Last Friday I rushed home from school to switch on live coverage of the women's all-around final in Nanning. The world championship competition, staged at the Guangxi Gymnasium in China, was widely anticipated to be the moment when Simone Biles of the USA would defend her all-around title that she clenched in Antwerp in 2013. Too much pressure for the 17 year old? It seems not!

 

Rotation One 

 

The first rotation saw the top six qualifiers (Biles, Mustafina, Iordache, Ross, Jinnan and Ferrari) begin on vault. All six of these gymnasts are showing great consistency considering that they were the same top six in Antwerp last year. Five of them chose to perform a double twisting yurchenko while Simone Biles opted for a more difficult amanar, which was powerful and cleanly landed, with great length (15.866). This was key in helping her edge into the lead early in the competition. Of the double twists, Aliya Mustafina posted the highest score with a 15.100. Another routine from the first rotation which stood out to me was Spain's Roxana Popa Nedelcu on uneven bars. I love her energy when she performs, there's just something really exciting about her! Her legs were glued together and she caught some great releases including a gienger and very high straddle jaeger. She also included difficult combinations such as a tkatchev to pak salto and concluded with a 1/1 double layout dismount. (14.300) This impressive routine prompted British commentator Christine Still to comment; "She could be a dark horse here". Additionally, Elsabeth Black from Canada displayed an ambitious beam routine, with a start value which was in fact the highest out of all the gymnasts in the final. This included a back handspring back tuck full and a switch leap to switch half. To not have fallen in that routine was super impressive! (14.533)

 

Rotation Two

 

The leading group marched round to bars, where Olympic bars champion Aliya Mustafina from Russia delivered a standout routine. She showed the consistent flight elements and straight handstands that we have come to expect from her, but it was her stuck full twisting double back dismount that evoked a crowd reaction and left a fantastic final impression with the judges. (15.041) Kyla Ross of the USA, another classical bar worker, was on Mustafina's heels with a 14.700. However, the highest bar scorer was Yao Jinnan with her 6.9 difficulty score, who posted a full point higher on bars than all around champ Simone Biles (Biles improved by over a point from qualifications) despite not including her spectacular Gaylord salto that we saw last year! Elsewhere, Giulia Steingruber from Switzerland was executing some crazy high leaps on floor exercise with some expressive choreography.

 

Rotation Three

 

The top six gymnasts dusted off their grips and made their way to the most nerve wracking event; the beam. At the mid-way point in the competition the standings looked like this; Biles, Mustafina, Jinnan, Iordache, Ross, Ferrari.. But the competition at the top was set to be very close, as there was just over 0.5 separating 1st place from 5th place! Simone Biles continued her lead with a clean and powerful beam performance, which was a little shaky at times but not enough to phase her, and she made her full twisting double tuck dismount look effortless. (14.766) It was wonderful to see Larisa Iordache from Romania nail her difficult beam routine. She shows such confidence and fluidity on the beam, and is my favourite to watch when she is at her best. Iordache scored an outstanding 15.100 which contributed greatly to her all around medal bid. Italy's veteran and 2006 world champion Vanessa Ferrari looked confident in her triple series and dismounted with a high double pike. Execution paid off once again for Kyla Ross, who was precise in her beam routine and worked with little error to score 14.433, although not having as much difficulty as some. On floor, Claudia Fragapane of Great Britain treated us to some unique choreography and fantastic tumbling technique. Her powerful acceleration through her round off backhandspring allowed her to impress the judges with a huge 1/1 double layout followed by a double layout, double arabian and double pike.  Had she not have fallen in the floor final, I strongly feel she could have challenged for a medal! Something I also noticed in rotation three was team China's cool new selection of floor music - I particularly liked Shang Chunsong's - very different!

 

Final Rotation

 

The tight competition between the leaders came down to the last event. Heading into floor Biles maintained the top spot with Iordache up into second, Jinnan in third, Ross in fourth, Mustafina in fifth and Ferrari in seventh, behind Giulia Steingruber. After some errors on floor Yao Jinnan scored a damaging 12.833. Aliya Mustafina also had a disappointing final event as she had a shocking fall on her opening double arabian tumble. These mistakes allowed the ever consistent Kyla Ross to claim the bronze medal, a medal which had looked unlikely throughout the competition. Her elegant floor routine included a high front 3/2 to front 1/1 alongside artistic movements. (13.933) The silver medal went to Larisa Iordache after a dynamic floor routine. I love her floor exercise, she is so bouncy and full of enthusiasm. Highlights of her routine were her stuck double twisting double tuck and a well performed quadruple spin- something we rarely see attempted! (14.733) Identical to last year, Simone Biles' floor performance was saved for the big finale. She exploded onto the floor with her massively high tumbles, beaming smile, and 180+ degree leaps. What is most impressive is that she never seems nervous or to take herself too seriously, she just has fun and thrives in front of an audience! Of course, the routine was enough to secure her the gold medal. She scored 15.066, a score that would have earned her a bronze medal on floor in London two years ago! 

 

Aside from the gymnastics though, I think the real star of the show was the bee in Simone's flowers on the medal podium! (If you haven't seen this yet, go check it out! Very funny :D )

 

Thanks for reading, please let me know if you have any thoughts!

 

Lucy

 

(16 year old gymnast from the UK)