Today bring us rings, followed by uneven bars, followed by men’s vault, followed by naps. 

Youna Dufournet will introduce the stick hitting. No withdrawals reported for any finals thus far.

Glenn Cuyle is like, “I have glasses AND a mustache. Where my memes at????” Davtyan walked out like he wasn’t sure where he was, so he’s taking a medal.

RINGS AND SUCH

Zou – lifts up to planche, excellent – inverted cross lower down to V – yamawaki and jonasson – smooth cross, good horizontal – very strong handstands – but double double tuck dismount is an issue, chest down and a couple steps. Liu is like, thank you. Still goes 15.233, not far down from qualification.

Liu – immediately to inverted cross and swing to inverted cross – jonasson to cross, nice – yamawaki to maltese, right on, lowers to cross – good hs – double double tuck, chest down as well but only one hop instead of Zou’s hop and steppies.15.300 and he does go ahead of Zou, only just.

Petrounias – lift up to planche, good, lowers, then back up to maltese like a monster – jonasson to cross – maltese – one shorter hold in there – small angle in handstand – back up to solid planche, lowers to cross – handstands not quite as precise as the Chinese – double double tuck is stuck excellently. 15.100

Cuyle – up to planche – lower, back up to maltese – yamawaki jonasson to cross – mack to maltese to cross, solid – up to handsand – tries the triple tuck dismount but forward rolls out of it. A situation where it makes sense to go for as much risk as possible because why not they already got 15s. Hit it in Q to end up 4th. 13.833

Asil – up to inverted cross – lowers to hang, up to planche – maltese – yamawaki jonasson to maltese – cross, comfortable enough to do “sup, girl” chin afterward – solid handstands – double double tuck, step back, Very nice. 14.966 is up a tenth on Q but can’t catch Petrounias.

Ait Said – up to planche, nice straight position – lower, then back up to maltese – good hs – yamwaki jonasson to maltese, lower to cross – crowd throwing panties at every skill – planche, good – DLO 1/1, holds onto stick with lean forward

Liz Chetkovich was trying to say “medal contention” but accidentally almost said “medical attention” and it’s so real.

15.000 is just behind Petrounias and into 4th. Look out Bastille. 8.9 ties our top execution so far.

Hepworth – up to inverted cross – to cross, raises to maltese – jonasson to maltese, nice – planche, lowers to a solid cross – yamawaki to handstand, small struggle, double double tuck,, chest up well, hop back. 14.800 a solid number. Into 6th,

Liu Yang has squeezed the inner thigh of Zou Jingyuan in celebration, noted for the record.

Davtyan – had 6.0 D in qualification, which is down on these finalists – raises up to maltese, lowers to inverted handstand, up to cross – handstand, solid – jonasson to maltese, lowers to cross – planche – DLO 1/1 is the highlight, nice stick. 14.866

GOLD – Liu
SILVER – Zou
BRONZE – Petrounias

I love that Liu and Zou were taking pictures with the flag and then were all “OK done now” just as the coaches rolled up going  US FOR PICTURES TOO WE DID ROUTINES, and they’re like, ugh, didn’t I already work enough on rings?

THE BARS OF UNEVEN

Very into that photographer walking out the intro tunnel after the gymnasts. And the NINTH competitor in the bars final….THIS DUDE.

Zhang – long wait for the coach to wipe up the full puddle of spray on the mat – healy to layout jaeger is hit, a little close – clear hip tkatchev piked and falls, takes it too far – resumes tkatchev to pak, clean – maloney to gienger, solid – healy 1/2 to FTDT dismount, multiple stumbles back

12.800

D’Amato – toe full to maloney to tkatchev, hit – stalder tktchv piked to pak to stalder shap 1/2, small leg breaks, solid combo – front giant full is somewhat late, into double front, little hop. Good.

14.733, solid score.

Derwael – salder tkatchev piked to pak to maloney to 1/2 turn to yehzova to stalder shap to bhardwaj, hit – little leg breaks – van leeuwen, smooth – toe full, some feet, into FTDT, bounce back and then a really quick step salute that I’d say was a second landing adjustment.

14.766 puts her ahead of D’Amato. This Olympics judging is D’Amato’s origin story.

