2019 Gymnastics World Championships
The 2019 gymnastics world championships that were held in Stuttgart a couple of weeks ago were remarkable for the number of records achieved.
Starting with the number of countries participating (from 92 federations) to the number of gymnasts competing (547 in total), we were treated to some amazing gymnastics from the qualifying rounds to the very last day of the event.
Focusing on the women, the biggest surprise of the early stages of the championships was the 2016 Olympic gold medalist on beam, Sanne Wevers, from The Netherlands, who failed to qualify for the event final on her best apparatus, ruining her country’s hopes for a medal. Also unexpected was the fact that 7-time Olympian Oksana Chusovitina didn’t qualify for the vault final, due to a fall on her 2nd qualifying vault.
The team final was dominated by the American women that, even with a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes, managed to get the gold medal by a large margin, making this their 5th world title in a row. The Russian women got the silver medal and the revelation of the event was the Italian team that managed to get the bronze medal, thanks to some falls from the Chinese girls.
The AA final went as expected and, after powering her team to gold, Simone Biles delivered 4 outstanding exercises that allowed her to get a lead from the start which she kept increasing until the very last event. The real competition was for the other 2 places on the podium, where a few gymnasts had a shot at them. The favorite for the silver medal was US gymnast Suni Lee, who was on her way to the second step of that podium until a fall on uneven bars opened the door for other gymnasts to reach the coveted silver and bronze medals. Eventually, China’sTang Xijing was 2nd which, when you’re competing against Simone Biles, it’s like being 1st. Russian gymnast Angelina Melnikova was 3rd after producing 4 well-executed routines.
The 1st day of event finals went as foreseen, with Biles winning gold on vault, followed by her teammate Jade Carey on the medal roster. On uneven bars, Belgium’s Nina Derwael renewed her world title with an electrifying routine.
Day 2 of event finals belonged entirely to Simone Biles, who not only got both medals on beam (which was a pleasant surprise) and floor but, with 25 medals at world championships, she also surpassed not only Svetlana Khorkina as the female gymnast with most medals at the world championships but also Vitaly Scherbo as the gymnast (both male and female) with the most medals, an astonishing record that was unchallenged for 23 years.
All in all, it was a gymnastics feast where we got to see some power gymnastics, along with some of the more artistic side of the sport.