Team GB secured themselves Olympic teams in both men and women’s gymnastics at the next Summer Olympics.
The 2019 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was the main way of teams gaining Olympic quotas to Tokyo.
It was a week filled with technical brilliance and some historic moments at the Hanns Martin Schleyer Halle in Stuttgart.
For team GB, a total of four medals, including a gold from reigning Olympic Champion, Max Whitlock on the pommel horse, it was a successful competition. Joe Fraser won the other gold medal on the parallel bars.
The other two medals were silver on the uneven bars from Rebecca Downie and a bronze on vault from Elissa Downie.
On the men’s side, the competition was dominated by the Russians, who won the first team gold medal, since the ex-Soviet Union. 2018 team World Champions, The People’s Republic of China had to settle for silver. Japan won bronze.
In the all-around final, the two Russian men completely dominated the competition. Nikita Nagornyy looked confident and became the new All-Around Champion. His friend and teammate, Artur Dalaloyan won silver, after winning gold last year in Doha. Oleg Verniaev won a historic bronze medal for Ukraine – a first world all-around medal.
In the event finals, the Russian men were unable to continue their momentum. Carlos Edriel Yulo, from the Philippines won the floor final. Artem Dolgopyat and Xiao Ruoteng won silver and bronze, respectively.
In the last final of the day, Ibrahim Colak delivered a history making performance on the rings to win a first world gold medal for Turkey. Marco Lodadio and Samir Ait Said won silver and bronze, respectively.
In the women’s competition, USA completely dominated the competition, winning a fifth team gold medal. Simone Biles made history in performing two new elements, which are now named after her in the Code of Points.
In the uneven bars final, Nina Derwael, successfully defended her title from the last World Championships. Newcomer, Sunisa Lee won bronze.
In the last day of competition, Simone Biles made history, establishing a new record of medals won at World Championship level – the 22 year-old has 25 medals, 19 of them gold. She won both the beam and floor finals. Her teammate, Sunisa Lee won her second third medal, silver on floor. Angelina Melnikova from Russia won the bronze.
In the men’s finals, Nikita Nagornyy won his third gold medal in the vault final, less than a tenth ahead of his friend, Artur Dalaloyan. Ukraine’s Igor Radivilov won bronze.
The last final of the day, saw Brazil’s Arthur Mariano win gold. Croatia’s Tin Srbic won silver and qualified for Tokyo. Dalaloyan won his fourth medal of these championships.
Full results from these World Championships can be found on the FIG’s event website.
These were the last World Championships before next summer’s Olympic games in Tokyo. The next World Championships will take place in 2021 in Antwerp, 2022 in Liverpool, and 2023 is still to be announced by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
Picture: Asao Tokolo (Creative Commons)
