Aspire
Olympic champion Simone Biles maintained her form to pick up her third gold of the week, by winning the individual vault title at the 48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in front of a full house at Aspire Dome.
The American tallied 15.366 points, well ahead of second-placed Shallon Olsen (Canada), who finished on 14.516 while Mexico's Alexa Moreno came third, with 43-year-old Oksana Chusovitina placed fourth.
Biles, who returned to action after 2016 Rio Olympic Games, also became the first-ever gymnast to win 13 World Championship gold medal and eclipsed the all-time record of Belarusian male gymnast Vitaly Scherbo, who set the record in 1996.
She is also still on track to equal Yelena Shushunova’s (Soviet Union) record of six medals at a single World Championship.
After picking up the Men’s All-Around title on Thursday, Russian Federation’s Artur Dalaloyan won the floor title by displacing defending champion Kenzo Shirai (Japan).
Dalaloyan collected 14.900 points for his efforts while Shirai was very close (14.866). Philippines’ teenage gymnast Carlos Yulo made history when he won the first medal for his country in a World Championship. The 18-year-old, youngest among the nine competitors, bagged the bronze with 14.600 points.
Belgium’s Nina Derwael won her maiden gold medal in a World Championships when she owned the women’s uneven bar final. The win was a significant one as she stopped Simone Biles from winning her second gold of the evening. Interestingly, the American has yet to win on uneven bars at the Worlds. Derwael collected 15.200 points which was much better than Biles’ (14.700) while Germany’s Elisabeth Seitz came third (14.600).
China’s Xiao Ruoteng overcame Great Britain’s defending champion Max Whitlock in the tie-breaker to win the men’s pommel horse gold. Xiao, who failed to defend his All-Around crown and lost to Artur Dalaloyan also on tie-break on Wednesday, and Whitlock tallied 15.166 points.
Chinese Taipei’s Lee Chih-Kai, who collected 14.966 points, scripted history after he won the first-ever medal (bronze) for his country at the Worlds.
Greece’s Eleftherios Petrounias showed he is still the ‘Lord of the Rings’ when he defended the title in the men’s final, in front of two seating tiers filled with Greek supporters and flags.
Petrounias, who outmuscled the field in qualifications to qualify first to the final, despite looming shoulder surgery on November 5, scored 15.366 points for the gold ahead of Brazil’s Arthur Zanetti (15.100) and Italy’s Marco Lodadio (14.900).
The 2016 Olympic rings champion performed only his second full routine in recent months in the final. After qualifications he had said that, despite the shoulder pain that is “sharp, like a knife,” he was comfortable enough for the challenge.
And, he lived up to his reputation for his hat-trick of World titles – Glasgow 2015, Montreal 2017 and now Doha 2018.
Aspire Dome was a full house on Friday, and the fans were given the twists and turns than have become a daily occurrence at these world championships once more. Do not miss out on the final day of finals starting from 16:00, Saturday 3rd November at Aspire Dome. Remaining finals include Men’s Vault, Women’s Balance Beam, Men’s Parallel Bars, Women’s Floor and Men’s Horizontal Bar.
Tickets are still available for an unmissable event on Qatar and the world’s sporting calendar on the door at Aspire Dome. To learn more please follow @DohaGym2018 across social media or visit worldgymdoha18.com