Downie – toe full to stalder tkatchev 1/2 to yezhova – maloney to clear hip tkatchev – stalder tkatchev piked and falls, well I hated it – resumes on low bar with solid van leeuwen – FTDT, stuck, of course.

13.633. Currently in bronze position, he weeps.

Qiu – inbar 1/2 to healy to ling to layout jaeger, good – inbar full, a little crooked but fine – stalder tkatchev piked, close – inbar tkatchev pike to pak – van leeuwen, hit – FTDT, stuck. A good one!

15.500. Nemour will have to do the thing.

Nemour – inbar full to inbar nabieva to pak to inbar shap to stalder full to stalder tkatchev 1/2 to yezhova to stalder shap 1/2, gets it – toe full to DLO, leg separation, little hop. Gets it. We wait.

15.700 is into 1st. She got the 7.2 as well but was ahead of Qiu on E score.

Kevric – inbar full to stalder shap 1/2, good – inbar 1/2 to piked tkatchev – stalder tkatchev piked to pak, lovely height – van leeuwen, leg separation – FTDT, deep with a hop forward.

Nice 14.566

Lee – nabieva to bhardwaj – no connection to van leeuwen, nice – jaeger to pak to maloney to gienger, good – giant full, past – FTDT, small step. On execution, yes, but did she need to connect the VL?

14.800 is enough for bronze for Lee. Just enough!

GOLD – Nemour
SILVER – Qiu
BRONZE – Lee

Happy that we’re just going straight into finals today and not medal ceremony-ing ourselves to death.

MAN VAULT

Chepurnyi – VT 1 – Dragulescu is well landed, small hop back – cowboy but not extreme and flexed feet. 14.833

Chepurnyi – VT 2 – Kas 2/1 nicely done, step to the side, just a bit of leg crossing. 14.966

14.899 average is up on his first place result from Q.

Hepworth – VT 1 – Dragulescu is solid, hop back – larger hop back than Chepurnyi but a more composed tuck shape, legs together better. 14.833 ends up the same as Chepurnyi’s first vault.

Hepworth – VT 2 – handspring randi, lovely, small hop back. That would be first place for me. 15.066

14.949 average and into 1st.

Jarman – VT 1 – Kas 2.5 hit, larger lunge forward out of the area but has the D benefit. 15.100 works for him.

Jarman – VT 2 – Draglescu is hit, not quite as strong as our other Dragulescus with a bigger lunge back and then an extra control step, but solid. 14.766

14.933 average does put him into 2nd, behind Hepworth, ahead of Chepurnyi.

Yulo – VT 1 – goes for piked dragulescu and it’s excellent, small hop back, good piked shape. 15.433.

Yulo – VT 2 – Kas 2/1 is great in the air until the very end with some tucking, larger lunge back but he has the buffer from the first vault. 14.800

15.116 average goes pretty comfortably into 1st.

Radivilov – VT 1 – Dragulescu is solid, small hop back, good amplitude, some cowboy and feet. 14.900

Radivilov – VT 2 – Goes for Tsuk double pike and sits it down

He was like, this has been way too normal and clean for a men’s vault final. IGOR TO THE RESCUE. 13.433

14.166 average.

Benovic – VT 1 – Dragulescu is very solid – small hop back, little more cowboy but one of the most composed landings. Reward for it with 15.000.

Benovic – VT 2 – handspring randi is hit but lands a bit short with a hop forward. Let’s see what they do with that. Not the quality of Hepworth on that second vault. 14.800

14.900 average puts him into 4th.

Olfati – VT 1 – Yurchenko double pike is hit but has a couple large steps back and then is sort of off balance on the mat for another step hop. 14.166

Olfati – VT 2 – Tsuk double pike has the opposite issue, a bit short, chest down and step. 14.366

14.266 average.

Davtyan – VT 1 – Dragulescu is nice – small hop – best form of the bunch, notttt a lot of distance. 14.966

Davtyan – VT 2 – handspring randi, nice in the air, medium bounce back. Let’s see where we end up. 14.966

A 14.966 average puts him in silver.

GOLD – Yulo
SILVER – Davtyan
BRONZE – Hepworth