World Championships Event Finals Preview, Day 1

World Championships Event Finals Preview, Day 1

Oct 23, 2010 by Anne Phillips
World Championships Event Finals Preview, Day 1
It's the first day of Individual Event Finals here in Rotterdam, and here's a rundown of what to watch for in day one of event finals:

Men's Floor Exercise Final:
Defending Champion: Marian Dragulescu (did not qualify)
1 Eleftherios Kosmidis GRE 15.466
2 Alexander Shatilov ISR 15.308
3 Daniel Purvis GBR 15.266
4 Steven Legendre USA 15.233
5 Eddie Penev BUL 15.066
6 Flavius Koczi ROU 15.000
7 Thomas Bouhail FRA 14.966
8 Kohei Uchimura JPN 14.966
- Steven Legendre has a potential 6.8 start value, and had a few shaky landing in the prelims. He hit a fantastic set in the team final, so if he can duplicate that routine here, he'll be on the medal podium.
- Eddie Penev competes for Bulgaria, but just finished his freshman year at Stanford. He's young with a big future.
- Watch Alexander Shatilov. He really stands out on floor due to his height. At nearly 6 ft tall he's the tallest gymnast competing at Worlds

Women's Vault Final:
Defending Champion: Kayla Williams (not competing this year, injured)
1. Aliya Mustafina (Russia) – 15.283
2. Alicia Sacramone (USA) – 15.266
3-4. Jade Barbosa (Brazil) – 14.633
Ekaterina Kurbatova (Russia) – 14.633
5. Ariella Kaeslin (SUI) – 14.603
6. Jo Hyunjoo (KOR) – 14.250
7. Imogen Cairns (GBR) – 14.195
8. Diana Chelaru (Romania) – 14.016
The all around champion qualified in first with her incredible amanar, but my money is on Alicia Sacramone who has been on fire here in Rotterdam. She has great block off the table and excellent form in the air. But the trouble for her is always the landings.
Who we're missing: Oksana Chusovitina. Yes, she's still competing. She landed poorly on her first vault in prelims and opted not to attempt a 2nd.


Pommel Horse Final:
Defending Champion: Zhang Hongtao. The Chinese coaches opted to leave him off the team this year so no chance to defend his title. As result, there is not a single Chinese in the pommel final, which is quite strange! But, apparently the plan worked out well for team finals...
1 Krisztian Berki HUN 15.900
2 Prashanth Sellathurai AUS 15.566
3 Cyril Tommasone FRA 15.500
4 Filip Ude CRO 15.500
5 Donna Donny Truyens BEL 15.416
6 Saso Bertoncelj SLO 15.400
7 Harutyum Merdinayan ARM 15.333
8 Louis Smith GBR 15.300
This has to be the most diverse final. Check out all the non-major gymnastics countries.
Louis Smith has the highest start value of the competition (from qualifications) at 6.9. But, he'll need to do it cleanly to medal.

Uneven Bars Final:
Defending Champion: He Kexin (finally! a defending Champion in the mix! She's defending Olympic Champion as well)
1. He Kexin – 16.066
2. Huang Qiushuang – 15.666
3. Elizabeth Tweddle – 15.600
4. Aliya Mustafina – 15.300
5. Elisabeth Seitz – 14.966
6. Rebecca Bross – 14.933
7. Ana Porgras – 14.733
8. Bridget Sloan – 14.700
I think this should be the most exciting final of the day! So many huge routines in here. Beth Tweddle is absolutely amazing on bars. She swings with ease, throwing release after release in connection. She's been great in Rotterdam thus far, both in competition and in training. 

Another cool routine to watch is Elizabeth Seitz of Germany who throws a def! She's made it in both qualifications and all around finals.
Also, Rebecca Bross just keeps looking better on bars and nailing handstands. Plus she'll be out for redemption after last night's bronze medal.


Still Rings Final:
Defending Champion: Chen Yibing
1 ChenYibing CHN 15.966
2 Yan Mingyong CHN 15.700
3 Koji Yamamuro JPN 15.633
4 Matteo Morandi ITA 15.500
5 Won Chul Yoo KOR 15.466
6 Chih Yu Chen TPE 15.466
7 Kenya Kobayashi JPN 15.433
8 Ivan San Miguel ESP 15.400
Both of the Chinese finalists were just amazing to watch in both prelims and the team finals, making the strength moves look easy.
Who we're missing: Jordan Jovchev of Bulgaria. Wonder how many rings finals he's been in? Things were looking good for him in qualifications until he fell on the dismount, if I remember correctly.
American Brandon Wynn just missed the final in a tiebreaker to San Miguel.

You can watch the final live on Universal Sports
Or follow my LIVE Updates from the competition