Welcome to the first day of Event Finals at the 2015 World Championship. Today will see the finals contested for the Women's Vault and Uneven Bars and the Men's Floor Exercise, Pommel Horse and Still Rings. It should be an extremely exciting day of competition and it should be noted that any medalists today and tomorrow whose nations have not qualified a team, will earn an automatic berth to the Rio Olympics. A belated congratulations also go to Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland and Max Whitlock of Great Britain who were last night named the 2015 Longines Prize of Elegance winners. Japan's Kenzo Shirai will be hoping to dominate on the Floor Exercise with Louis Smith of Great Britain and Greece's Eleftherios Petrounias will be hoping to repeat as the top scorers as they did in Qualifications on the Pommel Horse and Still Rings respectively. For the Women, Simone Biles (USA) and Daria Spiridinova (RUS) were the top qualifiers to the Vault and Uneven Bars finals respectively.
Can I just say how much I love the gymnast introductions and them walking across the stage. We start off the first day with the Men's Floor Exercise. And I am suitably disappointed that they did not show us the Men's presentations for Floor. Okay so we missed the first four gymnasts. Cuba's Manrique Larduet Bicet is up first. Step out on arabian double pike half. Hop double pike Arabian, Solid start to the final. Next up is the Republic of Korea's KIM Hansol - Lovely 3.5 front full, double double, full 2.5, misjudged 2.5 to double and almost sits it down, hop back on triple twist to finish. Spain's Rayderley Miguel Zapata Santana is up next - 1.5 to double front, handspring full twist, double straight. Awesome routine - he is absolutely thrilled! Daniel Purvis - massive roar from the crowd, step and low on double double, lovely 2.5, handspring double front, front 2.5, 1.5 twisting roll out, whip to double Arabian - great routine! DENG Shudi - 3.5 punch, full twist to 2.5 - low on landing, hop forward and low chest on the triple twist. And now for Kenzo Shirai! 3.5 double front, stumbles on the third pass, lovely 2.5, quad twist. Massive routine and gorgeous lines! Huge score! Following him is Max Whitlock - lovely 3.5 to punch front, gorgeous flairs, two half to one half, small step on triple twist. Stunning routine! The final gymnast to go is Enrique Tomas Gonzalez Sepulveda - hands down on full to 2.5, full double front, double twisting double back, whip to double twist. Kenzo Shirai takes the title over Max Whitlock. Spain's Rayderley Miguel Zapata Santana finishes with the bronze and earns an assured ticket to the Olympics!
Next up is the Women's Vault! Alexa Citlali Morena Medina wearing lovely sparkly purple leo with white and blue diamantes - a little wait before first vault - step forward and low in the landing handspring straight 1.5; double twisting Tsukhara low on landing, Lovely patriotic leo for Elissa Downie (red shoulders, mostly blue with white lines with some red on sleeves and diamantes). Hop back on DTY. Hop back roundoff straight somersault half twist. HONG Un Jong - sleeveless leo, red body, with blue and white ribboning., Solid 2.5 twist. Cheng - step back. Giulia Steingruber wearing blue leotard with diamantes. Massive Handspring straight front 1.5. Oh no she's injured her knee on her second Vault. Flashed the DTY but makes Yurchenko 1.5. Maria Paseka - Hop back Cheng. White leo with black patterning. Solid Amanar. WANG Yan - gorgeous white leo with red patterning and diamantes. Low chest on the landing double twisting Tsukahara; Hands down on the Rudi. White sleeved leotard red bottom with blue - stunning!- Massive Amanar with hop forward; Solid second Vault. Sleeveless aquaey colour with white top leo. A deep squat but stuck Produnova; steps out of bounds on Tsukahara double twist. Russia's Maria Paseka takes the Vault title with Simone Biles added a bronze to her collection. HONG Un Jong wins the silver and books her ticket to Rio!
Our attention now goes to the Pommel Horse final. Of the eight men in the field - half of them have the opportunity to secure a ticket to Rio!! We start with Armenia's Harutyun Merdinyan - love the top of his leo - that patterning would be stunning on a Women's leotard! Lovely Busnari and good swings and Russians work, stuck dismount. Up next is Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev - a couple of form breaks and really had to fight for the dismount. Alexander Naddour of the U.S. - a cover of form breaks in the middle but recovered well. Japan's Kazuma Kaya is up next - solid routine. He's always smiling and is absolutely thrilled. The crowd has erupted for Louis Smith! PHENOMENAL!! What a crowd reaction to the score. Feel for Vid Hidvegi of Hungary who has to follow that. Solid routine, just a massive fight on the final handstand before the dismount. Robert Seligman of Croatia is up next - loses momentum and comes off the Horse and misses his dismount. Last gymnast to go is Britain's Max Whitlock - after an initial hesitation - what a routine!! WHITLOCK wins the title and becomes Britain's first World Championship gold medalist! Louis Smith finishes second. Japan's Kazuma Kaya shares the bronze with Armenian Harutyun Merdinyan who has booked a ticket to Rio!!
