2023 World Championships | Event Finals Day 2 Live Blog

/ October 8, 2023

Welcome to the live blog for the second day of event finals at the 2023 World Championships, held in Antwerp, Belgium!

Please refresh your browser every few minutes to see the most recent updates, which will appear at the top of the page.

12:02 pm. High Bar Final Standings

1. Hashimoto Daiki, Japan, 15.233
2. Tin Srbic, Croatia, 14.700
3. Su Weide, China, 14.500
4. Milad Karimi, Kazakhstan, 14.433
5. Paul Juda, United States, 14.100
6. Arthur Mariano, Brazil, 13.533
7. Chiba Kenta, Japan, 12.700
8. Félix Dolci, Canada, 11.100

12:00 pm. Su Weide CHN HB: Tak full was BEAUTIFUL to handstand, Tak half with a slight arch, lovely Liukin, gets the layout Tkachev today! Big Kolman, German giants, comes a little short into the stalder out of it, double double layout dismount, a little deep with a hop. 14.500 (5.9, 8.600)

11:56 am. Chiba Kenta JPN HB: Kolman caught really close, deadhangs and has to kip cast out of it, Yamawaki to Endo, Tak half a bit late, double double layout with a hop back. 12.700 (5.4, 7.300)

11:53 am. Félix Dolci CAN HB: Tak full, tak half, big Cassina but he comes in a little low for the catch and can’t hold on. Clean Kovacs, layout Tkachev, lovely straddle Tkachev but goes a bit too far over and can’t hold on. Looks at his grips for a second like, I hate you. Back on for a stalder, and a double double layout, hop back. 11.100 (5.0, 6.100)

11:49 am. Hashimoto Daiki JPN HB: Tak half to Liukin, omg!!! Cassina, Kolman, layout Tkachev to straddle Tkachev, blind change to Tak full, some leg form but finishes well, stalder, Quast, double double layout dismount stuck on his toes. OMG. This was huge. 15.233 (6.7, 8.533)!!!!!!!

11:45 am. Touch for the second half!

11:42 am. Paul Juda USA HB: Yamawaki, huge Kovacs, layout Tkachev, straddle to piked Tkachevs, killing it so far, SO clean, Tak opened up nicely, beautiful Tak half, stuck the full-twisting double layout, this was GORGEOUS. 14.100 (5.4, 8.700)

11:38 am. Tin Srbic CRO HB: Tak half to stalder layout Tkachev, stalder straddle Tkachev to layout Tkachev IIRC, gets the Kolman, Tak full, just a little form, stalder, stuck the double double layout!!! YESSSSS. 14.700 (5.9, 8.600)

11:34 am. Milad Karimi KAZ HB: Zou Li Min, big Cassina, maybe catches a little low, Kovacs to Kolman, some leg form in the latter, blind change to front giant to Tak half, nice, layout Tkachev (a bit piked) to piked Tkachev, Tak, big beautiful stuck double double layout, oh my god. 14.433 (6.3, 8.133)

11:30 am. Arthur Mariano BRA HB: Tak half, Liukin to Endo, Tak full was really late, full-twisting layout Jaeger, Yamawaki, off on the layout Tkachev and crashes dramatically to the mat. Gets it the second time and connects to the piked Tkachev, beautiful full-twisting layout dismount with a hop. 13.533 (6.2, 7.333)

11:26 am. Men are warming up for high bar!

11:20 am. Women’s Floor Final Standings

1. Simone Biles, United States, 14.633
2. Rebeca Andrade, Brazil, 14.500
3. Flavia Saraiva, Brazil, 13.966
4. Sabrina Voinea, Romania, 13.766
5. Shilese Jones, United States, 13.666
6. Naomi Visser, Netherlands, 13.300
7. Zhou Yaqin, China, 13.300
8. Alice Kinsella, Great Britain, 12.666

11:16 am. Sabrina Voinea ROU FX: Hit the full-twisting double layout in the first pass, and then a super strong double double. Triple spin. Switch leap to switch full. Full-in, good landing, little bounce. Tour jeté half. Front tuck through to double tuck, another excellent landing, little bounce. Oooooh!!! 13.766 (6.0, 7.766)

