Poll: Which is the Hardest Women's Event?
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5 Cool Skills from Worlds
- Anna Myzdrikova: Whip to Arabian double front and triple full to back tuck
Myzdrikova (Russia) had two incredible tumbling passes back to back in the floor final. Her whip to double Arabian was stuck cold (and her knees were perfectly together, too!) and the triple full punch back is difficult to even fathom.
- Beth Tweddle: Toe-on Tkatchev-half to straddle back-half
Most of Tweddle's bar set could qualify in this category, but the coolest part eluded her at worlds, costing her a spot in the finals in front of her home crowd. She may have been the only gymnast who could have challenged eventual champ He Kexin.
- Matthiass Fahrig: Front double full to double front
Fahrig (Germany) only ended up sixth in the floor finals -- .300 out of first. But this intricate pass was pretty darn impressive.
- Yong Hwa Cha: Hop full to Def
It's rare to see someone throw a Def (full-twisting Gienger) without a leg split. Yong (North Korea) did it from a hop full.
- Kohei Uchimura: Kovacs
Though Kovacs are pretty run-of-the-mill these days, the all-around champion took them to another level. Especially check out his tucked version (at :50) he kicks out almost at vertical!
Williams Wins World Vault Title, Bross Gets Bronze on Bars
American Kayla Williams won the world gold on vault today -- the first US woman to become world champion on the event. Williams, who vaulted a piked rudi and a Yurchenko double twist, is competing in her first international competition, too!
Switzerland's Ariella Kaeslin earned silver, the first women's world medal ever for her country. The bronze went to Youna Dufournet (France), while Olympic champion Hong Un Jong of North Korea fell on both vaults and ended up in fifth.
Teammate Rebecca Bross earned the bronze on bars, tying with Ana Progras of Romania. Olympic champion He Kexin (China) easily won the event by 1.125 over Japan's Koko Tsurumi. He competed her amazing Jaegar half-Jaegar combination, and stuck her full-in dismount. North Korea's Cha Yong Hwa finished just out of the medals in fifth, but performed a beautiful hop full to Def (full-twisting Gienger) combination.
On the men's side, Romania's Marian Dragulescu won the floor gold over Olympic champion Zou Kai (China). USA's Steven Legendre hit his set but had the lowest difficulty score of the night (6.2) and finished eighth.
On pommel horse and rings, China prevailed again. Zhang Hongtao took the event title over Hungary's Krisztian Berki, 16.200-16.075, on pommels, while Yan Mingyong grabbed gold on rings, just .1 ahead of Bulgarian veteran Jordan Jovtchev (he's 36 now and is still at the top of the field!). American Tim McNeill placed fifth on pommels with a solid set.
- Women's vault results
- Women's bars results
- Men's floor results
- Men's pommel horse results
- Rings results
- Watch the finals on Universalsports.com
- Worlds coverage schedule
(Pictured above: Kayla Williams; Clive Rose / Getty Images)
Sloan Wins World All-Around Title
American Bridget Sloan became the 2009 world all-around champion today, edging out teammate Rebecca Bross by .05. Japan's Koko Tsurumi was third, .6 behind Bross.
Bross led qualifications, and though all gymnasts start with a clean slate in finals, she was leading Sloan by more than a point coming into the last event, floor. But she fell on her very last skill -- a punch barani from a back 2 1/2 twist -- and ended up second. Bross looked fabulous on the other three events, though, with a stuck (and sky-high) full-in off bars, and an aggressive beam routine that ended with the solid Arabian double front dismount that has sometimes eluded her in past meets.
Sloan, too, looked great, hitting a high Yurchenko double full on vault, a smooth bar routine (piked toe-on Tkatchev), and impressive floor tumbling (piked full-in, front 2 1/2 twist, stuck double pike). Her only weakness was beam, where she had several wobbles throughout.
Tsurumi was also fun to watch, with beautiful expression, form, and presentation in all of her routines. Other medal favorites Yang Yilin (China) and Ksenia Semenova (Russia) placed sixth and 13th, respectively, each with a fall on her best event, bars.
(Pictured above (left to right): Rebecca Bross, Bridget Sloan, and Koko Tsurumi; Clive Rose / Getty Images)
Uchimura Easily Wins Men's All-Around Title
Japan's Kohei Uchimura earned the gold medal at today's all-around competition at worlds by more than 2.5 points. He was simply untouchable, and performed with a style and form that was also in a class of its own. I could watch his Kovacs (double-back over the bar) on high bar all day -- I think they are the best I've ever seen.
