Black leads in all-round qualifying at gymnastics

Montreal (Canada), Oct. 4: Canada’s Ellie Black grabbed the early lead in qualifying for the women’s all-around final at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Tuesday, leading the standings after two sub-divisions.

The 22-year-old from Halifax, who finished fifth in the all-around final at last year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics, led the way with 55.766 points.

Russia’s Elena Eremina was second with 54.999 points while Belgium’s Nina Derwael was third in the standings with 53.598pts.

Amy Tinkler of Britain meanwhile continued her strong comeback from a torn calf muscle after finishing the day in fifth, with 52.831.

Tinkler, a bronze medallist in the floor routine at the Olympics last year, only resumed training in August after undergoing surgery to repair her injury earlier this year.

The 17-year-old from Durham has also battled illness in the build-up to this week’s championships.

“I’m really buzzing with my performance. With the build-up, it’s been a rough week. I’ve been really ill,” she told reporters.

“I’m still not 100 per cent but better than I was last week. I’m really happy to be out here representing again,” she added.

Tinkler now faces a nervous wait to see if she will finish among the 24 who will qualify for Friday’s all-around final. “It’s quite hard waiting,” Tinkler said. “Waiting is more nervous than competing to be honest.”

In the men’s qualifiers, the final line-up was confirmed with Manrique Larduet the top qualifier who led after Monday’s qualifying session which was overshadowed by shock withdrawal of Kohei Uchimura, who limped out with an ankle injury.

Xiao Ruoteng booked his place in the final in second, ahead of David Belyavskiy in third.