11:12 am. Zhou Yaqin CHN FX: Clean, perfectly stuck double tuck. Kinda falls out of the Memmel turn. Triple full to front tuck, step. Split jump full. Beautiful switch ring to split ring leap. 2.5 to lovely front pike. 13.300 (5.4, 7.900)

11:07 am. Rebeca Andrade BRA FX: Front full through to full-in, great landing. Full-twisting double layout, beautiful and stuck! Switch full, little hop. Memmel to stag jump, love that connection. Double layout, a bit forward on the landing, little stumble. Switch to tour jeté half, deep landing. Double pike, bounce back. 14.500 (6.1, 8.400)

11:03 am. Alice Kinsella GBR FX: Triple full, bent in half on the landing but her feet barely move. 2.5 to front full comes up short and she has a bit of a skid and then a big step on the landing to keep it upright. Double wolf turn. Switch full. Double pike with a hop back. 12.666 (4.9, 7.766)

11:01 am. Touch for the second half!

10:56 am. Simone Biles USA FX: Full-twisting double layout, minor leg form and a hop back. Front full through to double double, hop back. Biles is a bit unsteady on the landing, leaps forward OOB. Switch full, no problems there today! Double layout, a little deep, hop back. 14.633 (6.7, 8.033, -0.1)

10:55 am. Saraiva’s score just bumped from a 13.866 to 13.966 (5.7, 8.266)!

10:51 am. Naomi Visser NED FX: Whip to triple full, lands OOB, but punches into the front tuck without issue. One of her better ones in terms of direction. Double L to double spin, little stumble. Memmel turn. Switch half. 2.5 to front layout, stuck! Switch ring to tour jeté half. Double tuck, chest down, hop forward. 13.300 (5.6, 8.000, -0.3)

10:47 am. Flavia Saraiva BRA FX: Whip to full-in, good landing. Switch full is strong. Great double layout! Looked stuck. Switch through to tour jeté full I think, we had a weird angle for that one. Switch ring half. Comes up a little short out of the 1.5 to front full, step back. Double pike, a bit deep and on her toes. She’s thrilled with that! 13.866 (5.6, 8.266)

10:43 am. Shilese Jones USA FX: Nice on the triple wolf turn. Double double, slight leg form in the air but she lands super well! Double L turn to full pirouette, not quite around to where it needs to be. Front full through to double tuck, nice and high, little bounce on the landing. Full-in, little step back. Hop L to switch half. Excellent! 13.666 (5.5, 8.166)

10:40 am. Touch underway for floor!

10:34 am. Parallel Bars Final Standings

1. Lukas Dauser, Germany, 15.400
2. Shi Cong, China, 15.066
3. Sugimoto Kaito, Japan, 15.000
4. Kaya Kazuma, Japan, 14.733
5. Illia Kovtun, Ukraine, 14.633
6. Asher Hong, United States, 14.466
7. Matteo Levantesi, Italy, 13.866
8. Yul Moldauer, United States, 13.133

10:32 am. Sugimoto Kaito JPN PB: Had a moment early in the routine where he came up short on a pirouette and walked out of it but the rest was strong, good variety of elements in this set, and he’s great at basically all of them! 15.000 (6.3, 8.700)

10:27 am. Lukas Dauser GER PB: Great on the first handstand, and Makuts with a half turn out, pirouette to half pirouette, so controlled on everything, clean Makuts, more clean pirouettes, double front half stuck! 15.400 (6.6, 8.800)

10:24 am. Matteo Levantesi ITA PB: Little adjustment out of the giant Makuts, legs came slightly apart in handstand on the single rail, arches over and walks out of a half turn, pirouette right to the Bhavsar, more walking out of another handstand, caught a salto, double pike, lands really forward with a big leap out of the landing, he’s laughing like what the hell was this. 13.866 (6.4, 7.466)

10:21 am. Asher Hong USA PB: A little short on the first cast to handstand, looks good in the Bhavsar and Tippelt, Makuts is almost where it needs to be, pirouette out was strong, lovely Healy, double front half, a little low but still a good landing, and this was a great routine overall! 14.466 (6.0, 8.466)

10:19 am. Touch underway for the second half!

