thiago_simoes

SORAVUO!!

Yulo could have chosen to step out of bounds and lose 0.1 in execution and 0.1 in penalty, but he tried to save it, lost control, had a 0.5 deduction and moved out of bounds with two feet for an extra 0.3 in penalty. What a stupid, stupid decision.

It was about time. Besides, Melnikova is a huge example in perseverance. She started as a mediocre gymnast, almost helpless on some apparatus, bus now she is both a World and Olympic champion. This gives hope for basically anyone who takes up this sport. Even if you're not exactly gifted or exceptionally talented, you can work hard and become the best all the same.

I thought he was going to win a medal... But it was a very tough event. Even Lodadio didn't qualify. Many, many, many surprises today. Half of the qualifiers are people I'd never expect to qualify.

Event finals for and AA final for . Way more interesting results than I had anticipated. Who would dare say that Netzer would end up ahead of Qi Qi or Devillard? This is absolutely CRAZY! Really sad for Kysselef. This was the biggest opportunity in her career and her first vault was amazing! Too bad about the second one.

Taman has secured qualification for the vault final! History not only for but for the whole sport of artistic gymnastics! First African woman to advance to an apparatus final at the World Championships!

No final for Kysselef. But this puts Taman in a veeeery comfortable position now.

This is one of the best news of this competition so far, along with Ceplinschi hopefuly qualifying for the floor final. There is a bunch of talented vaulters still to come, but Taman has a decent chance of qualifying. Andrade and Melnikova should score better than that, and Kysselef too. One of the Mexicans could also do it but it will be hard. No idea about the girls from Vietnam and South Korea, though, so we'll have to wait and see.

Scores on floor are still abysmally low. I told you this floor equipment is the worst in the world... Anyway, Geurts is almost guaranteed to make vault final and this should be more than enough for, at least, a bronze medal. Only Devillard, Melnikova and Andrade could challenge her, but I don't think Devillard will score more than 14.2. D'Amato with 13.8, a little bit lower than I anticipated for her but this should still be enough for the final. I guess this will be enough for 6th or 7th, or maybe 8th. Downie with a disappointing score on the uneven bars. Probably not enough for a final.

Oof. A very shaky start. Qi Qi counted a fall on both vaults. No final for her, and here I thought she was almost assured of a medal. Wide open door for Geurts and Devillard now, and Asia D'Amato. Also, decent chances for and to reach the final. Wei Xiaoyuan had a terrible all-around competition, only performing well on the uneven bars and vault, though her execution and difficulty are not good on vault. But on bars she had a huge score and can even become the world champion if she repeats this. Li Shijia was the clear favorite for balance beam gold, but she will not make the final. Luo had a huge score and could be the champion here, quite easily, if she repeats this in the final. I blame the terrible quality of the equipment for scores so low on floor and vault. This is not normal. No other noteworthy performances, though. Ofir had a decent 13.516 average on vault but this will not be enough for a final. Maybe a place in the top 12, with some luck.

Reports from and indicate that the World Championships are poorly organized. I asked for the start lists because we literally have no clue who is going to perform where, but no answer from FIG as of yet. Only one gymnastics blog reported on podium training because basically all international media was forbidden to report from the arena. There will be no live streaming of the qualifications anywhere, according to the FIG. The routines from qualification will be uploaded to the YouTube channel after the competition. It's literally impossible to get information about anything relevant as of now. Even predicting who is going to medal is not feasible without the start lists. I'm really, really, really frustrated.

So, Murakami will not perform on vault and bars, and Andrade will not perform on floor. The all-around title is pretty open right now, with Melnikova the clear favorite. I'm still awaiting confirmation but it looks like only three girls performed two vaults during podium training. Geurts and QiQi are clear favorites for the podium now, along with Andrade. Not sure if Melnikova will perform 2 vaults, but this looks more and more unlikely now.

The horizontal bar in the training hall broke when Adria Vera was performing just simple giants. What a mess of an event. Tjassa Kysselef publicly complained about the tiny hotel room and the meager amount of food the gymnasts are given after paying 200 euros for each night. Nancy Taman got injured. EMjae Frazier had a nasty fall on floor, probably because the quality of the apparatus leaves a lot to be desired. I'm sorry to bring so much negative remarks and comments here, but I'm seriously scared at how poor everything is. The host city was only chosen because it was the birthplace of the FIG president. Talk about political decisions for the biggest competition in this sport after the Olympics... It backfired in a horrible manner.

It has been said that the accommodations in the hotels is less than optimal, the food is bad and the competition hall looks ugly. Well, this is shaping up to be the worst edition of the World Championships this century. And we still don't know who is going to perform two vaults. The competition starts in 3 days. Unbelievable.

