GYMNASTICS: The Australian Women’s Gymnastics team- minus former World Champion Lauren Mitchell due to injury- finished 7th in the team event at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China.
Having qualified for the Team final in 8th place, Australia was paired with Romania in the cut throat competition where three gymnasts compete per apparatus with all three scores counting towards the team total.
The Australian team started their competition on Floor with Western Australian veteran Olivia Vivian leading the team off. Vivian performed a clean routine to improve on her qualification result, scoring 12.791. Georgia-Rose Brown from Victoria put on an elegant display with a score of 12.900. Victorian Larrissa Miller performed a near perfect routine however put her hands down on her dismount to record 13.300.
In the second rotation the team displayed consistent vaulting with all three gymnasts improving on their qualification scores. Victorian’s Mary-Anne Monckton and Kiara Munteanu scored 13.933 and 13.966 respectively with All Around competitor Georgia-Rose Brown (VIC) top scoring for the team with 14.233.
After the first two rotations Australia was in 8th place, just 0.009 behind Japan in 7th with two of their strongest apparatus to come.
The team shone on Uneven Bars with Commonwealth Games silver medallist Larrissa Miller displaying near perfect execution to score 14.700 followed by Vivian with 14.100 and Brown on 13.900.
Buoyed by their Uneven Bars performance, the team once again excelled on Beam. Mary-Anne Monckton anchored the team, scoring an outstanding 14.333 ahead of World Championships debutant Emma Nedov (NSW) with 14.066 and Brown on 13.766.
Thanks to their stellar performances on Uneven Bars and Beam, the Australian team leap frogged Japan to improve on their qualification result and finish in 7th place with a total score of 165.988.
Aussies qualify for final
After being dealt a blow with the loss of team stalwart Lauren Mitchell following injury just the day before competition, the Australian Women's Artistic Gymnastics team have banded together and leapt into eighth position as they head into the team finals at the 45th FIG World Championships in Nanning, China.
Competing in subdivision 11 of 12 with New Zealand, South Africa and Iceland, the team started on Beam - a test to any gymnast - and more than excelled to start the competition off on a great footing.
Lead on the apparatus by team veteran Olivia Vivian from WA, Vivian scored a 13.066 with a clean routine, followed by Georgia-Rose Brown from Victoria on 13.333. Emma Jane Nedov (NSW) made her World Championship debut as a senior, opening with an outstanding 14.266 on the apparatus and Munteanu - also making her World Championships debut - landed a 13.166. Mary-Anne Monckton from Victoria also put on a strong performance, scoring a 13.300 for the apparatus.
Buoyed by their Beam success, the team shone on Floor with Larrissa Miller making her event premier on the apparatus, scoring an outstanding 14.166.
Brown lead the team on Vault with a score of 14.133 followed closely by newcomer Nedov with 13.966.
Australia's Uneven Bar performance was lead by Miller who recently won silver on the apparatus at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, scoring 14.566 and a further 0.10 after an inquiry into her D-score was accepted, bringing her D-score to 6.100, and a new total of 14.666.
At the end of qualifications, the team finished in eighth position with an overall score of 218.134 securing their place in the team final and at the 2015 World Championships.
Miller qualified eighth in the Floor final, and is first Reserve in the Uneven Bars final as well, as is Nedov on Beam.
Brown finished 25th in the All Around competition and qualified in 22nd for the All Around final.
Women's Individual - Miller 6th on the floor
After qualifying in eighth position earlier this week, Larrissa Miller from the Victorian Women's High Performance Centre and Waverley Gymnastics has performed an outstanding rendition of her Floor routine, pushing her up into sixth position in the Final competition.
For the 2012 London Olympian, it was her fourth World Championships event.
Miller's routine included a front full-front double twist, a double Arabian-stag, a two-and-a-half twist-front layout jump, a Tourjette full, and a double pike with full extension of her leaps.
Miller finished with a score 14.233, just 0.5 off Aliya Mustafina's bronze medal winning routine. Her achievement brings a close to a successful competition for the Australian Women's Artistic Gymnastics team who placed seventh overall, as well as Victoria's Georgia-Rose Brown who placed 21st in the All Around competition.
Miller was also first reserve for the Uneven Bars Final which was held yesterday and Emma Jane Nedov first reserve for the Beam Final today. Neither were called to compete.
Women's Individual - Brown 21st in All Around final
Australia's Georgia-Rose Brown has completed an outstanding performance in the All Around competition at the 45th FIG World Championships Final to finish in 21st place overall.
The event was held in Nanning, China, with Brown heading into the Final in 22nd position in her first World Championship All Around Final.
Brown scored 12.966 on Floor to begin her competition, and moved up to 20th place going into the second rotation.
On Vault, Brown scored 14.066 for her Yurchenko full twist giving her a half way score of 27.032 and placing her 18th All Around.
A gorgeous change leg leap-split jump on Beam in a hit routine saw Brown score 13.500 and finish on a total score of 52.832 and place 21st in the All Around competition.
USA's Simone Biles took out the Championship title for the second year in a row with a score of 60.231. Biles becomes the second USA competitor to defend her title and win back-to-back titles. Following closely, Larisa Iordache from Romania won silver with a score of 59.765, and Kyla Ross also from the USA took out bronze with a score of 58.232.
Men's Team
Australia’s Men’s Artistic Gymnastics team kicked off their World Championships campaign on day two of the qualification event, performing strongly and maintaining their composure throughout the crucial day of competition.
Competing in subdivision six along with France, Denmark and Kazakhstan, Australia opened its competition on Parallel Bars and recorded its highest apparatus score of the day with a total of 53.931. Making his World Championships debut, Queenslander Trenten Wan was the first Australian to compete while fellow Queenslander Naoya Tsukahara led the team on Parallel Bars, scoring 14.666.
Hitting four out of five routines on High Bar, Tsukahara narrowly edged out Queensland teammate Michael Mercieca to once again be the top scorer for Australia, with the athletes recording 13.633 and 13.566 respectively.
Floor proved to be the team’s toughest apparatus of the day, with several falls and near misses. Debutant Chris Remkes (SA) led the team in one of his pet events, scoring 14.166 ahead of Tsukahara (13.800) and Victorian Luke Wadsworth (13.600).
Australia managed to peg back its opponents on the final three apparatus, performing particularly well on Pommel Horse, Rings and Vault.
The team performed cleanly on Pommel Horse to achieve a total score of 52.865 and would undoubtedly have loved to have the Prince of the Pommel, Prashanth Sellathurai, as part of the line-up.
Rings was the team's second last rotation of the day and saw them hit five out of five routines for the first time in the event. Tsukahara again displayed his world class ability and remarkable strength on Rings, recording a score of 14.200 marginally ahead of Mercieca (14.000) and Wiwatowski (13.566).
Australia finished the day on a high, hitting five out of five vaults. After a difficult day of competition, Victoria’s Luke Wiwatowski showed true fighting spirit to record the team’s highest score on Vault, 14.333, ahead of Wadsworth (14.300) and Tsukahara (14.133).
At the conclusion of all 10 subvisions, Australia was placed 26th in the Team competition.
In the All Around competition, Tsukahara was Australia's highest placed finisher in 37th ahead of Wadsworth (92nd) and Wiwatowski (106th).
Gymnastics Australia