10:14 am. Yul Moldauer USA PB: Not bad on the giant Makuts, just tiny adjustments, next few pirouettes go really well, kind of fell out of the Makuts after though? Got the tucked and layout baranis, maybe a little low on the latter, double front half with a little step back. 13.133 (6.3, 6.833)

10:11 am. Shi Cong CHN PB: Beginning went pretty clean, just a pause halfway through the Makuts but not super rough, has a strong salto element and Bhavsar, Tippelt, double pike, stuck!

10:07 am. Illia Kovtun UKR PB: Walks forward and back out of the first pirouette, calms down and gets through the next couple of pirouettes cleanly, arched over halfway through the Makuts and had to adjust to finish it, stuck the double front. 14.633 (6.4, 8.233)

10:03 am. Kaya Kazuma JPN PB: Front pike to a clean handstand, Makuts with a big pause halfway through, little adjustments on a pirouette after, hit the Bhavsar and Tippelt, minor movement there, so tiny, double front half stuck! Beautiful routine! 14.733 (6.3, 8.433)

9:56 am. Athletes about to come out for the p-bars final!

9:40 am. Medal ceremonies for the first two events!

9:35 am. Beam Final Standings

1. Simone Biles, United States, 14.800
2. Zhou Yaqin, China, 14.700
3. Rebeca Andrade, Brazil, 14.300
4. Sanne Wevers, Netherlands, 14.100
5. Ashikawa Urara, Japan, 14.066
6. Zhang Qingying, China, 13.100
7. Shilese Jones, United States, 12.933
8. Pauline Schäfer, Germany, 12.800

9:32 am. Rebeca Andrade BRA BB: Switch leap mount. Switch to switch half, stumble out of it. Solid bhs loso. Front aerial to split ring jump to back handspring. Switch ring, little check. Side aerial. Full turn. Wolf jump to sissone. Excellent double pike!

9:27 am. Shilese Jones USA BB: Switch leap mount to switch half. A little low on the standing arabian. Split jump to straddle jump. Bhs bhs layout, came in a little low in the set for that and lands it a little forward but it’s not severe, still pretty solid. Clean side aerial. Full turn. Double pike, forward on the landing and she shockingly crashes it! 12.933 (5.6, 7.333)

9:22 am. Sanne Wevers NED BB: Floaty back handspring mount to wolf jump full to one-arm back handspring, had a couple of little moments in there that weren’t entirely stable but I think the connections were all there? Double L turn. Side aerial to back handspring. Front aerial to split jump to Kochetkova. Full L turn to full spin to double spin, little wobble there. Switch leap to hop jump full I think after that. Gainer full with a little step. Mostly fantastic stuff! 14.100 (5.9, 8.200)

9:17 am. Zhou Yaqin CHN BB: Candle mount, she got the front handspring front tuck to jump series, very nice connections. Full turn. Switch ring, low back leg I think. Clean side somi to tuck jump full to straight jump full, just wobbles a bit on the very last skill. Front aerial to split ring jump to Korbut. Triple full with a step back. This was great! 14.700 (6.5, 8.200)

9:14 am. Waiting for the touch to wrap up!

9:08 am. Simone Biles USA BB: Switch mount, little check into the switch half to back pike. Triple wolf turn is great. Front aerial to split jump to straddle jump, maybe a little rushed there. Good on the bhs loso loso. Good side aerial. Excellent landing on the full-in. 14.800 (6.5, 8.300)

9:03 am. Zhang Qingying CHN BB: Lovely on the mount series to Korbut. Roundoff layout, tiniest adjustment. Switch ring, sits it on the beam. Ummm, okay, today is not a switch ring day. Switch side to split jump half to Yurchenko loop, catches it on her chest which I’m gonna say is a fall if her landing there the other day was a fall. Nice full turn. Switch to split jump half to straddle jump 3/4, love that so much. Double pike with a step back. 13.100 (6.2, 6.900)

8:59 am. Pauline Schäfer GER BB: Bhs loso, lovely landing. Switch ring, misses a foot and falls onto the beam. NOOOOOO. Double spin with a little check. Little bobble on the Schäfer as well. Front aerial to split jump to stag ring jump. Side aerial. Gainer dismount was nice. 12.800 (5.4, 7.500, -0.1)

8:55 am. Ashikawa Urara JPN BB: Hit the back handspring mount and the side aerial layout steoput well. Switch leap to split ring jump, very nice. Switch ring, back knee could be higher. Good side somi. Double turn with a check, small form break, gets the dismount! Triple full, some leg form but a great landing. 14.066 (5.9, 8.166)

8:51 am. Women are marching out for the beam final!

