Welcome to the live blog for the first day of event finals at the 2021 World Championships, held in Kitakyushu, Japan!
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7:05 am. Rings Final Standings
1. Lan Xingyu CHN 15.200
2. Marco Lodadio ITA 14.866
3. Salvatore Maresca ITA 14.833
— Grigoriy Klimentev RUS 14.833
5. Vinzenz Höck AUT 14.733
6. Ibrahim Colak TUR 14.666
7. William Emard CAN 14.533
8. Courtney Tulloch GBR 14.200
7:00 am. Marco Lodadio ITA SR: Invert hang through to maltese, to invert hang, up to maltese again, there are legit skill names for all of the connections they do but I’m never going to remember any of them, and I feel like most people who casually follow MAG wouldn’t have any clue what I was talking about, so I just talk about the transitions and connections as I see them and not by their names. Saltos through to iron cross, invert hang to planche, strong handstand before the dismount, and nearly sticks it (double double), but then takes a baby step. 14.866 (6.3, 8.566)
6:57 am. Vinzenz Höck AUT SR: Maltese through to a maltese to invert hang, quick up to the saltos to iron cross, I didn’t type a few things after that but had another iron cross and a strong handstand, full-twisting double layout was a little whippy, but a mostly good landing, I think just a small-ish hop back. 14.733 (6.2, 8.533)
6:54 am. Grigoriy Klimentev RUS SR: Planche, legs are a little higher than his hips, down to hang through to maltese, invert hang to maltese, invert hang to saltos to a high planche, down to iron cross, invert hang through to iron cross, invert pike up to handstand, swinging a bit but holds the handstand tight, full-twisting double layout dismount, a little low with a hop. 14.833 (6.2, 8.633)
6:52 am. Ibrahim Colak TUR SR: Planche, maybe low? Through to maltese, another planche, saltos through to maltese, to iron cross, invert hang through to iron cross, big grin, love that more than anything. PERFECT handstand, WOW. Piked double front with a tiny bounce. I don’t know if it’ll be enough to overtake Lan but…tbh I think it should? Lan had the really weak handstand plus the dismount landing. Will it come down to D? Wow, no, the judges were like “we hated this.” 14.666 (6.2, 8.466)
6:49 am. Second half of warmups!
6:46 am. Lan Xingyu CHN SR: Maltese, iron cross pressed to a super high planche, love that, invert pike up to planche, another great position, saltos to iron cross, angle there was a little off in his hips, but holds it so well, saltos to maltese, iron cross, almost perfect in handstand but then arches over quite a bit, double double layout, a little low with a step back. 15.200 (6.4, 8.800)
6:43 am. William Emard CAN SR: Starts out so strong, lovely planche, great angle there, swings through to his saltos up to maltese, another good position, down to iron cross, invert hang back up to iron cross, invert hang to first handstand, SO solid there!!! Next one sways a bit but brings it to control, double double, sticks it at first, but then takes a delayed baby step back. 14.533 (6.0, 8.533)
6:41 am. Salvatore Maresca ITA SR: Planche to invert hang to maltese, down to invert hang then up to the inverted cross, piked saltos to maltese, down to iron cross, lovely transition, invert hang, planche after that maybe not quite high enough, muscles up the handstand and swings a little bit, then arches his back in the next one, sticks the full-twisting double layout dismount! 14.833 (6.2, 8.633)
6:38 am. Courtney Tulloch GBR SR: Planche to maltese, invert hang back to maltese, through to saltos up to handstand, another planche, swinging a little but excellent position, down to iron cross, invert hang to iron cross, the rest is hit, but then the full-twisting double layout comes off a bit low and he has to take two giant lunges forward to hold it up. 14.200 (6.2, 8.000)
6:37 am. Warmups are done…let’s get the show on the road.
6:33 am. Men are now marching out for the rings final!
6:29 am. Uneven Bars Final Standings
1. Wei Xiaoyuan CHN 14.733
2. Rebeca Andrade BRA 14.633
3. Luo Rui CHN 14.633
4. Angelina Melnikova RUS 14.533
5. Zsofia Kovacs HUN 14.466
6. Elisa Iorio ITA 14.400
7. Vladislava Urazova RUS 14.400
8. Filipa Martins POR 14.066
6:27 am. Filipa Martins POR UB: Hindorff, Martins to Ezhova with some crazy legs but she hangs on, toe full is a bit late, to Maloney to Pak, catches high and close, van Leeuwen, legs come apart, and a strong double layout dismount. 14.066 (6.0, 8.066)
6:26 am. Apparently Luo may have hit her feet on the bar on one of her pirouettes which would explain the score being lower than it should. I didn’t see it from the angle I had but that would make sense. Otherwise, I don’t know how to explain her E score being sub-8.5.
