Black leads all-around qualifying
MONTREAL: 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 subdivisions.
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 with three more subdivisions to come later. Russia’s Elena Eremina was second with 54.999pts 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,” she told reporters. “With the build-up, it’s been a rough week. I’ve been really ill. “I’m still not 100 percent but I’m a lot better than I was last week. I’m really happy to be out here representing again.”
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.”
The women’s competition is relatively open, with reigning Olympic and world champion Simone Biles of the United States skipping Montreal as part of a year-long competitive break.
In the men’s qualifiers meanwhile, the final line-up was confirmed with Cuba’s Manrique Larduet the top qualifier. Larduet had led after Monday’s qualifying session which was overshadowed by the shock withdrawal of defending Japanese champion Kohei Uchimura, who limped out with an ankle injury.
China’s Xiao Ruoteng booked his place in the final in second, ahead of Russia’s David Belyavskiy in third. Rio silver medallist Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine qualified in fifth spot.
The men’s all-around final takes place today with the women’s medals decided tomorrow. The apparatus finals medals take place over the weekend. There is no team event at the world championships in the year immediately following an Olympics. —AFP