8:50 pm. Vault Final Standings

1. Jake Jarman, Great Britain, 15.050
2. Khoi Young, United States, 14.849
3. Nazar Chepurnyi, Ukraine, 14.766
4. Igor Radivilov, Ukraine, 14.750
5. Paul Juda, United States, 14.550
6. Artur Davtyan, Armenia, 14.549
7. Harry Hepworth, Great Britain, 14.433
8. Kevin Penev, Bulgaria, 14.183

8:43 am. Nazar Chepurnyi UKR VT: Dragulescu, comes in a little low but barely moves his feet. They’re apart but pretty solid! Not the same height he’s capable of, I think his biggest deduction will be the squat and the chest down. 14.833 (5.6, 9.233)

Second vault is a Kas double full, big step to the side OOB on the landing, and his chest position again isn’t great but this was overall clean in the air. 14.700 (5.6, 9.200, -0.1)

14.766 average

8:38 am. Igor Radivilov UKR VT: Pretty decent form in his big Dragulescu and the landing is great, just a tiny bounce forward. 14.900 (5.6, 9.300)

Tsuk double pike, big slide back into a lunge to control the landing, but was really strong in the air! 14.600 (5.6, 9.000)

14.750 average

8:34 am. Artur Davtyan ARM VT: Dragulescu, gets nowhere near the block he normally does, kind of scary how close to the vault he is actually? Oh he looks so sad. Really deep landing with a stumble forward toward the table. 13.966 (5.6, 8.666, -0.3)

Follows it up with a beautiful stuck handspring randi. 15.133 (5.6, 9.533)

14.549 average

8:30 am. Harry Hepworth GBR VT: Dragulescu, little bounce on the landing, chest a bit forward, looked like a foot OOB on the hop, some form in the air but not super severe. 14.533 (5.6, 9.033, -0.1)

Handspring randi for the second vault, pretty nice in the air but doesn’t look fully ready for the landing, comes down a bit forward, chest down and a few steps as he stumbles forward OOB. 14.333 (5.6, 9.033, -0.3)

14.433 average

8:26 am. Touch should be wrapping up for the second half!

8:21 am. Jake Jarman GBR VT: Kas 2.5, no stick today sadly but still a FANTASTIC vault, and the landing is still pretty great, just a small hop forward. 15.400 (6.0, 9.400)

Dragulescu for the second vault, slides back into a lunge but the height on that was fantastic, what a vaulter this guy is. 14.700 (5.6, 9.100)

15.050 average to move ahead of Young!

8:18 am. Kevin Penev BUL VT: Massive Kas 1.5! Little lack of control on the landing with a hop forward and in the air it’s just a little soft throughout his body line but no significant bends or anything. 14.166 (5.2, 8.966)

Really nice second vault, a Shewfelt, very clean, but has a big hop forward that goes OOB. 14.200 (5.2, 9.300, -0.3)

14.183 average

8:13 am. Paul Juda USA VT: Yurchenko double pike, really nice in the air, just lands a bit short with his chest down and a big step forward OOB. 14.600 (5.6, 9.100, -0.1)

Does a big Kas 1.5 for the second vault, has to take a huge hop forward on that landing but it’s pretty clean in the air overall. 14.500 (5.2, 9.300)

14.550 average

8:09 pm. Khoi Young USA VT: Stuck the handspring randi!!! WOW, really held onto that landing. Went a little off directionally, feet apart on the landing, some form in the air, but this was incredible. 15.033 (5.6, 9.433)

Second vault is a Yurchenko half-on front layout double full, another fantastic landing. Again, just some pretty minor form in the air, and he goes a bit to the side, but this was basically another stick, just an arm wave to control it. 14.666 (5.4, 9.266)

14.849 average!

8:02 am. Athletes are marching out for the men’s vault final!

Related posts

27 thoughts on “2023 World Championships | Event Finals Day 2 Live Blog”

    • They’re fantastic! I hope this meet adds even more to their confidence going into Paris. I really thought Asher Hong would be the star of the quad given his junior performances but these two are just outstanding and the team next year is shaping up to be an incredible one.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • This is going to show my age, but Hong and Richards as a pair are giving me Jim McMahon/Walter Peyton vibes. (Google Chicago Bears 1986).