6:23 am. Zsofia Kovacs HUN UB: Toe full to van Leeuwen I think, I wasn’t paying close attention right at the start, then toe half to piked Jaeger, Ricna, Downie to Pak with some leg separation, van Leeuwen is a little late, and she hits the full-in really well. 14.466 (6.2, 8.266)
6:21 am. Angelina Melnikova RUS UB: Lovely handstand before the inbar full to Komova II to Pak, another hit handstand before a solid van Leeuwen, inbar half with some ankle separation, to piked Jaeger, raised her arms really high before catching, it looked funny. Toe full to full-in, excellent routine. 14.533 (6.1, 8.433)
6:19 am. Vladislava Urazova RUS UB: Lovely inbar full to Komova II to Pak to van Leeuwen, some leg form on some elements though, short handstand before the blind change to high but close piked Jaeger, catches with bent elbows, toe full is good, to the full-in, big hop to the side. 14.400 (6.3, 8.100)
6:18 am. Here we go for part two!
6:17 am. Touch warmups beginning for the second half now.
6:13 am. Luo Rui CHN UB: Komova II to Pak, nice. Perfect handstand before the Maloney to Gienger, good stretch on that catch. Toes pointed on her front pirouettes into the Jaeger, stunning work there. Stuck the full-in cold. Okay, this NEEDS to be gold. Hopefully she makes up for the lower D (compared to her teammate) because this was perfection. 14.633 (6.2, 8.433) – HOW is that E score so low, I’m protesting, I feel like judges hate front pirouettes
6:10 am. Elisa Iorio ITA UB: Downie to Pak to Maloney to stalder half to Ezhova to Chow half, excellent! Leg form going into the front giants, and in them as well, but gets the full right at vertical, into a double front! Small bounce forward. This was superb for her! 14.400 (6.2, 8.200)
6:08 am. Rebeca Andrade BRA UB: Lovely handstand before the Maloney to stalder full to piked Tkachev to super clean Pak to toe-on to van Leeuwen, big piked Jaeger, great turn in handstand before the full-in, baby hop to the side. Just brilliant work throughout. I thought maybe she not score quite as high as she did in prelims when shown directly next to the rest of those in this final, but I think compared to them, it just shows that the others will largely have to be scored MUCH LOWER in terms of execution. 14.633 (5.9, 8.733) – difficulty score is down, but that E is still phenomenal
6:05 am. Wei Xiaoyuan CHN UB: Good handstand before the inbar full to Komova II to Pak, very clean. Another good handstand from this angle before the van Leeuwen, inbar half to front pirouettes, to piked Jaeger, legs come apart but no problems with it! Full-twisting double layout, a little pike to it, but not severe at all. 14.733 (6.5, 8.233)
6:04 am. Touch warm-up should be done in a minute or so.
6:01 am. Women are marching out for the bars final!
5:57 am. Pommel Horse Final Standings
1. Stephen Nedoroscik USA 15.266
2. Weng Hao CHN 14.900
— Kaya Kazuma JPN 14.900
4. Nariman Kurbanov KAZ 14.766
5. Alec Yoder USA 14.766
6. Joshua Nathan GBR 14.733
7. Filip Ude CRO 13.833
8. Harutyun Merdinyan ARM 13.400
5:52 am. Joshua Nathan GBR PH: Scissors to handstand, nothing bad there, Busnari to SUPERB flairs, so extended, loses his form a little before traveling in flairs, but brings it back quickly and he’s super aggressive now. Some hip form before the Russians, some leg form into the dismount, but it’s a HUGE one, gets it around! YES! 14.733 (6.6, 8.133)
5:50 am. Kaya Kazuma JPN PH: Handstand pirouette down to flairs, muscled up out of a scissor to handstand, some iffy hips, cleans up after that and looks pretty strong, travels well, back into the flairs to travel again, just some leg form into the dismount, but great finish after not the best start. 14.900 (6.6, 8.300) – ties Weng for second!
