Today we’ll have the first five event finals, beginning with the men’s Kenzo final, followed by women’s vault, men’s horse, women’s bars, and men’s strongies. New updates at the BOTTOM.

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MEN’S FLOOR

9 in the final because of the Bram/Tomas issue, a very “let’s just avoid a controversy” decision so that fewer people are complaining. Tomas had originally qualified until Bram was allowed to go again. It was a situation that was no one’s fault except Gymnova’s, so they decided to make everyone a winner, sort of.

Montreal has been asked if they are ready about 150 times. I feel like they’re ready?

No warmup for event finals, which is so so so stupid and unnecessary.

Gonzalez – FX – front double pike 1/2 out, short small hop – front full to front 2.5 second pass, just hopping a little on these – double double tuck, solid position – just a bit of a struggle up to Japanese handstand – finishes 3/1, a little under-rotated. Good hit set, though I wouldn’t expect it to medal.

14.266.

Verhofstad – FX – sticks first pass – back 2.5 to front 2/1, small hop – back 2.5 to half, hop in place – double double tuck, small slide, chest way down – 2/1, stuck – sticks final pass 3/1 as well. That was basically the best he can do. He should be pleased.

14.333 for Bram, ahead of Tomas.

Kenzo – FX – triple twisting double layout amazing – triple twisting double tuck, same – really focusing on the twisting form today – gets more ragged in fourth pass with slight underrotation, so we’ll see about that – back 3.5 to front full, small hop – pretty much sticks his quad. Twisting form deteriorates as he moves later in his routine and into the more difficult twisting elements, but these are fairly minor deductions and that routine should win gold.

Bar graphs to show you which number is higher than the other. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

15.633 for Kenzo. No one is catching that.

Dolgopyat – FX – double front with 1.5, cool – a front 2/1 goes a little awry for him with a low landing, he does a quad as well but not Kenzo’s – solid routine – finishes with a 3/1, short with a step to the side – not quite as precise in his landings as he needed to be, but very good difficulty, which may help him. Too many crossed legs for my taste.

14.533 puts him in second on difficulty.

Moldauer – this kit is very US Soccer – small hop on opening pass – sticks double arabian half out – sticks front 2/1 to front 1/1 – flares are fast and extended and excellent, big cheer – back 2.5 to half, stuck – takes 2/1 side pass right into the corner, he couldn’t step and didn’t – small hop on 3/1. Excellent clean and stuck set, but he’s always going to have to rely on other people to make errors because of his difficulty.

14.500 for Moldayer puts him into third behind Dolgopyat. That will be controversial. He did get rewarded in E by nearly 7 tenths more, but it’s hard to enjoy Dolgopyat over Moldauer watching those two routines back to back.

Larduet – small hop on opening pass – ManBiles, not as good this time, hop back – front 2/1 to layout, hop forward – double arabian 1/2 out, fine but hop – double front, bounces out – landing reminiscent of the AA final – 2.5 to front full, great height in second element – double arabian, near stick. Probably didn’t have the landings with that one.

14.100 for Manrique

Whittenburg – front 2/1 to double front, very deep but no idea how he got it around in the first place- double front pike, large hop – double double lay, hop – 2.5, hop – double double tuck, hop – double arabian 1/2 out, finally a good pass but not a good routine for him. Too many landing errors, especially at the beginning.

14.166 for Whittenburg.

Karimi – Little baby Kazakhstan – back 3.5 to frotn 1.5, hop – swins a little to keep the landing on second pass, same on third double double tuck and on 2.5 to front 2/1, fighting to keep sticks but probably giving away more in arm waves – 3/1 hands down! Oh Karimi!

13.266 and into last for now.

So Moldauer on the bubble with Kim Hansol to go, who can definitely get a medal here.

Kim – good first pass, double front pike 1/2, hop – small hops though. controlling passes well – double double tuck, good – LOL balance check in the corner – finishes with a very short 3/1 with a large lunge forward – did that balance check in the corner cost him a medal? Seemed to throw him off going to the last pass.