      Khoi, before college, trained down the street from where I live. Sometimes I saw his group working out as I waited for time at the pool (the observation deck is a long windowed hallway that looks down on both the gym and the pool.) Though I don’t know him, I am so happy to see him succeed and gain more confidence internationally. PG County, MD is, historically, not the place one has seen male gymnasts thrive. I wish him a strong, healthy, and rewarding gear up to Paris next year.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. Simone was on fire on beam.

    I still dont get the Mens Olympic Qualifications. They stated Penev merely from being in the vault final qualified. But yesterday on rings, etc they said many of the competitors had to finish in top 3 to qualify. Confused?

    Like

    Reply

    • Penev was the only Olympic-eligible athlete in the vault final because everyone else had already qualified as part of a team or via the all-around. Same with Yulo on floor! But on pommels and rings yesterday, there were multiple eligible contenders and only one could get in.

      Like

      Reply

  4. Can someone clarify the rule about subbing in alternates/replacement athletes on to a team for the Olympics? I thought that changes could only be made up to a certain time before qualifications, so teams with an injured athlete after that point could only compete with the remaining team members. The Peacock commentary during the P-Bar finals seemed to suggest otherwise because of the Shi Cong situation this year with China.

    Like

    Reply

    • I almost tweeted that I thought if an athlete was replaced for the team final, they couldn’t be swapped back in for their individual finals, so I’m honestly confused about the Shi Cong situation. I’ll look into it and see if anyone else has the answer but I fully thought this wasn’t allowed.

      Like

      Reply

    • I’m so glad you asked this. I don’t follow men’s gymnastics as closely so I was very confused by this but thought I just didn’t understand the rules. It seems completely wrong to allow this.

      Like

      Reply

      • I believe whenever I’ve seen it happen in the past, the athlete withdrawing was legitimately injured, so we never saw them return for individual finals after missing the team competition…I think once someone subs out they should have to stay out, otherwise you’re basically allowing for a six-person team.

        Like

        Reply

        • That is exactly what they got – a 6 person team. Not sure if they broke the rules and it was ignored or if they really are allowed to do this and it’s just a completely unfair rule. Of course I think the rule that you can bench an uninjured gymnast who qualified ahead of a team mate to allow the other one to compete instead is just wrong too. To me this is a multi-day competition. You have to both qualify for the final and do well in the final to deserve a medal.

          Like

        • Totally agree with all of this. I think there needs to be a rule to swap in an alternate in case of injury, otherwise most teams would be in major trouble if they lost an athlete between qualifications and team finals, but the swapping back and forth definitely shouldn’t be allowed, and creates an incredibly unfair situation.

          Like

        • I’ve been thinking more about this and trying to figure out what the rule actually is. It seems like a similar situation with the US women so I’m thinking it through with the US team. So for the US women, Jocelyn was injured during warmups for team finals. During the qualifying all 5 of the girls on the team (Simone, Shilese, Skye, Leanne, and Jocelyn) competed at least one event meaning they did not use their alternate (Kayla). So that is their 5 person team. However, based on the conversations I’ve heard had Jocelyn not been hurt badly enough – she would have been eligible to compete in the event finals because she’s not required to compete in the team finals to do event finals. All that makes sense to me. When Jocelyn was hurt they put Leanne in her place. Again – this makes sense. So here are my questions.

          1) Would they have been allowed to put in Kayla for Jocelyn during team finals? I had always assumed not because the team was set during qualifications.

          2) If I am wrong and they would have been allowed to put in Kayla, then the 5 member team would have become Simone, Shilese, Skye, Leanne, and Kayla.

          If #1 is true – that they were set and had to use Leanne for Jocelyn, then how in the world did China get to bring in someone else for the finals?

          If #2 is true – then how did China get to go back to their original team members for the event finals?

          Or when all is said and done, is this a loophole that allows you to actually use 6 gymnasts? I’m just confused. It seems to me that this is definitely not allowed so I’m curious as to how no one said anything. I realize China only put up 3 gymnasts for a few of the apparatus during qualifications but they did have a 4th gymnast …. they just didn’t use him. So if this is a loophole, are we going to start seeing this happen more often if something doesn’t go as planned during qualifications?