5:47 am. Stephen Nedoroscik USA PH: Scissors to his circles, swings well on the two handles and then a one arm swing and a reverse, looks like his rhythm goes a little awry at one point but he fixes it up quickly, excellent job into the dismount. Fabulous! 15.266 (6.5, 8.766) – moves into first!
5:46 am. Weng Hao CHN PH: Handstands down to scissor back up to handstand and back down again, a little stiff at one moment but nothing too bad, but then he scrapes against the horse I think, Russians between the handles go well, and the rest is pretty strong, but his leg form goes a bit wild in his handstand in the middle of the pirouette sequence before the dismount, literally goes into a full split, but fixes it. Definitely things in here he would’ve liked to not have happen. 14.900 (6.6, 8.300)
5:45 am. Should be getting there in the next minute or so.
5:41 am. Second group is beginning the touch now!
5:39 am. Harutyun Merdinyan ARM PH: He gets SO high above the horse on his opening skills but then I looked down for a second and heard him smack the horse…oh, a replay, it looks like he just lost his rhythm when his leg came over awkwardly. Does the Busnari very well, and everything else looks really nice, it’s sad about that early mistake. 13.400 (6.2, 7.200)
5:36 am. Alec Yoder USA PH: Scissors with a deliberately slow press up to handstand, hit his feet on the horse early on but keeps going strong throughout, good transitions between the handles and the horse, hits his feet AGAIN, but keeps going, and has a great rise up into the dismount, beautiful pirouette off. 14.766 (6.5, 8.266)
5:33 am. Filip Ude CRO PH: Scissor work with great extension, and he starts off well but as he travels to the other end of the horse he just loses his momentum and comes off, too bad. Back on, travels in Russians, gets the dismount sequence with a little hesitation. 13.833 (6.1, 7.733)
5:31 am. Nariman Kurbanov KAZ PH: I wasn’t typing but this was a gorgeous routine, he got tons of height over the horse, but just muscled the dismount a bit…still fine, and this was excellent as a whole. 14.766 (6.2, 8.566)
5:27 am. Time for the touch warmup!
5:25 am. Athletes are marching out now!
5:24 am. Oh my god, I think pommels is FINALLY starting almost an hour later.
4:38 am. Medal ceremonies for the first two events happening now!
4:32 am. Vault Final Standings
1. Rebeca Andrade BRA 14.966
2. Asia D’Amato ITA 14.083
3. Angelina Melnikova RUS 13.966
4. Nancy Taman EGY 13.733
5. Csenge Bacskay HUN 13.733
6. Ofir Netzer ISR 13.616
7. Natalia Escalera MEX 13.483
8. Elisabeth Geurts NED 13.349
4:25 am. Elze Geurts NED VT: Huuuuuuuuuge DTY, but her hop back is at least five feet, possibly more. Form is mostly strong. 14.366 (5.4, 8.966)
Handspring front layout full, doesn’t get the block she needs, tucks her legs, and then sits it!!!!! NOOOOOO. Really long wait for her score… 12.333 (4.8, 7.533)
13.349 average
4:21 am. Angelina Melnikova RUS VT: Huuuuuuuge DTY, some crossed legs in the air but I can’t believe how much amplitude she’s been getting on this. Leg form is actually great in the first twist, just deteriorates in the second. Hops back on the landing. 14.433 (5.4, 9.033)
Next is the Lopez, leg form is straddled going onto the table, and she’s kind of rushed in the air with no focus on form to get it around (omg someone in the commentary just said rushed right after I typed it, I swear I’m not copying her, she’s copying me), big hop/lunge back.. Bigger than Asia’s, but Asia’s was much cleaner. 13.500 (4.8, 8.700)
13.966 average
4:18 am. Asia D’Amato ITA VT: DTY, some leg form and a kind of wild lunge/hop back, other leg joins the first. 14.133 (5.4, 8.733)
Lopez is up next, a little off in the direction, but the leg form looks mostly good. Landing just ends up not centered, and she’s piked down a little. 14.033 (5.2, 8.833)
14.083 average
4:14 am. Natalia Escalera MEX VT: Yurchenko 1.5, a bit of a deep-seated landing that she stumbles back out of. Looked pretty clean in the air, but not the most powerful, so she comes up a tiny bit short. 13.366 (5.0, 8.466, -0.1)
Tsuk full, a little leg separation and she pikes it down slightly as she lands, but a good effort! 13.600 (4.8, 8.800)
13.483 average
4:12 am. Should be wrapping up with the touch any second now.
