France wins first ever world title

It was a landmark day in the in the annals of French gymnastics history at the Junior World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Manila as Elena Colas, Maiana Prat and Lola Chassat became the first French women to capture a world title.

The gold opens a hopeful new chapter for the French women and their junior star Colas, who qualified in first place for the All-Around competition and will compete in all four apparatus finals.

The 15-year-old was on form and then some Friday as she contributed half of the team’s winning total of 108.432 points. The French competed in the morning subdivision in a full day of competition, then waited 10 hours to discover that not a single one of the other 29 teams had been able to surpass them.

2023 team champion Japan fell just short, earning 107.930 and silver. A focused effort from the powerful United States yielded 106.230 and bronze. The People’s Republic of China was a distant fourth, followed by Romania, Italy, Great Britain and Ukraine.

The French began their competition on Balance Beam, where Colas and Prat hit their exercises to give France a very early lead. Aided by Chassat, who also qualified to the Uneven Bars final, they kept on racking up big scores in a formidable team surge that showcased excellent technique and willingness to show large amounts of difficulty.

“The first goal was to do this work as a team and we managed to do it,” said Colas, who is also set to appear in all four apparatus finals.

The highlight of her day was Uneven Bars, where the Tours-born gymnast scored 14.500, almost a full mark higher than the next highest qualifier.

Already the Junior European All-Around champion from 2024, Colas remained sanguine about her prospects for another gold in Saturday’s individual final.

“I would like to make an individual podium, and why not in first place?” she said. “But having fun is the primary goal, I think. I want to take pleasure in what I’m doing.”

Whether they realised it or not, every team that came up in the next five subdivisions was trying to beat the French.

The Japanese came closest, in large part thanks to 15-year-old Nishiyama Misa, who had the highest two-vault average (13.916) and tied Colas for the top score on Floor Exercise (13.466).

Nishiyama, Ogawa Risora and Minamino Yume solidified their silver with three brilliant sets on Beam that all scored among the top five on the apparatus. Minamino and Nishiyama will compete again in Sunday’s apparatus final.

Nishiyama advanced to the All-Around final in second place, 1.5 points behind Colas. Some way behind her came Minamino, who got everyone’s attention by becoming only the second gymnast to catch a full-twisting layout Jaeger on Uneven Bars, and doing it from a jam to handstand no less.

“I am happy because I was able to keep up with my teammates, perform well, and avoid mistakes,” Nishiyama reported. “This is a very good result for us, and I hope we can carry this on into next year.”

The USA was in seventh place after its first rotation on Floor Exercise but built itself up to bronze with sharp performances on Vault, Uneven Bars and especially Balance Beam from Charleigh Bullock, Lavi Crain and Caroline Moreau.

“We’ve been preparing this whole entire year, since the beginning of the year,” Moreau said. “It takes a lot of training, dedication and hard work, but we all put our minds to it and we got here.” Fourth and fifth in the All-Around standings Friday, Moreau and Crain will be in the hunt for individual glory Saturday.

Strong performances from Huang Ziyi, Jiang Shuting and Xiang Yina landed China in fourth, and Huang’s 14.100 was the top score of the competition on Balance Beam. Romania, Italy, Great Britain and Ukraine were fifth to eighth.

There will be no rest yet for any of the new World champions. Prat will join Colas in the All-Around and Floor Exercise finals and Chassat will go for another gold with Colas on Uneven Bars Sunday. A city tour will have to wait for a while.

“We haven’t had much time to look around, unfortunately,” Colas remarked.

“We did a training camp in China before coming here, so we were able to adapt to the climate, though here it’s really a lot warmer than in China. But it’s nice to have a bit of warmth because we know that in France it’s really cold.”