All okay for the USA as women’s qualification begins at Artistic Gymnastics World Championships
The last-minute loss of Olympic gold medallist Hezly Rivera didn’t faze reigning champion USA, which led the way as women’s qualifications began at the World Gymnastics Championships Sunday in Rotterdam (NED).
The U.S. is in front after a strong initial showing by Skye Blakely, Charleigh Bullock, Dulcy Caylor, Reese Esponda and Claire Pease that resulted in a team score of 164.529 points. Italy is currently second, Japan third with three of 10 women’s qualification sessions complete.
The star of the day for the Americans was Blakely, a member of winning U.S. teams that won the world titles in 2022 and 2023. With Rivera out nursing an ankle injury, the 21-year-old University of Florida student provided steadying performances, particularly on Balance Beam, where slight nerves seemed to affect her teammates.
“This team is young, and many of them, it’s their first World Championships, but they came out here and treated it like every other meet, and I’m super, super proud of them,” Blakely said. “They handled it exactly how they should have, just going through everything with just confidence and a smile on their face. I’m extremely proud.”
Blakely saved her best for last, hitting a standing back tuck with full twist and complex front handspring to front tuck somersault combination with authority on beam to score 14.166 in one of the standout routines of the day. She leads the way in the All-Around with 55.465, ahead of Pease and Kishi Rina.
Aspirational Italy impresses too
Competing in the last subdivision of the day, Italy was on course to catch the U.S. halfway through their subdivision but faltering on Floor Exercise and finished two points behind.
The Italians did however post the highest team scores on Uneven Bars and Balance Beam, where Manila Esposito and Giulia Perotti gave regal demonstrations for 14.200 and 13.833.
After an up-and-down opening day, Japan sits third, 2.8 points behind the U.S. Though the Japanese did not have to count many mistakes toward their 161.630, they had potential to score higher on several apparatus, and they knew it.
Reigning World Floor Exercise champion Sugihara Aiko didn’t seem worried. Asked if she thought a team medal was still within reach, Sugihara exclaimed, “Absolutely! A gold medal!”
“I’m not yet certain if we’ll make it to the team final. There are still other strong teams to compete, so all we can do is hope,” she went on. “But if we do reach the final, it’s essentially a fresh start for everyone; we’ll all be beginning from the same baseline. While our goal is definitely to win gold, I know that if we simply perform as we always do, the gold medal is well within our grasp. So my focus will be on delivering our usual, consistent performance.”
Okamura Mana’s graceful performance on Balance Beam earned 14.266, the highest score on the apparatus. Reese Esponda (USA) leads on Floor Exercise with 13.633, while teammate Claire Pease put together the highest average on Vault (14.283) for a Cheng and a stuck double-twisting Yurchenko. European champion Helen Kevric (GER) was the top scorer on Uneven Bars with 14.766.
