2020 Melbourne World Cup: USA’s Carey, Nedoroscik golden on finals day 1

On the first day of finals at the 2020 Melbourne World Cup, Team USA took home two gold medals, the Lord of the Rings took one step closer to Tokyo, and there were some exciting, potentially surprising, winners.

Remember: An athlete can earn Olympic qualification points at each Apparatus World Cup in 2020. The athlete who earned the spot on each apparatus will be announced after the conclusion of the Doha World Cup in late March. There will be 10 athletes total who earn berths to the Tokyo games–six men, four women–via this route.

Day 3 in Melbourne included finals for Men’s floor exercise, pommel horse, and still rings, and Women’s vault and uneven bars.

Click here for Day 1 and Day 2 qualifying results, notes, and video.

Continue reading for detailed results, notes, and video from the first day of finals!

Men’s

Floor Exercise Final

1. Sunghyun Ryu KOR – 14.933 (6.5/8.433)
2. Kirill Prokopev RUS – 14.6 (6.4/8.2)
3. Milad Karimi KAZ – 14.2 (6.1/8.4, -0.3)
4. Yahor Sharamkou BLR – 14.033 (5.9/8.133)
5. Rayderley Zapata ESP – 14.033 (6.5/7.833, -0.3)
6. Ethan Dick NZL – 13.766 (5.6/8.166)
7. Jorge Vega Lopez GUA – 13.7 (5.8/8.1, -0.2)
8. Bram Verhofstad NED – 13.1 (5.6/7.5)

Notes: First to compete? No problem for 17-year-old Sunghyun Ryu. The first-year senior and 2019 junior World champion on floor seemed unbothered by his starting position or the talent he was facing off against. Ryu simply went out their and did his job, and WOW, he certainly put on a performance. He opened with a big front double pike half out, fought for clean landings, and finished with a huge 3.5 twist.

Prokopev had a good outing, but not enough to over take Ryu. His first two passes felt a bit off, but the rest of the routine was superb, including a beautiful flairs sequence that the audience loved and a triple full to end.

While Ryu and Prokopev fought for first, Karimi fought to stay on the podium altogether. He opened with a huge double front half out but went out of bounds (both feet) on the landing of his front full to Randi. The rest of the routine was solid, and after two more competitors go, he secures the bronze by 0.167.

Pommel Horse Final

1. Stephen Nedoroscik USA – 15.4 (6.7/8.7)
2. Saeedreza Keikha IRI – 15.033 (6.5/8.533)
3. Kohei Kameyama JPN – 14.833 (6.8/8.033)
4. Thierry Pellerin CAN – 14.566 (6.2/8.366)
5. Fu Jie Tan MAS – 13.4 (5.9/7.5)
6. Vladislav Poliashov RUS – 12.333 (5.8/6.833, -0.3)
7. Joshua Nathan GBR – 12.333 (6.8, 5.533)
8. Robert Seligman CRO – DNF

Notes: First, let us start off by saying Nedoroscik’s spirit is infectious, and it is absolutely a joy to watch him compete the upgraded routine he came to perform and do it marvelously. You can tell he’s holding in some serious energy when he salutes the judges, but he is controlled and all business when it gets down to it. After his clean full pirouette dismount, the Penn State gymnast walks off the podium, rips off his glasses, and throw his arms up in the air in celebration. Well deserved 15.4.

Still Rings Final

1. Eleftherios Petrounias GRE – 15.066 (6.3/8.766)
2. Mahdi Ahmad Kohani IRI – 14.5 (6.2/8.3)
3. Ali Zahran EGY – 14.2 (6.2/8.0)
4. Kiu Chung Ng HKG – 14.066 (6.0/8.066)
5. Courtney Tulloch GBR – 13.766 (6.2/7.566)
6. Rick Jacobs NED – 13.266 (5.0/8.266)
7. Devy Dyson NZL – 13.166 (5.3/7.866)
8. Hamza Yilmaz TUR – 12.7 (5.5/7.2)

Notes: Petrounias was in form today and looked like the reigning Olympic champion that he is. His form and control is exceptional, excellent show of strength throughout, and his double double to finish had just a tiny hop on the end. His 15.066 winning score is 0.566 ahead of the competition. This is exactly what he’ll need to do in the remaining two Individual Apparatus World Cups if he wants a shot at qualifying to Tokyo.

In other still rings news, Tulloch struggled in the final, most notably putting his hands down on his full-twisting double layout dismount. That knocked him from the podium, and third-place qualifier Ahmad Kohani stepped up, delivering a solid routine.

Women’s

Vault Final

1. Jade Carey USA – 14.866 (6.0/9.066, -0.1 & 5.4/9.366)
2. Coline Devillard FRA – 14.249 (5.8/8.966 & 5.4/8.433, -0.1)
3. Shoko Miyata JPN – 14.149 (5.4/8.833 & 5.2/8.866)
4. Angelina Radivilova UKR – 13.983 (5.4/8.6 & 5.2/8.766)
5. Tjasa Kysselef SLO – 13.716 (5.0/8.666 & 4.8/8.966)
6. Ahtziri Sandoval MEX – 13.65 (5.6/8.6, -0.1 & 4.4/8.8)
7. Teja Belak SLO – 13.466 (5.4/7.6 & 5.0/8.933)
8. Maria Paseka RUS – 13.233 (5.8/7.633, -0.3 & 4.8/8.533)

Notes: This was Jade Carey’s competition to lose, and as she has throughout this World Cup series, the future Oregon State gymnast secured gold with her Cheng and a beautiful double-twisting Yurchenko. Despite being off on her block for the Cheng, Carey had an excellent outing and will secure a perfect 90 points at the top of the vault standings for Individual Apparatus World Cup series, virtually locking up an individual, nominative birth to Tokyo.

Uneven Bars Final

1. Diana Varinska UKR – 13.733 (5.9/7.833)
2. Georgia Godwin AUS – 13.633 (5.6/8.033)
3. Daria Spiridonova RUS – 13.533 (5.9/7.633)
4. Georgia-Rose Brown AUS – 13.466 (5.8/7.666)
5. Aoka Mori JPN – 13.366 (5.7/7.666)
6. Anastasiia Iliankova RUS – 13.1 (5.9/7.2)
7. Anastasiia Bachynska UKR – 11.566 (5.5/6.066)
8. Kokoro Fukasawa JPN – 10.5 (5.2/5.3)

Notes: After the Russians and Ukrainians qualified 1-2-3-4, the final was far more of a wild ride. First-place qualifier Iliankova came off the bar on her Ezhova, and podium contender Bachynska couldn’t hold on to her stalder full. Bachynska’s teammate Varinska stepped up and put together a beautifully fluid routine, including a killer Shaposh to Pak to Maloney sequence and a WOW Tkatchev half to Jaeger. Slightly off on her final full pirouette, but great full-twisting double back to finish.

Major props to Australia’s Godwin for putting together a great routine and securing a silver medal in front of her home crowd.