Women’s results

Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine and Larisa Iordache of Romania took the titles in a closely fought battle at the 2013 Glasgow World Cup from the Emirates Arena. In front of a capacity crowd both the men’s and women’s events went down to the final routines with Great Britain’s Daniel Purvis just beaten to the men’s crown and USA’s reigning champion Elizabeth Price also narrowly taking silver.

Verniaiev took his second World Cup gold in succession with another masterful display, despite a fall on pommel horse, to post a winning score of 89.798. Dan Purvis (89.131) lead the competition for most of the day but couldn't quite hold on as Verniaiev steadily clawed back the points with brilliant vault and parallel bars routines and a solid final high bar performance. Andriy Likhovitskiy (88.597) of Belarus took the bronze with Brit Sam Oldham in 7th.

The Iordache versus Price battle was equally as tight. In the end it was a mistake on her vault landing that cost Price with Iordache’s consistent and well performed routines proving enough for the gold medal 57.932 to 57.365. Italy’s Vanessa Ferrari (56.633) also put in a very strong all-around performance to place in bronze with Britain's Ruby Harrold and Raer Theaker in 7th and 8th places.

Silver medallist Dan Purvis was happy with his results saying: “It was a really good competition and a great battle between me and Verniaiev. He is a brilliant gymnast and I really enjoyed fighting it out with him to the end. The crowd were amazing, showing so much support for everyone. Competing in front of a home crowd is always special and with the Commonwealth Games and World Championships (2015) to come I’m really looking forward to competing in Glasgow again in the future. Overall it’s been a good year for me and to end with silver from this World Cup and bronze from last weekend (Stuttgart World Cup) is a good way to finish 2013.”

The women’s event began on vault. There was early drama with American favourite Elizabeth Price sitting her high difficulty 2.5 twisting Yurchenko vault to score her 14.233. Romania's Iordache set the lead with a double twisting Yurchenko for 14.133 whilst Britain’s Ruby Harrold and Raer Theaker got their competitions underway with full twisting Yurchenko vaults scoring 13.500 and 13.300 respectively.

Onto bars and Elizabeth Price quickly put her vault disappointment behind her with an immaculate routine to score 14.833. Iordache just kept the lead with her routine scoring 14.400; with Teramoto of Japan sticking a full twisting double tuck dismount for 13.933.Vanessa Ferrari looked confident with a nice routine for 14.100 while Popa from Spain included a beautiful full twisting double straight dismount for 13.933. Raer and Ruby both unfortunately counted falls in their bars routines whilst also demonstrating some excellent skills, Raer scoring 11.633 and Ruby 12.633

On beam the Price vs. Iordache battle continued, Price went up first setting the marker with a superbly executed confident routine to score 13.833. European beam champion Iordache followed up with huge difficulty, demonstrated by the fact that despite a fall she still scored a highly impressive 14.100 to keep the lead. Vanessa Ferrari looked determined in executing her series of skills on beam; a very strong routine scored her 13.900 while Teramoto unfortunately fell to score 13.200. Raer Theaker showed fantastic composure to pick herself up after bars difficulty with a beautiful clean beam routine for 13.166. Ruby Harrold had to fight to control her early beam sequence and did so well completing cleanly for 12.266.

Elizabeth Price showed all her immense power on floor with huge tumbling to score an impressive 14.466. Last up Iordache showed beautiful form, performing expressively to the crowd to score 14.66, the top floor score and with it the all-around title.

Vanessa Ferrari is a past World floor champion and that showed in her confident, expressive routine with well executed tumbles that gave her a total of 14.500. Raer Theaker completed her competition with a nicely performed floor routine scoring her 12.500. Ruby Harrold was inches out of bounds with her spectacular first tumble but that didn’t faze her as she completed a great final routine for 13.033.

Men’s results

VERNIAIEV Oleg (UKR) 89.798    
PURVIS Daniel (GBR)    89.131    
LIKHOVITSKIY Andrey (BLR) 88.597    
OROZCO John (USA) 87.031    
GONZALEZ VIDAL Fabian (ESP) 86.797    
YAMAMOTO Masayoshi (JPN) 86.565    
OLDHAM Sam (GBR) 86.331    
TOBA Andreas (GER) 83.731

The men’s competition began on the floor with all gymnasts looking to set a solid marker for the rest of the event. It was Dan Purvis, on his favourite apparatus, that set the highest score with his powerful tumbles and solid landings completing a brilliant clean routine to score him 15.433. Sam Oldham couldn’t quite control his penultimate tumble and stepped just out of bounds but still scored a good 14.666. Verniaiev of Ukraine went clean for 14.800 whilst Gonzalez equalled Sam’s score to share 3rd after the first rotation.

On to pommel and Dan strengthened his early lead with a composed routine to score him 14.633. Andrey Likhovitskiy was the top scorer with a brilliant routine for 15.333 putting him just behind Dan. Sam Oldham fought through his routine well to score 14 with Verniaiev and Orozco both counting falls.

On rings and Dan Purvis  retained his lead at the halfway point of the men’s competition with a solid routine and excellent tuck dismount giving him 14.966. Likhovitskiy kept the pressure on scoring 14.233 with Verniaiev showing great strength or character after his pommel floor for the best rings total of 15.266. Sam Oldham kept in the medal hunt with 14.466 while Yamamoto of Japan continued his steady and clean competition.

Vault was up next and Verniaiev began to stake his claim with a massive Dragalescu vault scoring 15.166. Only Dan Purvis could keep close with a 2.5 twisting Yurchenko for 15.000 to keep his overall lead. John Orozco hit a handspring straight front with a double twist for 14.833 with Likhovitskiy remaining in touch with 14.366. Sam Oldham charged purposely down the vault run with a handspring double front for 14.466 while Yamamoto made his fist error of the day stepping out on landing to score 14.200.

On parallel bars Dan Purvis lost a bit of form early in his routine but battled on scoring a solid 14.533. Verniaiev had to remain focused as his initial attempt on the bars was cut short by issues with the equipment, these were quickly solved and he re-started showing all his class and composure to score a brilliant 15.633 and move into top spot. Likhovitskiy maintained his medal challenge with another strong routine for 15.066 with Yamamoto scoring a steady 14.200. Sam Oldham showed great form in his routine, just a small pace back on dismount to score 14.500. John Orozco proved why parallel bars his - favourite apparatus - with a great routine for 15.433.

Dan Purvis went in to high bar knowing it was a battle between him and Verniaiev for the gold medal. Dan was superb, a well-executed neat routine scored him 14.566. Verniaiev followed up with the last routine of the men’s competition knowing a clean routine should be enough and he stood up to the pressure scoring 14.900 enough to secure the title.
Likhovitskiy continued his high quality consistent performances to score 15.066. Yamamoto displayed some very unusual skills which delighted the crowd and with a great stuck dismount scored 14.200, unfortunately John Orozco fell on Tkatchev scoring 13.866. Sam Oldham produced some big skills in his difficulty high bar routine, much to his and the crowds delight, scoring him 14.233.