The final day of event finals and the final day of the World Championships. There were triumphs and some very surprising results.
During the vault final, USA's Steven Legendre took home the third event medal for the USA men with a silver medal on vault doing a handspring double front half and a Tsuk double pike with an average of 15.249, just behind South Korea's Yang Hak Seon who scored a 15.533.
Then it was time for the beam finals. First up, Aliya Mustafina who had issues on the beam during qualifications. First up, setting the bar for everyone else. She looked so cool and calm as compared to the days before and as everyone knows, a confident Aliya Mustafina could win everything. She hit her routine, finishing with a stuck double tuck scoring a 14.9 with a 6.0 D- score. A little low, since she's been known to have start values of about 6.3. She put in an inquiry, however, it was later rejected (not that she needed it). Here she is adding up her D score (she's left handed).
Carlotta Ferlito followed wearing a pink and green monstrosity of a leotard and still sporting walk of shame hair. 14.283
Next, Vanessa Ferrari with her red lipstick and harsh black eyeliner was up. Good routine, scored a 14.3.
Shang Chunsong followed Vanessa. Wearing tons and tons of glitter in her hair and wearing gold eye make-up. Adorable, but it made her look very, very young. Still having a hard time believing she's 17, but whatever. She was expected to contend with Larisa Iordache for the gold medal. She put up a great routine in qualifications, but during finals, she looked very nervous and it showed. She wobbled and weaved more than a tilt-a-whirl. Not what we've come to expect from her. Score 14.133.
Next, Simone Biles was up. Simone is incredibly powerful and she has some really tough skills, but those two don't always bode well for the four inch wide balance beam as it requires much precision. She had some wobbles and some of her leaps didn't exactly reach 180 degrees and she landed with her chest fairly low on her full-in dismount. Still, a good routine for Simone overall, she scored a 14.333. Maybe, the wobbles could be attributed to that horrendous hot pink leo that she and Kyla wore for all-around finals. Yes, Marta Karolyi, they're girls and they wear pink. Duly noted, please stop offending my eyes.
Kyla wore a lovely raspberry pink and white leotard that manages to standout and not hurt my eyes. Kyla knows what her strengths are and she knows how to work them. Her biggest strength on the beam is her lovely lines and extension. Beautiful forward aerial to sheep jump and lovely extension on her back handsprings and leaps and she finished with a stuck double tuck. 14.733
The beam was not a friend to Larisa Iordache or Anna Rodionova. Larisa fell on the beam during the all-around finals, costing her a place on the podium. Sadly, the same thing happened to her today. She fell on her first tumbling pass, a back hand spring to a tucked full. A combination she's probably done thousands of times and she just didn't get her hips and shoulders quite in line and she just came right off. Same thing seemed to happen with Anna Rodionova. Seemed like the poor girl was incredibly nervous being at her first world championships. It's really sad, her beam is so pretty and she is so darn cute. Larisa scored a 13.933 and Anna a 13.1 placing them seventh and eight respectively.
Final Standings:
1. Aliya Mustafina 14.9
2. Kyla Ross 14.733
3. Simone Biles 14.333
Men's parallel bars final had a lot of fist pumping. Put an excessive amount of hair gel in all the finalists' hair and it could be an episode of the Jersey Shore. John Orozco got the bronze medal with a 15.533, a great accomplishment after a disappointing Olympics and then an ACL injury on the Kelloggs Tour of Gymnastics Champions. China's Li Chaopan tied for gold with Kohei Uchimura, the king of men's gymnastics. Chaopan sported a faux-hawk and couldn't help but flirt with the camera everytime it panned to him. Then there was Epke Zonderland. The arena must have been filled with the scent of pheromones from eligible young ladies screaming for him (I'm surprised there was not a pair of red lacy panties came floating down onto the competition floor from the audience), because the announcer said when Epke concluded his routine "If you want to marry him ladies, you can take your place in the back of the queue". They're all dying for a piece of his man cleavage.
Last event final for the women, the floor final. Somewhat of a disappointing one.
Vanessa Ferrari won her first world championship medal since 2007 in Stuttgart, where she won the bronze medal in the all-around. She won silver medal and wore a leotard that wasn't missing sleeves or pieces of sleeves. Super powerful tumbling, she scored a 14.633. She went overtime by 5 seconds, but she wasn't penalized for it as far as I saw.
Little Mai Murakami of Japan did her routine with the crazy weird dance. She had a lot of twisting elements in her floor routine. She too went overtime, her total score was a 14.466, which put her just outside the medals. She completed a wicked quadruple turn, but the judges may have only credited her with a triple. But alas. A medal for Mai, just wasn't meant to be, sadly.