It's Uneven Bars time!! White and blue leo for Sophie Scheder. Red leotard with diamantes for Ruby Harrold. SHANG Chunsong is up first - stunning blue leotard with silver - Gienger, full pirouette, small hop back on the dismount and close to the bar. Scheder is up next - lovely Tkatchev, couple paces on the dismount, had a couple of issues with her handstands. FAN Yilin is up next - full pirouette, pak salto, nice double straight to finish - solid routine. Viktoriia Komova - sparkly purple leotard; stoop half turn to Jaeger, Tkachev, very clean and solid routine! Judges took forever with her score. The look on her face when she realises she's tied for first. Superb routine from Gabrielle Douglas!! Love the leotards that her and Madison Kocian are wearing! Kocian is up next - solid routine - a little close on the Jaeger. Daria Spiridonova wears a white and purple leo with aqua patterning in between. Clean routine!! Solid routine from Ruby Harrold - a slight problem with a handstand though. And it's a four way tie for the Gold!!! Russia's Viktoriia Komova and Daria Spiridonova, China's FAN Yilin and U.S. gymnast Madison Kocian TIE FOR THE GOLD!
And finally it's the Still Rings final! I missed half of Lambertus van Gelder's routine. Full twisting double straight dismount. Samir Ait Said is up next - Falcon to Maltese, full twisting double layout dismount - solid routine. YOU Hao - Maltese, kip to Maltese, double into cross sit, full front pike up to handstand, low and a step on the dismount. Eleftherios Petrounias - solid routine!! Donnell Whittenburg - Hop double twisting double straight dismount. YANG Liu - Looking to defend his title; step on the dismount and lost a little momentum in the middle of the routine and had to fight to maintain his handstand. Brandon Wynn - fantastic routine - stuck dismount! Davtyan Vahagn - solid routine with step dismount. Greece's Eleftherios Petrounias wins the title and is off to Rio!!!! China's YOU Hao and LIU Yang finish with silver and bronze respectively.
Next up is the Women's Vault! Alexa Citlali Morena Medina wearing lovely sparkly purple leo with white and blue diamantes - a little wait before first vault - step forward and low in the landing handspring straight 1.5; double twisting Tsukhara low on landing, Lovely patriotic leo for Elissa Downie (red shoulders, mostly blue with white lines with some red on sleeves and diamantes). Hop back on DTY. Hop back roundoff straight somersault half twist. HONG Un Jong - sleeveless leo, red body, with blue and white ribboning., Solid 2.5 twist. Cheng - step back. Giulia Steingruber wearing blue leotard with diamantes. Massive Handspring straight front 1.5. Oh no she's injured her knee on her second Vault. Flashed the DTY but makes Yurchenko 1.5. Maria Paseka - Hop back Cheng. White leo with black patterning. Solid Amanar. WANG Yan - gorgeous white leo with red patterning and diamantes. Low chest on the landing double twisting Tsukahara; Hands down on the Rudi. White sleeved leotard red bottom with blue - stunning!- Massive Amanar with hop forward; Solid second Vault. Sleeveless aquaey colour with white top leo. A deep squat but stuck Produnova; steps out of bounds on Tsukahara double twist. Russia's Maria Paseka takes the Vault title with Simone Biles added a bronze to her collection. HONG Un Jong wins the silver and books her ticket to Rio!
Our attention now goes to the Pommel Horse final. Of the eight men in the field - half of them have the opportunity to secure a ticket to Rio!! We start with Armenia's Harutyun Merdinyan - love the top of his leo - that patterning would be stunning on a Women's leotard! Lovely Busnari and good swings and Russians work, stuck dismount. Up next is Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev - a couple of form breaks and really had to fight for the dismount. Alexander Naddour of the U.S. - a cover of form breaks in the middle but recovered well. Japan's Kazuma Kaya is up next - solid routine. He's always smiling and is absolutely thrilled. The crowd has erupted for Louis Smith! PHENOMENAL!! What a crowd reaction to the score. Feel for Vid Hidvegi of Hungary who has to follow that. Solid routine, just a massive fight on the final handstand before the dismount. Robert Seligman of Croatia is up next - loses momentum and comes off the Horse and misses his dismount. Last gymnast to go is Britain's Max Whitlock - after an initial hesitation - what a routine!! WHITLOCK wins the title and becomes Britain's first World Championship gold medalist! Louis Smith finishes second. Japan's Kazuma Kaya shares the bronze with Armenian Harutyun Merdinyan who has booked a ticket to Rio!!