4:09 am. Second half of the touch warmup happening now.
4:05 am. Csenge Bacskay HUN VT: Yurchenko 1.5, almost sticks it! Has to hop forward ultimately but she’s grown so much in her ability to do this vault. Just some soft knees, especially on the latter half of the twist. 13.866 (5.0, 8.866)
Tsuk full, again, very strong on the landing, just a little soft in her lines throughout. But so solid. 13.600 (4.8, 8.800)
13.733 average
4:03 am. Ofir Netzer ISR VT: Tsuk full, a bit piked down, but otherwise nice, and a good landing. 13.633 (4.8, 8.833)
Strong handspring front tuck full with a hop to the side. 13.600 (4.8, 8.800)
13.616 average
3:59 am. Rebeca Andrade BRA VT: Cheng! Truly did not think she was gonna go for it, as she does not need it at all, but get it! Oh, wait, she did the Cheng in qualifications, right? It was the Amanar she didn’t do. Anyway, it’s very strong. Legs glued from pre-flight all the way through, just a little low on the landing with her chest but she gets great air overall. 15.133 (6.0, 9.133)
HUGE AND GORGEOUS DTY!!!! Excellent, just brilliant. Just a step back. Okay, world champion! No one can remotely compete with what she did today. 14.800 (5.4, 9.400)
14.966 average
3:56 am. Nancy Taman EGY VT: DTY, leg form is a bit iffy on pre-flight and flight but she has a really solid landing compared to her usual…oh, and then she lifts her leg basically into a split to steady it, hahaha, oh no. Still better than how I’ve seen her do this vault in the past. 14.133 (5.4, 8.733)
Handspring front pike half for the second vault, again with the form, just looks a bit chucked, In the air, but she pulls out a solid landing, just chest down and a hop back. 13.333 (4.6, 8.733)
13.733 average
3:51 am. Women are out for the vault touch now!
3:43 am. Floor Final Standings
1. Nicola Bartolini ITA 14.800
2. Minami Kazuki JPN 14.766
3. Emil Soravuo FIN 14.700
4. Ryu Sunghyun KOR 14.600
5. Carlos Yulo PHI 14.566
6. Kaya Kazuma JPN 14.533
7. Milad Karimi KAZ 14.333
8. Hayden Skinner GBR 14.100
3:38 am. Emil Soravuo FIN FX: 2.5 to front double full with a hop forward. Front full to double front half, some leg form and he’s a little short, small hop. Double double stuck cold, that was excellent. 1.5 to rudi side pass. I don’t think his execution is QUITE good enough to make up for his lack of difficulty here to take advantage of mistakes from the stronger guys and get on the podium, but it’s still pretty great. Double full side pass. Triple full stuck! Some ankle form. BUT IT’S ENOUGH!!! 14.700 (6.0, 8.700)!!!!!
3:36 am. Ryu Sunghyun KOR FX: Piked double front half, hop back. Front full to front triple full, some wiggling on the landing. 2.5 to front double full with a hop forward. He’s had leg form on most so far. I didn’t pay attention to the next pass, front full or back 1.5 to randi maybe? I missed the first half. Triple full side pass, super casual. 3.5 to finish. That was better than qualifications, I think…definitely big medal potential! 14.600 (6.5, 8.100) – puts him into third!