Larisa Iordache had some fire in her from falling on balance beam. It was like the all-around where she fell and just went all out on her floor routine. It worked this time, she landed herself on the medal podium with a sweet bronze medal. She stuck her last tumbling pass, and then finished the routine and received a standing ovation from the crowd.
The gold medal winner, no surprise there, Simone Biles. Again, her tumbling was so high and so powerful. She was the only gymnast to score over a 14.7, with a 15 even and a crazy 6.5 D-score. She stuck her layout half out original element and had the biggest smile on her face. Her energy and enthusiasm is just infectious. The dance wasn't the greatest, (but no one's dance really blew me away of the top three) but she moved well and performed within an inch of her life.
Sadly, Sandra Izbasa did not medal. (Deep sigh) This was the best I've seen her perform that routine. She must have taken a stripper pole workout class while in Belgium because girl was working it. She slinked around that floor like a Las Vegas showgirl (if she does retire like she says she is going to, maybe she can join Cirque Du Soleil. Just a thought). Unfortunately, she fell on her last tumbling pass, a two and a half to Barani. She not only sat it down, but she tried not fall and put her hands on the mat. Unfortunately, at that point, it doesn't matter how she did it, it kills her execution score either way. Sandra still stood up and smiled and waved gracefully at the end of her routine, and the crowd still gave her a standing ovation. When she exited the podium, she had a very touching moment with Kyla Ross, which I have a screen shot showing.
Standings
1. Simone Biles 15.00
2. Vanessa Ferrari 14.633
3. Larisa Iordache 14.6
Men's high bar... No surprise there. Epke Zonderland and his fabulous hair won and all the women in the audience fainted. His best bro, Fabian Hambuchen came in second. They hugged, they laughed. It's an epic bromance, what more do you want? Kohei Uchimura got yet another medal, squeezing Sam Mikulak out of the medal standings. That was a travesty. Of all the times to file an inquiry, that would have been it. Kohei just touches an apparatus and get's a medal. Kyla was robbed at the end too, even though her routine was next to flawless, she only got a 14.333 with a D score of 5.7 and tied with Giulia Steingruber for fifth place. She put in an inquiry on the beam, but she should have put in an inquiry on that event. But alas.
During the vault final, USA's Steven Legendre took home the third event medal for the USA men with a silver medal on vault doing a handspring double front half and a Tsuk double pike with an average of 15.249, just behind South Korea's Yang Hak Seon who scored a 15.533.
Then it was time for the beam finals. First up, Aliya Mustafina who had issues on the beam during qualifications. First up, setting the bar for everyone else. She looked so cool and calm as compared to the days before and as everyone knows, a confident Aliya Mustafina could win everything. She hit her routine, finishing with a stuck double tuck scoring a 14.9 with a 6.0 D- score. A little low, since she's been known to have start values of about 6.3. She put in an inquiry, however, it was later rejected (not that she needed it). Here she is adding up her D score (she's left handed).
Carlotta Ferlito followed wearing a pink and green monstrosity of a leotard and still sporting walk of shame hair. 14.283
Next, Vanessa Ferrari with her red lipstick and harsh black eyeliner was up. Good routine, scored a 14.3.
Shang Chunsong followed Vanessa. Wearing tons and tons of glitter in her hair and wearing gold eye make-up. Adorable, but it made her look very, very young. Still having a hard time believing she's 17, but whatever. She was expected to contend with Larisa Iordache for the gold medal. She put up a great routine in qualifications, but during finals, she looked very nervous and it showed. She wobbled and weaved more than a tilt-a-whirl. Not what we've come to expect from her. Score 14.133.
Next, Simone Biles was up. Simone is incredibly powerful and she has some really tough skills, but those two don't always bode well for the four inch wide balance beam as it requires much precision. She had some wobbles and some of her leaps didn't exactly reach 180 degrees and she landed with her chest fairly low on her full-in dismount. Still, a good routine for Simone overall, she scored a 14.333. Maybe, the wobbles could be attributed to that horrendous hot pink leo that she and Kyla wore for all-around finals. Yes, Marta Karolyi, they're girls and they wear pink. Duly noted, please stop offending my eyes.