It's Uneven Bars time!! White and blue leo for Sophie Scheder. Red leotard with diamantes for Ruby Harrold. SHANG Chunsong is up first - stunning blue leotard with silver - Gienger, full pirouette, small hop back on the dismount and close to the bar. Scheder is up next - lovely Tkatchev, couple paces on the dismount, had a couple of issues with her handstands. FAN Yilin is up next - full pirouette, pak salto, nice double straight to finish - solid routine. Viktoriia Komova - sparkly purple leotard; stoop half turn to Jaeger, Tkachev, very clean and solid routine! Judges took forever with her score. The look on her face when she realises she's tied for first. Superb routine from Gabrielle Douglas!! Love the leotards that her and Madison Kocian are wearing! Kocian is up next - solid routine - a little close on the Jaeger. Daria Spiridonova wears a white and purple leo with aqua patterning in between. Clean routine!! Solid routine from Ruby Harrold - a slight problem with a handstand though. And it's a four way tie for the Gold!!! Russia's Viktoriia Komova and Daria Spiridonova, China's FAN Yilin and U.S. gymnast Madison Kocian TIE FOR THE GOLD!
And finally it's the Still Rings final! I missed half of Lambertus van Gelder's routine. Full twisting double straight dismount. Samir Ait Said is up next - Falcon to Maltese, full twisting double layout dismount - solid routine. YOU Hao - Maltese, kip to Maltese, double into cross sit, full front pike up to handstand, low and a step on the dismount. Eleftherios Petrounias - solid routine!! Donnell Whittenburg - Hop double twisting double straight dismount. YANG Liu - Looking to defend his title; step on the dismount and lost a little momentum in the middle of the routine and had to fight to maintain his handstand. Brandon Wynn - fantastic routine - stuck dismount! Davtyan Vahagn - solid routine with step dismount. Greece's Eleftherios Petrounias wins the title and is off to Rio!!!! China's YOU Hao and LIU Yang finish with silver and bronze respectively.
MEN'S FLOOR EXERCISE:
- Kenzo Shirai (JPN) 16.233
- Max Whitlock (GBR) 15.566
- Rayderley Miguel Zapata Santana (ESP) 15.200
- DENG Shudi (CHN) 15.166
- Daniel Purvis (GBR) 15.100
- KIM Hansol (KOR) 14.933
- Manrique Larduet Bicet (CUB) 14.800
- Enrique Tomas Gonzalez Sepulveda (CHI) 14.733
WOMEN'S VAULT:
- Maria Paseka (RUS) (15.633, 15.700) 15.666
- HONG Un Jong (PRK) (15.666, 15.600) 15.633
- Simone Biles (USA) (15.900, 15.183) 15.541
- Elissa Downie (GBR) (14.966, 14.833) 14.899
- Dipa Karmakar (IND) (15.300, 14.066) 14.683
- WANG Yan (CHN) (15.066, 14.100) 14.583
- Alexa Citlali Moreno Medina (MEX) (14.666, 14.466); Giulia Steingruber (SUI) (15.500, 13.633) 14.566
MEN'S POMMEL HORSE:
- Max Whitlock (GBR) 16.133
- Louis Smith (GBR) 16.033
- Harutyun Merdinyan (ARM); Kazuma Kaya (JPN) 15.500
- Vid Hidvegi (HUN) 15.366
- Oleg Verniaiev (UKR) 15.266
- Alexander Naddour (USA) 15.200
- Robert Seligman (CRO) 14.433
WOMEN'S UNEVEN BARS:
- FAN Yilin (CHN); Viktoriia Komova (RUS); Daria Spiridonova (RUS); Madison Kocian (USA) 15.366
- Gabrielle Douglas (USA) 15.133
- SHANG Chunsong (CHN) 14.900
- Ruby Harrold (GBR) 14.766
- Sophie Scheder (GER) 14.600
MEN'S STILL RINGS:
- Eleftherios Petrounias (GRE) 15.800
- YOU Hao (CHN) 15.733
- LIU Yang (CHN) 15.700
- Samir Ait Said (FRA) 15.633
- Brandon Wynn (USA) 15.600
- Lambertus van Gelder (NED) 15.500
- Davtyan Vahagn (ARM) 15.333
- Donnell Whittenburg (USA) 15.300