3:33 am. Hayden Skinner GBR FX: Triple double goes WAY too far and he lands it fully OOB. Front full to randi, leg form but gets the landing. Back handspring with a half twist into the front triple full, a bit short. 2.5 to front double full is good. 3.5 to barani also pretty solid, just some leg form. Triple full to finish. He made it look like a double full. 14.100 (6.5, 7.900, -0.3)
3:30 am. Milad Karimi KAZ FX: Sticks the double front half. Front triple full to a rudi, kind of wobbles a bit and shuffles his feet. Front full to randi, better. Double double, chest down and his feet move a tiny bit. 2.5 to front double full, doesn’t get it all the way around, and leg form isn’t there. Ugh. Triple full also a little short. 14.333 (6.4, 7.933)
3:25 am. Minami Kazuki JPN FX: Double double half-out, love that so much. Front triple full with a hop forward. 3.5 to front full, hop forward, some leg form. 1.5 to randi with a hop back. Landings could be better but so far so good! 2.5 to front double full, again some form but mostly stable on the landing. Triple full is great, stuck, just clicks his heels together. 14.766 (6.5, 8.266)
3:22 am. Carlos Yulo PHI FX: Double double layout, GORGEOUS, and stuck cold. Piked double front half-out, clean with a bounce back. 2.5 to randi, damn, great. Direction out of the 3.5 is a MESS going into the barani, unfortunately, and it takes him out of bounds. He just hit the floor wrong, it looked like, and punched sideways instead of front. Double full. Front full to front double full. Beautiful triple full, tiniest baby step. 14.566 (6.6, 8.266, -0.3)
3:19 am. Kaya Kazuma JPN FX: Double front half, great landing. Piked double front, a little short with a small hop back. Front double full to a tucked-ish front full. 2.5 to rudi. Double full, lovely and stuck. Triple full, ankle form, but a solid landing. 14.533 (5.9, 8.633)
3:16 am. Nicola Bartolini ITA FX: Beautiful randi to start. Piked double front half, incredible in the air but comes in a little short, chest down. Double double, love the kick-out, chest a little forward. Excellent 1.5 to front double full, little shuffle. Rudi side pass. He’s moving so fast I can hardly keep up but I think that’s everything. Gets through the side business, then a little bounce on the 2.5 to front full. Triple full stuck at the end, chest down but this was a very strong effort! 14.800 (6.2, 8.600)
3:15 am. Carlos Yulo throwing timers and looking like he’s flying. I could watch him do literally anything.
3:13 am. Athletes are in! Hey, they get a touch warmup this time!
3:09 am. Athletes should be walking out now! Here they come.
3:06 am. The stream just started! I’m watching the FIG YouTube using a Czech VPN and have the Olympic Channel app on my phone as backup. Results are available through Longines.
3:02 am. Good…morning? I’ve been up since 3:30 am yesterday so this should be tons of fun. Thriving on adrenaline and fortune cookies.
Today’s WAG finals include vault and bars, both of which Rebeca Andrade led in prelims. I don’t think anyone can upset Andrade on vault, but Elze Geurts is closest in terms of difficulty and therefore the most solid choice for a medal of some color, while we then have a crowd of Asia D’Amato, Angelina Melnikova, Csenge Bacskay, Natalia Escalera, Nancy Taman, and OfirNetzerl all within about three tenths of one another, though D’Amato and Melnikova have the highest difficulty combination and the strongest execution in this field. I have a feeling Melnikova will leapfrog D’Amato for a medal, though I’d love to see D’Amato make history for Italy by getting one.
The situation on bars is a bit more complicated. Andrade blew away the field in qualifications, but while her routine was phenomenal, I think the judges were just excited by her presence (who wouldn’t be?!) and I don’t think the split will be as large when stacked up alongside the other routines in the final. China’s Wei Xiaoyuan has the most difficulty but has struggled here, both in the all-around competition and in warmups today, and then there are a bunch of gymnasts in that 6.0-6.3 range who could all challenge depending on how the day goes. I think if Melnikova does the kind of routine she did in the all-around final here, she’ll be on the podium.
For the men, Hashimoto Daiki has withdrawn from floor (replaced by teammate Kaya Kazuma) and pommels (replaced by Harutyun Merdinyan), while Zhang Boheng has withdrawn from rings (replaced by Marco Lodadio).
Floor is a great mix of guys throwing massive difficulty, guys with lower difficulty but stronger execution, and one guy with both – Carlos Yulo. If everyone performs to the best of their ability, this is Yulo’s gold to lose, but I’d love pretty much any podium here, as this is a fantastic group overall. Minami Kazuki could up his difficulty to be even more of a threat, and some improvements on landings from Milad Karimi could also push him up in the standings, but they’ll have the brilliant Nicola Bartolini to contend with, so this could be really close.
Weng Hao had a pretty significant lead a couple of tenths ahead of the American guys here, which is huge in a final that could be decided by hundredths, but there are a few who still have improvements they can bring, including Joshua Nathan and Kaya Kazuma, and it’s also pommels, so anything can happen. Rings, meanwhile, should have Lan Xingyu as the runaway champion unless something drastic happens, but then literally anyone else can get on the podium, and it’s going to be incredibly close.