Great Britain's Daniel Keatings thrilled the home crowd with a silver medal finish, and Yury Ryazanov of Russia earned the bronze. American (and worlds rookie) Tim McNeill had a solid competition for seventh, but US medal favorite Jonathan Horton had a tough day to finish 17th.
Horton fell on a double front on floor in the opening moments of the competition, then scored a disastrous 11.1 on his weakest event, pommel horse (two falls). Hopefully Horton will rebound in the high bar finals in a few days -- he qualified in the fifth spot, and could medal.
(Pictured above: Kohei Uchimura; Clive Rose / Getty Images)
Who Will Win the Women's World All-Around Title?
This year's women's all-around competition should be a great battle. Both US women -- Bridget Sloan and Rebecca Bross -- are in contention for the win, as are China's two all-arounders, both from the 2008 Olympic team: Deng Linlin and Yang Yilin. Russia's Ksenia Semenova placed fourth in Beijing and won the European all-around title this year, and Youna Dufournet (France) has shown some immensely difficult routines -- though she's had trouble hitting them.
Here's some clips of the top all-around athletes:
- Rebecca Bross
- Yana Demyanchuk on floor and on beam
- Deng Linlin on beam and on bars
- Youna Dufournet on bars
- Ksenia Semenova on floor and on bars
- Bridget Sloan
- Koko Tsurumi on floor and on beam
- Yang Yilin on bars and on floor
Worlds Start Tomorrow
World championships for men and women artistic gymnasts start tomorrow in London with the men's preliminaries. We're lucky to have great worlds coverage provided by Universal Sports:
Men's all-around final:
- 10/15: Live on UniversalSports.com 1:30pm-4:00pm ET
- 10/15: Same day delay (Universal Sports TV) 8:00pm-10:00pm ET
Women's all-around final:
- 10/16: Live on UniversalSports.com 1:30pm-4:00pm ET
- 10/24: Delayed NBC TV 1:30pm-3:30pm ET
- 10/28: Delayed Universal Sports TV 8pm-10pm ET
Event finals day 1 (men's floor, pommel horse, and rings, women's vault and bars)
- 10/17: Live on UniversalSports.com 7:55am-12:00pm ET
- 10/17: Same day delay (Universal Sports TV) 11:00pm-1:00am ET
Event finals day 2 (men's vault, parallel bars, and high bar, women's beam and floor):
- 10/18: Live on UniversalSports.com 7:55am-12:00pm ET
- 10/18: Same day delay (Universal Sports TV) 8:00pm-10:00pm ET
- 10/25: Event finals on Delayed NBC TV 2:00pm-4:00pm ET
Best of all, all coverage will be archived after its shown at Universalsports.com.
Find out if Universal Sports is in your area
Official site for the 2009 artistic worlds
(Pictured above: Ksenia Semenova of Russia; © Jeff Gross / Getty Images)
USA Names Women's World Team
The US has announced its women's team for 2009 worlds (Oct. 13-18):
- Bridget Sloan: 2009 national champion and 2008 Olympian
- Rebecca Bross: 2007 US junior national champion
- Ivana Hong: 2008 Olympic alternate
- Kayla Williams: 2009 US vault champion
The alternates are Kytra Hunter and Mackenzie Caquatto. This is a fantastic team, with the potential to win a lot of medals. Both Sloan and Bross have a great shot at winning the all-around, and the team could pick up some individual event medals as well, especially Williams on vault, Bross and Sloan on floor, or Hong and Bross on beam.
Williams is an amazing story too: she competed at Junior Olympic (level 10) nationals this year, then qualified to elite nationals. Now she's on the world team. With two solid vaults (she does a front rudi, and has trained an Amanar) and the absence of some vaulting powerhouses like Cheng Fei and Oksana Chusovitina, she could be a world medalist in just a few weeks.
The men's team was named after nationals, then revised due to injuries and retirement. It is: Jake Dalton, Wes Haagensen, Jonathan Horton, Steven Legendre, Danell Leyva, and Tim McNeill.
What are your medal predictions for worlds?
(Pictured above: Ivana Hong; Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)

