The 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland are officially complete after two weeks of spectacular gymnastics. Five more World Champions have been crowned on day two of event finals. Simone Biles added two more golds to her repertoire, winning both the beam and floor finals. For the men, Korea's Ri Se Gwang took gold in on vault, China's You Hao won parallel bars, and Kohei Uchimura clinched the title on high bar.

Overall, it was a stunning World Championships filled with record breaking routines and historic moments. Most notably, Simone Biles has accumulated a career total of ten gold Worlds medals, and now holds the record for the most Worlds gold medals by a female gymnast. Biles’ career 14 Worlds medals put her in a tie for third with Soviet Union’s Larisa Latynina and behind only Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina (20) and Romania’s Gina Gogean (15).

The men in the vault final displayed gigantic difficulty and superhuman height, and it was a close race as the podium scores were all within one tenth. Ri came away with the title, scoring an impressive 15.450. He had the most difficult combination of vaults of the day, performed two vaults with a 6.4 D score including a piked Dragulescu and a Tsuk full in. The silver went to Romania’s Marian Dragulescu who scored a 15.40 for his signature Dragulescu and a Yurchenko half on 2.5 twist off. USA’s Donnell Whittenburg received bronze for his 15.350 score, which he earned for a solid Dragulescu and clean Tsuk full in.

The beam final proved to be beast, housing only four hit routines in the entire rotation. USA’s golden girl Biles came out with yet another gold, as she was cool, calm, and collected under the same pressure that caused so many other competitors to crack. Biles performed her textbook Barani and back handspring layout layout series almost perfectly. She topped off her routine with a huge tuck full in to earn a 15.358 and the title. Silver went to Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands who showed true elegance and grace through her lovely turning combinations, and totaled a 14.233. Germany’s Pauline Schaefer had a few big wobbles in her routine but performed a few solid sequences such as a front aerial to side somi, and clinched the bronze with a 14.133. Russia’s Viktoria Komova just missed the podium after somewhat shaky, routine. She stayed on the beam, but several wobbles throughout her set added up and she landed in fourth place with a 13.933.

On parallel bars, Hao took the title with a huge 16.216. He capped off a very clean routine with a stuck double front half out. Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaev, who qualified in first with a 16.133, scored a 16.066 today which gave him the silver medal. Oleg Stepko of Azerbaijan led off the group with an impressive 15.966 routine, and then China's Deng Shudi matched that score and they both came away with bronze. Danell Leyva had a clean routine, including a nearly stuck double front dismount for a 15.666, but it wasn’t enough to break into the top three.

The women's floor final was a crowd pleaser as expected, and Biles came away with the gold, also as expected. Biles was in prime form, even after a quick transition following the beam final, and nailed her tumbling with ease to score a 15.80. She showed off her signature Biles pass perfectly, and did a seemingly easy full in to close. It was a tight race for silver and bronze, and in the end Russia’s Ksenia Afanasyeva scored a 15.10 for the silver with her sassy routine which included an impressive whip whip back handspring to triple full. Maggie Nichols’ clean and classy set earned her a 15.00 score and the bronze medal. Nichols nailed all of her landings, including her opening tuck double double. Shang Chunsong of China performed an incredible routine stacked with difficulty, including a three and half punch front as well as a one and a half twist through to triple full punch front. She scored a 14.933, which landed her in fourth.

In the high bar final, Uchimura added yet another gold to his collection after scoring a 15.833 for his stacked routine including a Kovacs, Cassina and a Kolman. Leyva absolutely nailed his set, including his stuck double twisting double layout for a 15.70, which gave him the silver. In third was Cuba’s Manrique Larduet who soars with such lightness on his combinations, such as his layout Tkatchev to straddle Tkatchev half. Larduet took the bronze with a 15.60. USA’s Chris Brooks had a disappointing routine as he peeled off the bar on his Tkatchev and scored a 13.80. Brazil's Arthur Mariano didn't disappoint with his routine, executing several huge Tkatchevs and charming the crowd with his even huger smile. 

Routine Of The Day

Simone Biles on beam

Lineups and Predictions

Now that Worlds is over, the next big competition is Rio. Obviously it is bold to make a prediction this far out, as so much can happen before August of 2016. There are surely several juniors who are strong contenders for the team, but they won't have the same level of experience as the athletes who have competed internationally at the senior level. Based on past experience and phenomenal Worlds performances, our prediction for the 2016 Olympic team is as follows:

Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Nichols, Madison Kocian.

They Said It

“I think [my] comedy relief was just being around Simone. She’s just a ball of positive energy... She’s amazing. She’s definitely a role model to me and I 100% look up to her. I want to be just like her when I grow up.” - Danell Leyva. Full interview here.



Related:
World Championships Central