The weight of success at the gymnastics World Championships in Nanning, China is now solely on the shoulders of Halifax’s Elsabeth Black. Black is the only Canadian gymnast left in the competition after the final round of qualifying on Monday.
The Canadian team was bumped from seventh to 12th place and out of qualification for the team final. While they’re out of the running this year, by finishing in the top 24, Canada has qualified a full team for the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Glasgow is a qualifier for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, giving the Canadians a chance to send a full squad to Rio.
Black is also the only Canadian to qualify for the individual all around competition, finishing in 17th place. When the Two Per Country rule is applied, Black starts the final in 14th place. Only the top 24 athletes qualify for the individual all around final. Isabela Onyshko just missed the cut-off finishing 29th (25th with Two Per Country).
Black qualified for the beam final and starts the event final in fifth. Notoriously tricky, a podium finish is not out of the question for Black if she performs her best and others falter. However with the roaring Simone Biles of the U.S.A. on top with Romania’s Larisa Iordache and China’s Jinnan Yao nipping at her heels, it will be hard to crack into the top three.
Biles is the defending individual all-around champion and is in first place going into the final. Aliya Mustafina of Russia is in second and finished less than one point behind Biles. Larisa Iordache of Romania is in third.
The Americans lead going into Wednesday’s team finals with China and Russia in second and third place, respectively. The individual all-around competition takes place Friday and the beam final happens on Sunday.
Victoria Kayen Woo finished the meet in 52nd, Maegan Chant was 62nd and Kirsten Peterman was 177th. Aleeza Yu injured herself on the first day and did not finish the competition.