For the British women, 2014 had most likely been the best year to date. The British girls could have already finished the year full and considered it a great success before the Worlds even started.
With the promising results at this year’s European Championships, where Great Britain took the silver medal in the team final, and at the Commonwealth Games, where they won the team title, gymnastics fans around the world were looking at Great Britain as a possible contender for a team medal in Nanning.
There have been talks that Great Britain have left countries such as Italy, Germany and Japan in the dusk and are in the mix with the “Big 4” (for a new “Big 5”?). But the question was… could Great Britain live up to that expectation? Could they upset China, Russia or Romania?
Qualifications
Great Britain finished fourth in qualifications after a poor performance from the Romanians. That was the highest rank Great Britain had achieved on the world stage. Their two all-around gymnasts Claudia Fragapane and Ruby Harrold finished in the top 12 in qualifications. And to top it off, Great Britain had qualified three gymnasts into three different event finals,:Fragapane on vault and floor as well as Harrold and Downie on the uneven bars. So already, Great Britain was off to a great start.
Team Final
The team final was most likely the most important competition of the whole championships for the British. For those who watched the BBC coverage, we saw Becky Downie and Hannah Whelan speak before the competition about how a world team medal would be a special moment for the entire team, especially since Downie’s and Whelan’s careers are approaching to an end. The most important thing that viewers would have taken from those interviews with the BBC is that these girls had the belief that a team medal is a possibility.
Great Britain sailed through their bar routines in the first rotation, this was the event that the British could build a solid foundation for the rest of the competition as this was their best event. As expected they delivered three solid performances.
Britain has traditionally struggled on the beam in recent years, but has shown signs of major improvements skill wise and consistency wise. This was to be their biggest obstacle in the competition. Jupp and Downie delivered good routines, but Whelan had unfortunate mistakes that cost the team dearly. Great Britain dropped down the standings after beam, and it seemed that a team medal was out of their reach.
Although I was surprised the British did not use Kelly Simm on floor, as she has the difficulty to put up a decent score, they had three very solid routines from Jupp, Harrold and Fragapane. They also did three very decent double twisting Yurchenkos on vault, but it was not enough for a top three finish. The team finished sixth, which is good result, but the general feeling was that they could have done better.
Individual performances
The all-around was the competition that the British would not have factored into. With the top challengers for the all-around receiving all the attention, Claudia Fragapane and Ruby Harrold would have been determined to do a good job here. With four solid performances, the two British girls had a fantastic result with Fragapane finishing tenth and Harrold finishing eleventh.
The “pocket rocket” is what Claudia Fragapane has been dubbed as by the British media. Fragapane is the first British woman to reach the vault final since Imogen Cairns did in 2010. She did two solid vaults to finish joint fifth with Gulia Steingruber from Switzerland. The floor is the event where she is known for her power, energy and her inventive choreography. Unfortunately Claudia had a mishap on her first tumble where she couldn’t resist the bounce from the floor; however her rest of her routine was great. After great performances from the rest of the finalists, she finished in eighth.
Becky Downie is the current European and Commonwealth champion on bars; she put on a solid performance to score 15.166 to finish fifth in the final. Ruby Harrold had an unfortunate fall on her full turn on the low bar and scored 13.666 to finish in eighth position.
What improvements can they make for 2015?
Since the 2012 Olympics the British have really stepped up their game on the difficulty of their routines, and I expect they will continue to do so in the run up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. The next world championships will be in Glasgow, the same arena where the British home nations put in a great performance at the recent Commonwealth Games, so they will want to do a good job there too.
They really need to work on their consistency on beam, they have the difficulty, but as we all know the difficulty won’t matter unless you hit your routine. This is an event that has caused problems for them in the past but with their recent improvements on beam, I suspect they will continue to grow on this event in the years to come.
Next year, the British will be spoiled for choice on who they can take to Worlds. Tyesha Mattis, Rhyannon Jones, Amy Tinkler and Ellie Downie would make great assets to the team next year. Even though Great Britain did not reach our expectations this time around, I would be sure that they will be hungry to do much better next year.
Watch this space…
Article by: Craig Tilley
Photo Cover: Nadia Boyce