So, the Russians didn't know the equipment manufacturer for this event is Taishan. They thought it was Senoh, the manufacturer who provided the apparatus for the Olympics. It seems like a minor difference, but Taishan's floors are one of the worst -- maybe the worst -- for gymnasts. It is said to be too stiff and prone to cause injuries. Many gymnasts skip performing on floor altogether when Taishan is their only choice of apparatus. What a shame. A badly attended event with a terrible choice of apparatus supplier. This doesn't seem to bode well.

Brazil will send 2 male gymnasts and 1 female gymnast. And we might see the first-ever medal for Africa this time: Zahran on rings. The best-ever position achieved by an African gymnast was 4th place on rings, also by an Egyptian gymnast, Ali Zaki, in 1950.

Now that we know the female US team, all that's left to know is which gymnasts are going to perform 2 vaults among all countries. The official FIG website has not released the start lists yet. The Longiness website has a provisional start list but they don't mention which gymnasts are going to perform two vaults. The event will start in one week and we are still left wanting with some questions. What a mess. Anyway, I believe that the most probable candidates are: Qi Qi Geurts Van Pol Bacskay Fedorova Hubareva Murakami Taman Perea Devillard Budda Reddy Pranati Das Kysseleff Wong Angel Andrade Escalera Melnikova Most likely candidates for the podium: Andrade, Melnikova, Murakami. Dark horses for a medal: Devillard, Geurts, and maybe Qi Qi. Likely to make history and be in the final: Taman, Kysseleff and one of the Indians. Bacskay, Escalera and one of the Ukrainians could also be in the final if someone else fails and they hit. Van Pol should qualify easily if she performs two vaults. Anyway, I believe that a score as low as 13.8 could realistically be enough to make women's vault finals. Compare this to 14.6 not making the final at the Olympics two months ago and you will understand how poor this World Championships is going to be...

This is really sad. Iran could have walked away with more than one medal. I'd say Iran could even have had a world champion or two! Not so easy on pommel horse, but possible. Now, on rings this was definitely possible. One of the Iranian gymnasts scores 14.8 on this apparatus and this could be enough for the world title this year. What a shame.

The nominative list is finally available here. Overall, a very weak event. Very few stars on the women's side. Tokyo medalists Rebeca Andrade, Angelina Melnikova, Vladislava Urazova and Mai Murakami are probably the most competitive gymnasts here. Great Britain's Becky Downie and Germany's Pauline Schaefer, former world champion, are also very well known. Many teams, including the US, are going to send up and coming gymnasts. On vault, this is Rebeca Andrade's title to lose. Murakami should get silver comfortably. For the bronze medal, either Devillard or Geurtz. Small but decent chance for Kysselef, one who has been around for a VERY long time, to finally make an appearance in a final at the World Championships. On the uneven bars, the Russian Gymnastics Federation should have the upper hand here. Becky Downie and Mae Fenton, both from could be surprise medalists. China, Brazil, one of the Americans or even one of the girls could be surprising medalists. On beam, it's anyone's game. could win a medal here with some luck. On floor, Melinkova and Murakami should make the podium, along with one other surprising medalist. I'm not betting my money on the US girls, but they should make a number of podiums too, especially in the all-around. On the men's side, things are slightly more interesting. Real chances for a first-ever medal for on rings, especially with the absence of most well known gymnasts, and for on vault. Slight medal chances on other apparatus for and . BIG missed opportunities for and who will not send any gymnasts to this event. has two great female vaulters and one of them could make the final here, but the contry will only send male gymnasts who have no chance whatsoever to make a final. I don't get it.

Good to see that real Brazil won against "fake Brazil".

Yes! But this one would be a lot harder, unfortunately.

I can't believe it! A MEDAL FOR MARCUS!!! Seriously, there are five sports where I never expected a medal for Brazil EVER at the World Championships: slalom canoeing, weightlifting, wrestling, fencing and archery. Now we have a medal in all of them. Unbelievable!

FIG has not released the nominative entries yet, but many countries decided to send young and up and coming gymnasts, so this will be a very interesting and open event. It will be hard to predict anything. Many of the Olympians will skip the competition altogether.

Is this geoblocked? I can't access the videos.

We didn't need any more evidence that Brazilian volleyball has hit the bottom of the barrel, but still our women's team wants to make it absolutely sure. They barely won the South American title, but they still lost the match against Colombia. What a crazy competition where the loser of the match wins the title, but even with the title it's still a shameful day for Brazilian volleyball, for sure.