World Championships Glasgow 2015

Day 6: USA Dominates Qualifications, Simone Biles Leads All-Around

Day 6: USA Dominates Qualifications, Simone Biles Leads All-Around

USA leads the team competition with a 236.611 after the conclusion of women’s qualifications at the 2015 World Championships. The other seven teams advanci

Oct 24, 2015 by Becca Reed
Day 6: USA Dominates Qualifications, Simone Biles Leads All-Around


USA leads the team competition with a 236.611 after the conclusion of women’s qualifications at the 2015 World Championships. The other seven teams advancing to team finals on Tuesday, Oct. 27 are Russia (231.437), Great Britain (231.437), China (225.127), Italy (224.452), Japan (223.863), Canada (222.78), and the Netherlands (222.354). The top eight teams have also qualified teams to next summer’s 2016 Olympics which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

USA’s Simone Biles posted the highest all-around score of a 61.598 followed by Giulia Steingruber with a 57.64 and USA’s Gabby Douglas with a 57.516. The top 24 gymnasts, with a maximum of two per country, qualify for all-around finals, which will take place Thursday, Oct. 29. The top eight gymnasts, with a maximum of two per country, on each event have qualified for event finals, which will take place Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

Brazil finished ninth overall, just missing out on finals. Romania finished in 13th after a disastrous qualifications performance. The teams in places nine through 16 have qualified to the Pre-Olympic test event in Rio in April where the top four teams will move on to the Olympics.

See the full results here.
See the full list of qualifiers here.

While USA was over five points ahead of everyone else, they were far from perfect and many of the gymnasts expressed disappointment in their performances after the meet. However, they made it clear that they are dominant team, and by far.

They started on floor with a strong rotation lead by Biles who posted 15.966, the highest score of the day. Biles opened with a full twisting double layout and continued with her signature Biles - a double layout half out. Maggie Nichols earned a 14.7 for her outstanding routine that opened with a double twisting double tuck. Reigning Olympic floor champion Aly Raisman had trouble with her landings and went out of bounds, scoring a 14.533, which puts her in seventh place but she won’t qualify for finals due to the two per country rule.



In one of the most memorable moments of the night, Brenna Dowell performed her routine to the beat of the audience rather than her own selected music. A miscue forced her to perform without her floor music, but the fans in attendance did their best to clap along as a substitute. Usually, gymnasts are able to wait until their music plays, but at Worlds, a gymnast must go when the 30 second countdown runs out. Dowell said she heard Martha Karolyi yelling, "go, go, go!" So she went. Once she got out on the floor, she successfully completed her double front pike and will get it named in her honor. Hear Dowell talk about this skill and her floor music in her interview here.

On vault, Biles once again lead the pack earning the only 16 of the entire qualifications for her Amanar. Nichols posted a 15.666 for her Amanar and after running forward out of it, Raisman posted a 15.133. Douglas stuck to a Yurchenko double and scored a 15.3.

On bars, Raisman started off but after lack of swing on her Shaposh to uprise, she pinged off the bar on her Tkatchev. Douglas followed posting a strong 14.75 for a routine that included her signature high flying piked Tkatchev. Madison Kocian shined on her best event with a beautiful Komova to Pak to Maloney half, posting a 15.233 and qualifying to event finals. Dowell anchored but ran into trouble early with her Tweddle being too close to the bar. She tried another and connected it to her Ezhova but ran into more trouble and came off the bars. She then fell on her side on a Maloney half. She finished with a stuck full twisting double layout.

Kocian lead off on beam with a 14.0 to set the tone. Douglas followed but slipped on her standing back full, sliding down the beam and hitting her ribs. She got right back up and finished strong but only scored a 13.066. Nichols shined yet again and earned a 14.166. Raisman followed with a solid set to score a 14.066. Biles finished the rotation with a big 14.966, once again the highest event score from qualifications.

The other teams from day two who broke into the top eight are China and the Netherlands.

China started off the day with a good performance but not nearly up to their potential and expectations. They finished with a 225.127, which, at the end of the day, put them in fourth.

China started on floor where they displayed artistry coupled with difficult tricks including Shang Chunsong’s 3.5 twist to punch front and Wang Yan’s tuck double double. However, they had some trouble with landings and had some falls. Vault was a solid event for them were they earned their highest event score and didn’t have any falls. They ran into trouble on bars, usually their strongest event. While they displayed intricate work and astounding combinations, they suffered three big mistakes; a routine break and two falls. They still scored a 56.098 as a team but are capable of much more. They survived beam but had to count a fall after Shang Chunsong and Fan Yilin came off the beam.

The Netherlands displayed exquisite artistry throughout all of their performances. On floor, they got much of their difficulty from dance particularly turns and leaps with great extension.


Routine of the Day

Shang Chunsong on bars:



Lineups and Predictions

USA men's lineups were announced today:
Rings: Danell Leyva, Chris Brooks, Alex Naddour, Donnell Whittenburg, Brandon Wynn
Vault: Leyva, Brooks, Paul Ruggeri, Naddour, Whittenburg
Parallel bars: Ruggeri, Wynn, Brooks, Whittenburg, Leyva
Horizontal bar: Wynn, Ruggeri, Whittenburg, Brooks, Leyva
Floor: Naddour, Brooks, Ruggeri, Leyva, Whittenburg
Pommel horse: Ruggeri, Brooks, Leyva, Whittenburg, Naddour
*Both Ruggeri and Whittenburg are competing two vaults.


They Said It

“It was probably one of the worst meets I’ve ever had in my life, and I’m still four in the world, so that’s pretty ridiculous.” - Aly Raisman. Even after outscoring almost everyone in the world, Raisman was extremely hard on herself. Watch the full interview here.

“That’s never happened to me, and I’m just thankful—not that it happened to her—but if it happened to anybody—her—because she took it like a pro, and she knew exactly what to do. I would’ve just stood there.” - Biles on Dowell’s floor music malfunction. Full interview here.



Related:
World Championships Central