2014 Commonwealth GamesJul 30, 2014 by Karen Psiaki
Whitlock Claims Gold, Keatings Earns Historic Silver in AA
Whitlock Claims Gold, Keatings Earns Historic Silver in AA
The men’s all-around final has finished, with the 24-man field including athletes from 10 nations and territories. England continues its sweep of the gold medals as Max Whitlock claimed the gold with a score of 90.631 and a margin of 2.333. Silver went to Daniel Keatings (SCO) with an 88.298, while Nile Wilson (ENG) took the bronze with an 87.965. The silver medal for Keatings is a historic one for Scotland, as it is the first men’s all-around medal for the country at a Commonwealth Games.
Whitlock, who qualified to the final in first place, took an early lead with a 15.466 on floor exercise. He wowed on pommel horse, scoring a 15.866, and claimed the highest rings score of the day (14.733), but opened the door slightly when he landed low and took a big step forward and out of bounds on his triple-twisting Yurchenko vault. Nevertheless, strong performances on parallel bars and high bar sealed the deal, and he took home the gold medal with a final score of 90.631.
Keatings had a stellar pommel horse routine, beating his own qualifying score on the event by a full 1.0 margin as he scored a 15.533 and moved into second place, where he remained throughout the rest of the competition.
Wilson, the 2014 European junior all-around champion and second-place qualifier to the finals, was consistent on all events, posting the highest scores of the day on vault (14.700) and parallel bars (15.433) en route to his bronze medal.
Daniel Purvis (SCO) fell on pommel horse, his second event of the day, but bounced back with a 14.400 on rings and a 14.666 on vault (the second-highest score of the day on that event) to remain in fourth place and stay in the medal hunt. Unfortunately the effort was not enough, and he finished fourth with a total score of 84.865.
Frank Baines (SCO) started off well on floor exercise but dropped in the rankings after a fall on pommel horse. Another disappointing fall on high bar left him in sixth with a total score of 82.356.
Naoya Tsukahara (AUS) finished in fifth with an 83.739, Clinton Purnell (WAL) was seventh with an 82.298, and Mikhail Koudinov (NZL) rounded out the top eight with a final score of 81.731.
