Veterans dominate women’s qualification

As far as women’s qualification is concerned, Angelina Melnikova was the contender at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Jakarta.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic team gold medallist opened her qualification session by landing a double-twisting Yurchenko and adding a difficult Cheng for good measure. From there it was off to the races, and even a fall from the Balance Beam on her acrobatic series couldn’t spoil Melnikova’s night.

Her four-event point total was 54.566, putting the 25-year-old at the head of the 84 women who performed on all four events during ten sessions of qualification. Melnikova’s margin over Sugihara Aiko of Japan is just under half a point. Algerian Kaylia Nemour is third, followed by China’s Zhang Qingying, American Dulcy Caylor and Karina Schoenmaier of Germany.

Fresh from becoming Algeria’s first Olympic champion in gymnastics last summer, Nemour now hopes to win her nation’s first World title. A repeat performance of her jaw-dropping qualification routine on Uneven Bars would almost certainly do it. An All-Around medal of any colour would be historic for Africa, too.

“I hope that I can do even better,” said Nemour, who fell on Vault and Balance Beam in her qualification round Monday. “I did a decent Floor routine, and a Vault that I was disappointed with, though it’s Vault so that’s okay. But for bars I really needed to get myself together, and I did.”

So advanced is Nemour’s difficulty score on Uneven Bars that her 15.533 score was almost a full point higher than her nearest competitor’s. Yang Fanyuwei (CHN), the only gymnast who has been able to come close to matching Nemour’s numbers, made a small error and downgraded her routine in qualification Wednesday, but still did enough to qualify in second place with 14.566.

It’s been 15 years since a Romanian gymnast has won a World title and nearly a quarter century since one took gold on Floor Exercise, but Sabrina Maneca-Voinea of Romania aims to change that. The 18-year-old strung together a whip to double layout to front tuck in her opening tumbling pass on Floor for 13.366, the top score. Maneca-Voinea was ahead of Japan’s Kishi Rina and Briton Ruby Evans, who brought a difficult old tumbling pass out of retirement for this event.

“I felt good and I’m happy with my Floor,” said Evans, who made her World Championships debut in 2023. “My aim was to come out and do my new first tumble, and I did that.”

China’s Zhang Qingying, the 2023 Asian champion on Balance Beam, served razor-sharp work that scored 14.366, half a point over Brazilian Flavia Saraiva and Maneca-Voinea, who both tallied 13.833.

“I trained well on Balance Beam this year,” commented Saraiva, who is back after a post-Olympic break. “It wasn’t my best one, with the highest start value, but it was a very clean routine that helped me get that score.”

After making numerous major finals, would it feel to finally be World champion? “Ahhhh it’s my dream!” Saraiva exclaimed.

Melnikova was the top qualifier on Vault, ahead of 26-year-old Worlds debutante Deng Yalan of China, who showed a handspring Rudi and a double-twisting Tsukahara. If it ended right now, she would be a double World champion. But for all the drama and excitement of qualifications, the finals decide the medals. Beginning with Thursday’s All-Around final, all slates are wiped clean and everyone starts anew.