Kyla wore a lovely raspberry pink and white leotard that manages to standout and not hurt my eyes. Kyla knows what her strengths are and she knows how to work them. Her biggest strength on the beam is her lovely lines and extension. Beautiful forward aerial to sheep jump and lovely extension on her back handsprings and leaps and she finished with a stuck double tuck. 14.733
The beam was not a friend to Larisa Iordache or Anna Rodionova. Larisa fell on the beam during the all-around finals, costing her a place on the podium. Sadly, the same thing happened to her today. She fell on her first tumbling pass, a back hand spring to a tucked full. A combination she's probably done thousands of times and she just didn't get her hips and shoulders quite in line and she just came right off. Same thing seemed to happen with Anna Rodionova. Seemed like the poor girl was incredibly nervous being at her first world championships. It's really sad, her beam is so pretty and she is so darn cute. Larisa scored a 13.933 and Anna a 13.1 placing them seventh and eight respectively.
Final Standings:
1. Aliya Mustafina 14.9
2. Kyla Ross 14.733
3. Simone Biles 14.333
Men's parallel bars final had a lot of fist pumping. Put an excessive amount of hair gel in all the finalists' hair and it could be an episode of the Jersey Shore. John Orozco got the bronze medal with a 15.533, a great accomplishment after a disappointing Olympics and then an ACL injury on the Kelloggs Tour of Gymnastics Champions. China's Li Chaopan tied for gold with Kohei Uchimura, the king of men's gymnastics. Chaopan sported a faux-hawk and couldn't help but flirt with the camera everytime it panned to him. Then there was Epke Zonderland. The arena must have been filled with the scent of pheromones from eligible young ladies screaming for him (I'm surprised there was not a pair of red lacy panties came floating down onto the competition floor from the audience), because the announcer said when Epke concluded his routine "If you want to marry him ladies, you can take your place in the back of the queue". They're all dying for a piece of his man cleavage.
Vanessa Ferrari won her first world championship medal since 2007 in Stuttgart, where she won the bronze medal in the all-around. She won silver medal and wore a leotard that wasn't missing sleeves or pieces of sleeves. Super powerful tumbling, she scored a 14.633. She went overtime by 5 seconds, but she wasn't penalized for it as far as I saw.
Little Mai Murakami of Japan did her routine with the crazy weird dance. She had a lot of twisting elements in her floor routine. She too went overtime, her total score was a 14.466, which put her just outside the medals. She completed a wicked quadruple turn, but the judges may have only credited her with a triple. But alas. A medal for Mai, just wasn't meant to be, sadly.
Larisa Iordache had some fire in her from falling on balance beam. It was like the all-around where she fell and just went all out on her floor routine. It worked this time, she landed herself on the medal podium with a sweet bronze medal. She stuck her last tumbling pass, and then finished the routine and received a standing ovation from the crowd.
The gold medal winner, no surprise there, Simone Biles. Again, her tumbling was so high and so powerful. She was the only gymnast to score over a 14.7, with a 15 even and a crazy 6.5 D-score. She stuck her layout half out original element and had the biggest smile on her face. Her energy and enthusiasm is just infectious. The dance wasn't the greatest, (but no one's dance really blew me away of the top three) but she moved well and performed within an inch of her life.
Sadly, Sandra Izbasa did not medal. (Deep sigh) This was the best I've seen her perform that routine. She must have taken a stripper pole workout class while in Belgium because girl was working it. She slinked around that floor like a Las Vegas showgirl (if she does retire like she says she is going to, maybe she can join Cirque Du Soleil. Just a thought). Unfortunately, she fell on her last tumbling pass, a two and a half to Barani. She not only sat it down, but she tried not fall and put her hands on the mat. Unfortunately, at that point, it doesn't matter how she did it, it kills her execution score either way. Sandra still stood up and smiled and waved gracefully at the end of her routine, and the crowd still gave her a standing ovation. When she exited the podium, she had a very touching moment with Kyla Ross, which I have a screen shot showing.
1. Simone Biles 15.00
2. Vanessa Ferrari 14.633
3. Larisa Iordache 14.6
Men's high bar... No surprise there. Epke Zonderland and his fabulous hair won and all the women in the audience fainted. His best bro, Fabian Hambuchen came in second. They hugged, they laughed. It's an epic bromance, what more do you want? Kohei Uchimura got yet another medal, squeezing Sam Mikulak out of the medal standings. That was a travesty. Of all the times to file an inquiry, that would have been it. Kohei just touches an apparatus and get's a medal. Kyla was robbed at the end too, even though her routine was next to flawless, she only got a 14.333 with a D score of 5.7 and tied with Giulia Steingruber for fifth place. She put in an inquiry on the beam, but she should have put in an inquiry on that event. But alas.
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