Ou Yushan
After injury caused two-time junior world medalist Ou Yushan to downgrade, underperform, and skip floor altogether in Tokyo, the 17-year-old is back in fighting force, leading all-around qualifications at China’s National Games by half a point in addition to topping the prelims on floor.
Ou had a strong performance overall to earn a 55.598 with a Yurchenko full on vault in addition to hit routines elsewhere. Though her bars weren’t strong enough to make that final, it was great to see her first floor routine since injury earn a 13.8 to qualify first into the final, while she also qualified third into the super competitive beam field, and she led Guangdong to the top spot in the team competition, more than three points ahead of Zhejiang.
The rest of the 2020 Olympic team also competed mostly well here, with beam champion Guan Chenchen qualifying second into that final in addition to ranking 11th all-around, and while Olympic beam silver medalist Tang Xijing unfortunately had a miss on that event, she still managed to finish fifth all-around with a 53.965 and she qualified into the bars final with a 14.266.
Lu Yufei continued to prove herself as one of the country’s best bar workers, qualifying third there with a 14.566 and third in the all-around with a 54.999, and she also just snuck into the beam final with a 13.9. Fellow bar worker Fan Yilin topped qualifications on that event with a 14.966, and Zhang Jin had a miss on bars, but still made it to the all-around final in 8th place with a 53.732, while qualifying fourth on floor.
One of the best options for Tokyo who was unfortunately left at home, Wei Xiaoyuan, had an overall fantastic day to qualify second in to the all-around final with a 55.165. Though beam didn’t quite go her way, and while her vault isn’t a standout for her, she did fantastic work on bars to qualify second just 0.033 behind Fan, and she also reached the floor final with a 13.466, coming in third.
Li Shijia, another top Tokyo contender who had to bow out of the selection process due to injury, competed two events in Xi’an, finishing just a tenth out of the bars final with a 14.066, and leading qualifications on beam with a 14.666, just over a tenth ahead of the Olympic champion.
Another gymnast to keep an eye on in finals is 14-year-old Qiu Qiyuan, who qualified fourth in the all-around and on beam. She’s one of a couple of strong juniors getting the opportunity to compete here, with fellow 2007 baby Huang Zhuofan qualifying sixth on bars, while Zuo Tong, who just turned 15, qualified sixth on floor.
Tokyo contender Luo Rui qualified sixth all-around and on beam, and first-year senior Wu Ran missed the all-around due to the two-per-province rule but qualified second on floor. Other notable all-around qualifiers include Zhou Ruiyu in ninth, Xiang Lulu in 10th, He Licheng in 12th, Qi Qi in 16th, and Liu Jieyu in 17th, while Yue Yue, 2016 Olympian Shang Chunsong, and Wang Jingying missed out due to the two-per-province rule. From this group, Qi also qualified into the vault and floor finals, Zhou and Wang on bars, and He on floor, while Shang missed the floor final by less than a tenth and is the first reserve.
In addition to the above, Liu Jinru led vault with a 14.149 average, ahead of Yu Linmin with a 13.849.
Several fan favorites also competed here, with Liu Tingting going up just on bars, qualifying last into the final with a 14.166. 2016 Olympian Wang Yan competed all but bars to help Beijing qualify third, and Luo Huan narrowly missed the bars final with a 13.766. I was also excited to see the return of Li Qi, who competed three events, getting close to both the beam and floor finals with scores of 13.7 and 13.133, respectively.
The competition continues in just a few hours with the men’s team final at 2:30 pm local time, or 2:30 am ET. A live stream is available here, and you can also follow live scores.
ALL-AROUND QUALIFIERS
1. Ou Yushan, Guangdong, 55.598
2. Wei Xiaoyuan, Guangxi, 55.165
3. Lu Yufei, Henan, 54.999
4. Qiu Qiyuan, Fujian, 54.332
5. Tang Xijing, Beijing, 53.965
6. Luo Rui, Guangdong, 53.899
7. Zhang Jin, Shanghai, 53.732
8. Zhou Ruiyu, Sichuan, 53.566
9. Xiang Lulu, Anhui, 53.432
10. Guan Chenchen, Zhejiang, 53.232
11. He Licheng, Anhui, 53.065
12. Qian Xuejia, Hunan, 52.432
13. Chen Yanfei, Zhejiang, 52.431
14. Lin Zihuan, Fujian, 52.032
15. Qi Qi, Beijing, 51.932
16. Liu Jieyu, Hubei, 51.799
17. Zhao Jiayi, Hubei, 51.366
18. Chen Liujing, Henan, 50.899
19. Chen Xiaoqing, Hunan, 50.833
20. Wang Ying, Shanghai, 50.165
21. Liu Yongjie, Guangxi, 50.032
22. Yang Menghaoli, Guizhou, 49.165
23. Wu Jianqiong, Guizhou, 48.132
24. Gao Ning, Hebei, 48.031
VAULT QUALIFIERS
1. Liu Jinru, Henan, 14.149
2. Yu Linmin, Fujian, 13.849
3. Qi Qi, Beijing, 13.799
4. Zhang Silei, 13.749
5. Chen Yanfei, Zhejiang, 13.749
6. Deng Yalan, Jiangxi, 13.516
7. Guo Fangting, Hubei, 13.466
8. Ye Dandan, Jiangxi, 13.366
UNEVEN BARS QUALIFIERS
1. Fan Yilin, Shanghai, 14.966
2. Wei Xiaoyuan, Guangxi, 14.933
3. Lu Yufei, Henan, 14.566
4. Zhou Ruiyu, Sichuan, 14.300
5. Tang Xijing, Beijing, 14.266
6. Huang Zhuofan, Zhejiang, 14.233
7. Wang Jingying, Beijing, 14.200
8. Liu Tingting, Guangdong, 14.166
BALANCE BEAM QUALIFIERS
1. Li Shijia, Sichuan, 14.666
2. Guan Chenchen, Zhejiang, 14.500
3. Ou Yushan, Guangdong, 14.466
4. Qiu Qiyuan, Fujian, 14.300
5. Zhou Yaqin, Hunan, 14.300
6. Luo Rui, Guangdong, 14.133
7. Wang Xiaodi, Hebei, 14.133
8. Lu Yufei, Henan, 13.900
FLOOR EXERCISE QUALIFIERS
1. Ou Yushan, Guangdong, 13.800
2. Wu Ran, Guangdong, 13.633
3. Wei Xiaoyuan, Guangxi, 13.466
4. Zhang Jin, Shanghai, 13.400
5. He Licheng, Anhui, 13.366
6. Zuo Tong, Jiangsu, 13.366
7. Qi Qi, Beijing, 13.333
8. Chen Yanfei, Zhejiang, 13.266
TEAM QUALIFIERS
1. Guangdong 217.960
2. Zhejiang 214.861
3. Beijing 213.729
4. Anhui 211.095
5. Fujian 208.394
6. Henan 207.830
7. Hubei 207.796
8. Hunan 205.895
Article by Lauren Hopkins