It’s a 14.100 for Kim, and a medal for Moldauer! Very cool for him. I would have had him second actually, but I recognize that his difficulty isn’t really there. Still shows that execution still has a place!

Gold – Shirai
Silver – Dolgopyat
Bronze – Moldauer

Now I wish Bram had won a medal too! A tough 4th for a really strong routine.

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WOMEN’S VAULT FINAL

Where is Team Swiss Cowbell today for Giulia?

Shallon Olsen has apparently submitted the TTY to be named after her. The better question is…why?

Steingruber – 1 – Rudi – OK, probably weaker than qualification but better than the AA, a little short with a hop forward but a pretty small step to the side, chest well down though.

Steingruber – 2 – hits DTY, similar landing with chest down, step back. But a fairly solid set of two vaults.

14.466 average. Weaker scores than her qualification performance, and appropriately so.

Olsen – 1 – she’s putting up the number for the Amanar here. YEOUCH. Landed somwhere in between the double and the 2.5, basically sideways, hands down, extremely dangerous landing, but she looks to be OK. Shouldn’t have attempted that vault. Should have done the DTY.

Olsen – 2- Cheng – fairly comfortable, rather piked and bent knees, but a controlled landing.

14.233 average. That’s a little high for me.

Paseka – 1 – insane Cheng, even more insane than usual – legs all over the place and chest down, should have a weaker score than Olsen’s. Two steps to the side.

14.700 for her first vault. 8.7 E which is also way too high for that.

Paseka – 2 – Amanar – fairly good Amanar, similar to qualification, hop forward. Legs on block – and bent throughout –

Average 14.850 after a 15.000 second vault. She’s into first. Montreal will probably burn if she wins gold for that Cheng.

Wang – 1 – Tsuk 2/1 with step back, going with these others really reinforces her comparative lack of amplitude and distance. 14.500 for that.

Wang – 2- Rudi – quite low with a large lunge forward and out of the area. Won’t be the score she needed. It hasn’t been a great worlds for her, having to carry the flag as the only healthy Chinese AAer even though she isn’t really healthy at this point.

14.350 for Wang, currently 3rd.

Carey – 1 – Amanar – huge vault but a poor landing – large lunge forward and crazy flying legs on the lunge – won’t get the score she needs for that first one. Although, her score should still be higher than others because of her amplitude and distance, but I doubt it will be because of the poor landing.

14.800. Still high, but needed more.

Carey – 2 – Tsuk 2/1 – good one, small step back, that one was better than qualification but she needs a 9.300 E to catch Paseka, the highest E we’ve seen on vault in this championship. Though, if her Amanar was 9.0, this should be 9.3.

14.766 average for Carey, just behind Paseka.

Black – 1 – handspring lay full, too much pike and legs throughout and a hop forward, but solid.

Black – 2 – Tsuk 1.5, cleaner, lunge forward, but shouldn’t have the difficulty there.

14.416 and currently into 4th.

CHUSO – 1 – she has posted the rudi to start – does the full again, smart – solid vault, small hop, leg form – 14.433.

Chuso – 2 – tsuk 1.5, another good landing – she has improved into this worlds but with this set of vaults probably doesn’t have the difficulty for a medal.

14.366 average

Miyakawa – 1 – better rudi than the first day, crunched down too much but with not too much of a hop to the side – 14.500

Miyakawa – 2 – Falls on DTY. So that’s that.

So Paseka wins, with that Cheng, which is going to sting for a while because form, though Carey had that major landing error on her Amanar. I still think Carey was probably the better one (and if the Amanar is a 9.0, then why is the Cheng a 9.133), but it was very close. Carey would have had a better argument to being cheated out of something if she had landed the Amanar the way she can. That was a major landing error.

Gold – Paseka
Silver – Carey
Bronze – Steingruber

Paseka pulled it out. When no one thought she would land those vaults at worlds, especially based on her everything about her.

Medal ceremony break! Medal ceremonies after the first two and then after the next three. I love the Japanese national anthem, but doesn’t it always sound like there should be more of it? Abrupt ending.

Good bronze for Steingruber. Reward for getting her vaults all the way back, even though she can do a little better than she did today.

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MEN’S POMMEL HORSE FINAL

Weng Hao missed the memo that he was supposed to stop in the middle of the introduction stage. Awesome start.

Naddour – short opening hs – good one hand and one pommel work – a leg break in there, uncharacteristic – works through it comfortably – hits dismount. Solid. He said in the mixed zone that if he was going first he probably wouldn’t upgrade but would if he were going later and had people who had already hit to beat. Shame he drew 1st. Not sure I’m on board with that strategy.

14.750

Betoncelj – one-arm one pommel swing and immediately off. Gets back up and works through the rest of his routine cleanly, but another one bites the dust. We’re 1 for 2 so far. PH finals aren’t fun unless there are at least four falls, right? Is that what it is?

12.966

Belyavskiy – another one struggling on opening hs but works through it – clean form quick travels – secure set, very nice, no real form breaks.

15.100 for Belyaskiy – more difficulty and cleaner than Naddour this time.

Xiao – he does flare work, so it’s always going to be more of a crowd pleaser – very difficult dismount, has to rush through a little to get it finished but he does, quite nice, and his handstand up on one pommel was actually to handstand, unlike the others we have seen. Solid hit.

15.066 just behind Belyavskiy. (I might have though Xiao’s was better, he says quietly)

Verniaiev – look ed like he was going to make a mistake on handstand travel but didn’t – he got through most of his routine quite cleanly and then came off toward the end. Oh Oleg. Not his worlds. Finishes up, rest of routine strong.

13.700

Weng – good first work up to handstand, struggles a tad the second time but not major – smooth work – great quick hand placements – even standing out amonf the rest in this final – everything was going perfectly until a hesitation working up to handstand and a minor hip drop. Do we expect a long judging delay as they work through what to do with that?

We do. Conference occurring now.

Long conference occurring now.

14.500 for Weng, into 4th. Boos coming. Yep, 5 tenths lower D than his qualification score, and that’s why.

Max – very very good work, no significant errors, very comfortable routine, and had the highest difficulty coming in. Should be the winner here.

15.441 for Max and into first. Appropriate.

Merdinyan – another hit! Difficult dismount, solid leg form throughout and keeps his rhythm. Shows a variety of skills and positions. Good set. Just lacks the difficulty to get into the 15s, which is what it’s taking to medal here.

Belyavskiy will get his medal

Gold – Whitlock
Silver – Belyavskiy
Bronze – Xiao

Whitlock the class of the group, but only two falls in the final, which is pretty good. Naddour comes 4th, had a very noticeable leg break and a 6.3 D, lower than any of the medalists. Needed to have upgraded if he was capable of doing that in a hit routine.

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WOMEN’S UNEVEN BARS FINAL

Varinska – stalder shap to pak, clean – toe shap to clear hip 1/1, a little late – tkatchev half to jaeger, very well done! – tuck full dismount with a hop. She has been pleasantly surprisingly on in this event on bars throughout.

14.583. Basically exactly how she qualified.

Derwael – staled tkatchev piked – derwael-fenton to yezhova, good – stalder shap to bhardwaj, solid – toe shap 1/2 – good hs – hops forward on tuck full dismount. Maybe a little close on her bhardwaj and the hop on dismount, but other than that it was identical to her previous routines. Very little variation through worlds.

15.033. She finally broke the 15 mark!

Ilyankova – very close on piked hindorff – reg hindorff to pak to shap to hip 1/2 to yezhova, all strong – toe full – tuck full with step forward. A good set, though that close catch on her first release should put her behind Derwael.

14.900 for Ilyankova. Sounds about right.

Eremina – nabz to pak to stalder shap 1/2, good – inbar 1/2 to piked jaeger  – a short handstand in there on the half turn – toe full – tuck full dismount. Much better than AA. The stalder shap 1/2 had a form break in it, a couple things to take, but not too much. She got her full difficulty by connecting that skill, though, which will be a big deal for her total.

15.100 and she’s ahead of Derwael. Interesting. Hugs, but you can tell Nina is disappointed. Very close between the two.

Luo – toe shap to pak to toe shap 1/2, solid – nice toes and hs – full piros, pretty well vertical – nice piked jager, a short cast 1/2 – ling 1/2 may have been a little late, and then a larger hop forward on DLO, which will hurt.

14.566. Unlikely to have the difficulty anyway, and the dismount mistake took her out of it.

Fan – inbar 1/1 to shap to pak to stalder shap to gienger, nice combo – inbar 1/2, slight hesitation – good piro finishing positions and step on the Fan dismount. Strong set, but we’ll see how much that pause on the inbar 1/2 before working into the next skill gets her. Good save, though.

15.166. HMMMMMM. I don’t know about that. Big difficulty, two tenths more than Eremina or Derwael, but it wasn’t as strong a routine.

Seitz – toe shap to Ricna, good – jaeger – stalder tkatchev piked to pak, clean – toe shap 1/2 – her leg form has improved a lot – toe full to tuck full with a hop. Solid. May just miss it on the difficulty.

14.766.

Very high quality final with one to go, Ashton. She can’t get a 15 with her normal routine.

Locklear – toe full and completely loses her leg form, unexpected mistake – and then a toe half and she comes off the bar! I have NEVER seen her look that off. She has missed before but not looked that off right from the start. Weird. Step on tuck full.

While Valeri can say, “SEE I TOLD YOU” about the Hurd decision, the Locklear decision will come under more scrutiny because of this miss, whether fair or not.

Gold – Fan
Silver – Eremina
Bronze – Derwael

Very close between the three of them to me. They could have gone in any order, though they were the three best out there. Derwael with Belgium’s first medal.

Good final. Very clean and exciting. One more left! …and it’s rings…

They really shouldn’t do the rings final when everyone is all burnt out.

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MEN’S RINGS FINAL

Colak – very horizonal opening strength positions, a little bit of swing but very little bit – tuck and pikes, solid – cross, pretty even and opens his hands with it – double front pike dismount, stuck. Excellent start to the final.

15.066

Radivilov – lots more strongies? some swing and hesitation in a handstand toward the end – double double tuck, small hop.

14.933. Fair, not as strong as Colak in refinement or landing.

Zanetti – very smooth connecting difficult strength elements, small hesitation in handstand but better than qualifiation – just a touch high in a position or two still, though we don’t expect from him – cross is better – huge wobble in handstand – full twisting DLO with a hop. Probably a bit better than qual, but he hasn’t been his medal-contending self this week.

14.900. That’s even a little high for me. He had a major struggle in there.

Abliazin – very flat in strength holds, quite nice – tucks and pikes, clean – OK cross, not the best – very strong hs, second one a little less control – double double layout with small hop. Good one.

15.333 and into first. One tenth higher D than Colak but interesting that he also got higher E.

Ait Said – one handstand struggle – but just one hesitation or two – very good position on the cross, much flatter than Abliazin – DLO 1/1 dismount with the smallest step. Good.

15.258 and into second.

Tulloch – huge difficulty in his strength combinations – He doesn’t have a particularly stragith body position in handstands, which takes away visually from the routine – good strength  – huge struggle in handstand – step forward on dismount. I’d say too many E errors on that one.

14.533.

Petrounias – the smoothness and lack of swing sets him apart – everything is held for two second, easily and correctly – very flat cross – only very minor handstand hesitations, but a couple – double double tuck, a little chest down with a hop. I expected him to stick, but it’s still the best routine of the final to me.

15.433 and into first. Colak out of the medals.

Liu – good strength obviously, looks a touch higher than the best ones in his holds – cracks his neck during an iron cross like a ham and gets the desired crowd reaction – DLO 1/1, low with a hop.

15.266 for Liu. Just ahead of Ait Said. That will provoke some fury. Maybe his neck muscles are just so big I thought it looked like he wasn’t level, but that dismount should not have warranted that E score for Liu, I’d say. I also don’t understand rings.

GOLD – Petrounias
SILVER – Abliazin
BRONZE – Liu

So that does it for the competitions. Medal ceremonies to come. I’ll let you know if anything weird happens.

It didn’t really.

See you tomorrow!