Press Release
Remaining
spots for the Finals of the 48th Artistic Gymnastics World
Championships were secured today, as the last few Women’s Qualification
Subdivisions were performed at the Aspire Dome. Finals for all events will now
take place 29th October – 3rd November.
Although
China’s performance included mistakes on its traditionally strongest two
apparatus, it easily earned the highest team score in the seventh subdivision.
One
Chinese gymnast fell on uneven bars, and two of them struggled on balance beam,
but all-arounder Chen Yile predicted a steadier result in Tuesday’s team final.
The team total score of 165.196 points ranked them second behind USA so far in
qualifications.
“I
think the whole team will do much better,” Chen said. “We all have trust in
each other. We will try our best to get a medal.”
Canadian
veteran Elsabeth Black beamed as she reflected on her team’s field-topping
performance in the eighth subdivision. “I’m very proud of how everyone on the
team did,” said Black, who ranked fifth all-around at that point. “They all
held themselves up high - chins up and a positive attitude - and really put it
all out there.”
Canada’s
163.897 total team score lifted them to third place thus far in qualifications.
Performing in the same subdivision, France moved into fifth place in team
standings.
Back
from maternity leave, three-time world all-around medalist Aliya Mustafina of
the Russian Federation team contributed a trio of counting scores as her squad
ruled the ninth subdivision of women’s qualifications.
Russian
gymnast Angelina Simakova scored zero points on vault because she did not land
feet first, and subsequently fell on uneven bars. Because the lowest mark on
each apparatus is dropped, though, her team was not forced to absorb these
errors. With a team score of 165.497 points, the Russian Federation moved into
second place behind the USA after nine of 11 subdivisions.
Russian
all-arounder Irina Alexeeva expressed confidence that her team will avoid such
random mistakes in Tuesday’s team final: “It’s just qualifications and it’s the
first day, so of course we had a little bit of nerves,” Alexeeva said. “So,
we’ll hope to get rid of those for the team final.”
Spain
skimmed ahead of Mexico by 0.167 points for the leading team ranking in the 10th
subdivision of women’s qualifications. With a total team score of 152.364
points, Spain went into 18th place in team rankings after 10 of 11
subdivisions.
Alexa
Moreno of Mexico earned the highest score of the subdivision on any apparatus,
and probably a spot in her fourth World Championships final, on vault. She
ranked fourth. with only one subdivision remaining.
The
Mexican team finished second in the subdivision. Moreno, a 2016 Olympian who
resumed training in February, said she had secretly hoped to qualify for the
vault final: “I had that tiny light of hope, but I didn’t want to pressure
myself.”
The Czech
Republic earned the top team score in the 11th and last subdivision of women’s
qualifications, but their 24th-place overall team ranking
was far more significant.
The top 24 teams
at the Doha Worlds will advance to the 2019 Worlds in Stuttgart, which in turn
will move them closer to qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Aneta
Holasova provided the Czechs with their highest scores on three of four
apparatus.
The
Czech Republic’s team total score of 147.996 points was more than enough to
bump Egypt, which competed in earlier subdivision, out of the all-important
24th spot.
Over
the next five days, the worlds best will compete in a series of Finals to
decide who will be crowned 2018 World Champions. From Teams, All-Arounders and
Apparatus Finals, a total of 42 medals are up for grabs. More importantly, the
three medal-winning countries in the team competition will also pick up four
tickets each to Tokyo, which is the first opportunity to secure a spot in
Artistic Gymnastics for the 2020 Olympic Games.
Women’s Team Finalists