GYMNASTICS: The Australian’s men’s and women’s Artistic Gymnastics team have won three medals on the final leg of the inaugural 2016-17 circuit of the International Gymnastics Federation’s (FIG) Individual Apparatus World Cup, ending the series on a high in Doha, Qatar.
Western Australia’s Emily Little was once again the standout performer for the Australian team, making the finals for all three apparatus she competed in Doha.
In a repeat of the results from Baku the weekend before, Emily took home the silver medal on her pet apparatus, Vault, 0.067 behind Uzbekistani and gymnastics legend, Oksana Chusovitina. Chusovitina scored a total average Vault score of 14.166, whilst Emily scored 14.099. Slovenia’s Teja Belak was third with 14.083.
After qualifying second for the Floor final, Emily held her position to once again take home the silver medal on this apparatus, behind China’s Liu Tingting - who also recorded a podium on this apparatus at the World Cup Gymnastics Melbourne, when she secured the bronze medal behind Aussies Emily (gold) and Georgia Godwin (silver).
Liu scored 13.366, whilst Emily was just 0.233 behind on 13.133. Croatia’s Ana Derek was third with 12.900.
In an extremely competitive Beam field, Emily finished fourth with a score of 13.200, after qualifying for the final in third position. Liu once again took the top honour with a score of 14.466, followed by Romanian 2004 Olympic Champion on this apparatus, Catalina Ponor (13.900), and China’s Luo Huan (13.700), who also won the silver medal on this apparatus in Melbourne.
Fellow Aussie, Emma Nedov, finished in seventh position with a score of 12.433.
Victoria’s Georgia-Rose Brown was the other Australian medallist in Doha, jumping two spots from her qualification efforts on the Uneven Bars, to take home the bronze medal on her favourite event with a score of 13.033.
After qualifying third for the final, fellow Aussie Rianna Mizzen unfortunately had a fall, but recovered well to finish in fifth position.
In total Australia once again had eight gymnasts competing across all ten apparatus in Doha, making a total of nine finals out of the 15 routines competed.
The end of the Doha World Cup signifies the conclusion of the first circuit on the FIG Individual Apparatus World Cup for the 2017-2020 Olympic cycle, with Australia collecting a total of 19 medals across the four events; three gold, nine silver and seven bronze.
full results of the Aussie’s competition in Doha is below:
Men’s Artistic Gymnastics
Floor – Chris Remkes (12th)
Pommel Horse – Chris Remkes (13th), Michael Tone (25th)
Rings – Michael Tone (15th)
Vault – Chris Remkes (Q: 3rd, F: 6th), Clay Stephens (Q: 6th, F: 7th)
Parallel Bars – Mitchell Morgans (18th), Clay Stephens (20th)
Horizontal Bar – Mitchell Morgans (Q: 2nd, F: 4th)
Women’s Artistic Gymnastics
Vault – Emily Little (Q: 3rd, F: 2nd)
Uneven Bars – Georgia-Rose Brown (Q: 5th, F: 3rd), Rianna Mizzen (Q: 3rd, F: 5th)
Beam – Emily Little (Q: 3rd, F: 4th), Emma Nedov (Q: 5th, F: 7th)
Floor – Emily Little (Q: 2nd, F: 2nd)
Full results from the Doha World Cup can be found HERE.
The athletes are on their way back to Australia to prepare for the 2017 Australian Gymnastics Championships, starting May 22 at Hisense Arena, Melbourne.