          Like

      • China made the switch for Lin Chaopan and Shi Cong BEFORE team finals and changed him out BEFORE the roster was due.
        Roberson’s vault injury happened AFTER the team finals roster was due and the gymnasts began warming up.
        So the CHN MAG was fine, but USA WAG could not sub out.
        That is the difference.

        Unsure why Shi Cong was able to return to competition. I hope this gets rectified by FIG. I’m fine with subbing an alternate in, however it is the expense of the “injured” athlete, who should be out of competition.

        This has been done various times before as well.
        The Brazilian women have done this like twice now. They did it at Pan American Championships in 2022 and 2023.

        Like

        Reply

        • I think because swaps are not allowed at the Olympics, it’s confusing what the rule actually is and people thought that China was being shady. Obviously Shi Cong had a reason to miss the team final and was medically cleared to compete in the EF, so it’s fine in this case and we need to put to bed the gross rumors that China was cheating or taking advantage of a loophole…they were not! But it DOES allow for the opportunity for teams to “cheat” by putting in a specialist in qualifications to make a final, swapping them out for TF in favor of a stronger team athlete, and then putting the specialist back in.

          So nothing against China for doing what they could to support their athlete, but I do think it’s a flaw in the system because it essentially allows for teams to compete with six members. But in the meantime, I wish the FIG would make it more clear when something like this is and isn’t allowed so people don’t run rampant with the “China is cheating” accusations. It’s not a great rule, but China did nothing wrong.

          Like

        • Thanks to you both for the clarification on timing. I wasn’t even sure if the US women would have been allowed to bring in Kayla at that point so I appreciate the clarification. I still think there should be a rule that would have prohibited Shi Cong from competing in the event finals once he was replaced by their 6th team member. Allowing Shi Cong to come back to compete later gave China a 6 man team. So when Shi Cong was injured they could make the evaluation and say ‘well he’s hurt enough that he’s unlikely to be able to compete again – let’s use the alternate’ or ‘we think he’ll be ok for event finals so we will do team finals with our remaining 4 man team’. After all putting together a team of members that can fill holes is a major part of the team decision making process.

          That said… I want to make it very clear, and I’m sorry if it came across differently, that I never thought China intentionally cheated or there was some kind of back deal plan to allow this. My questioning why this was allowed was more wondering if there is actually a rule that FIG overlooked or if there is a loophole that ends up allowing 6 team members to compete. It looks like there is a loophole. Or at least what I would define as a loophole. The way to close the loophole is to say that once the 6th member competes the gymnast he replaced is ineligible to compete in the remaining events of the competition. A loophole by nature is not cheating. China followed the rules. It’s just a rule that is confusing and needs to be changed.

          Liked by 1 person

        • Oh no, I didn’t think you were saying that about China – people on Twitter were saying it so I just wanted to make it clear that even though I don’t agree with the rule, I don’t think China cheated!

          Like

        • Ahh… I’m old so I don’t have Twitter LOL…

          China definitely didn’t cheat. It wasn’t even unethical or questionable treatment of the gymnasts.

          Now Japan…. well they didn’t cheat either but replacing Kazuma Kaya with Daiki Hashimoto for the AA finals….. that’s wandering toward those ethical questions.

          Liked by 1 person

        • Yeah, I totally understand why they’d want to make those swaps…I’m so against all of these little technicality things that allow for teams to get away with getting past the rules. I would have been SO mad if they took Aly out of the AA in 2012 when Jordyn didn’t qualify even though she was more likely to medal! And I remember when Italy swapped out Alice D’Amato so Elisa Iorio could compete in a UB final in a junior meet, I felt SO bad for Alice and hated that Italy did that to her. But apparently Japan had discussed in advance swapping Daiki in if he missed it so at least there was no surprise for Kazuma and he was okay with it.

          Like

        • Yea I heard he was okay with it too. But what choice does he have but to be okay with it. Complaining about it isn’t going to endear him to his coaches or make them change their minds.

          Liked by 1 person

  5. I’m so happy for Simone Biles and for gymnastics. Her incredible golden come-back is a lesson in courage, smarts and love of the sport. And thanks to all these women we watched so passionately all week, not forgetting you Lauren.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment