 11 141 BLACK Elsabeth CAN 1 5.500 8.800 14.300 14.483 R3
2 6.200 8.566 0.1 14.666
Bars
1 156 YAO Jinnan CHN 6.900 8.766 15.666 Q 2 152 HUANG Huidan CHN 6.800 8.533 15.333 Q 3 154 TAN Jiaxin CHN 6.900 8.433 15.333 4 361 LOCKLEAR Ashton USA 6.500 8.733 15.233 Q 5 325 MUSTAFINA Aliya RUS 6.300 8.866 15.166 Q 6 193 DOWNIE Rebecca GBR 6.600 8.566 15.166 Q 7 328 SPIRIDONOVA Daria RUS 6.400 8.700 15.100 Q 8 204 HILL Lisa Katharina GER 6.500 8.600 15.100 Q 9 324 KRAMARENKO Ekaterina RUS 6.000 8.766 14.766 10 196 HARROLD Ruby GBR 6.300 8.433 14.733 Q 11 107 MILLER Larrissa AUS 6.100 8.566 14.666 R1 12 362 ROSS Kyla USA 5.900 8.750 14.650 R2 13 326 NABIEVA Tatiana RUS 6.000 8.600 14.600 14 153 SHANG Chunsong CHN 6.300 8.258 14.558 15 371 LOPEZ AROCHA Jessica Brizeida VEN 6.400 8.033 14.433 R3
Beam
1 358 BILES Simone USA 6.400 8.733 15.133 Q 2 311 IORDACHE Larisa Andreea ROU 6.300 8.766 15.066 Q 3 156 YAO Jinnan CHN 6.200 8.700 14.900 Q 4 150 BAI Yawen CHN 6.200 8.600 14.800 Q 5 153 SHANG Chunsong CHN 6.200 8.433 14.633 6 141 BLACK Elsabeth CAN 6.500 7.966 14.466 Q 7 362 ROSS Kyla USA 5.700 8.691 14.391 Q 8 325 MUSTAFINA Aliya RUS 5.900 8.408 14.308 Q 9 152 HUANG Huidan CHN 6.000 8.300 14.300 10 253 TERAMOTO Asuka JPN 5.800 8.466 14.266 Q 11 111 NEDOV Emma AUS 5.900 8.366 14.266 R1 12 193 DOWNIE Rebecca GBR 5.900 8.300 14.200 R2 13 210 MILLOUSI Vasiliki GRE 5.700 8.400 14.100 R3
Floor
1 358 BILES Simone USA 6.500 8.866 15.366 Q 2 311 IORDACHE Larisa Andreea ROU 6.200 8.733 14.933 Q 3 363 SKINNER Mykayla USA 6.400 8.300 14.700 Q 4 242 FERRARI Vanessa ITA 6.200 8.366 14.566 Q 5 325 MUSTAFINA Aliya RUS 6.000 8.500 14.500 Q 6 195 FRAGAPANE Claudia GBR 6.000 8.400 14.400 Q 7 241 FASANA Erika ITA 6.000 8.233 14.233 Q 8 107 MILLER Larrissa AUS 5.800 8.366 14.166 Q 9 182 POPA NEDELCU Roxana ESP 5.900 8.266 14.166 R1 10 357 BAUMANN Alyssa USA 5.700 8.300 14.000 11 153 SHANG Chunsong CHN 6.000 7.966 13.966 R2 12 245 MORI Lara ITA 5.500 8.400 13.900 13 300 PIHANKULESZA Marta POL 5.800 8.100 13.900 R3
Article by: Bea Gheorghisor
Photo Cover: Nadia Boyce