Britain's Whitlock, Russian women join Glasgow gold medal rush

Max Whitlock joined the gold medal rush in Glasgow on Saturday giving hosts Britain their first ever men's world title as four gymnasts shared the uneven bars title.

Whitlock continued Britain's strong showing in the Hyrdo Arena by winning the pommel horse ahead of teammate Louis Smith, with Russia's women winning three gold medals.

The 22-year-old Whitlock scored 16.133 points, finishing 0.1 points ahead of Smith with Armenia's Harutyun Merdinyan and Kazuma Kaya of Japan sharing bronze.

It was Whitlock's third medal of the championships after team silver this week and the runner-up spot on the floor earlier Saturday behind Japan's Kenzo Shirai.

"I had dreamed of this moment but never felt I would get emotional," said Whitlock.
"I can't believe it. I trained in the gym thousands and thousands of routines building up to this moment, so when you go clean like I did today, you can't express what you feel. I'm over the moon.

"It's been an amazing journey."

There was more drama following a four-way tie on uneven bars -- China's Fan Yilin, Russian duo Viktoriia Komova and Daria Spiridonova and American Madison Kocian all scoring 15.366 points.

It is the first time that four athletes have shared the world title, only surpassed by five who shared parallel bars silver medal back in 1922.

No silver or bronze was awarded with America's Gabrielle Douglas, the all-around silver medallist, finishing next best as fifth, scoring 15.133, in the eight woman field.

"It's definitely crazy," said Kocian of her third world gold after defending the team title with the United States.

"I wasn't sure if they were going to do a tie-breaker but I knew my execution would be a little better based on qualifications, so I knew either way I was going to have a medal," added the 18-year-old who returned to competition after wrist surgery last year.

Earlier Shirai stole the show on the floor in the first rotation of the penultimate day of competition, reclaiming the title he won in 2013.
The 19-year-old finished off with his trademark quadruple twist to score 16.233, edging Whitlock by 0.667 with Spain's Rayderley Miguel Zapata Santana taking bronze.

"I was quite confident when I went on the floor," said Shirai who also won team gold with Japan.

"As I have experienced defeat last year, I know the importance to keep improving. This time I think I was able to surprise everyone with my difficulty."

Shirai won floor silver in 2014 behind Russia's Denis Abliazin who was not competing in Glasgow.

"It was my first world floor final and I won a silver, so I'm very happy to come second to Kenzo Shirai who is a brilliant floor worker," said Whitlock.

China's men's team are still still waiting for their first gold in Glasgow with defending rings champion Liu Yang taking bronze on the apparatus behind Greece's Eleftherios Petrounias who won gold with You Hao winning silver.

-- Bronze for Biles --
US star Simone Biles however failed to add to her gold medal tally, finishing third in the vault behind Russia's Maria Paseka.

Paseka, 20, scored 15.666 after two jumps to take her first world gold ahead of defending champion Hong Un Jong of North Korea (15.533).

Biles, who won a record third all-around gold and the team title this week, had to settle for bronze (15.541).

It was Russia's third gold of the championships after placing fourth in the team final.

"I was sad about Russia's results," said Paseka.

"We came here for a (team) medal, but everyone is very surprised with the amount of mistakes made in the team," she said.
The 18-year-old Biles had lead the way in qualifying, pulling out an impressive 15.900 in the first of her two vaults but the 2013 and 2014 silver medallist lowered the difficulty of her second.

"That was the plan since I started training for worlds, because my second vault, which is my more difficult vault, wasn't ready yet," said Biles.

"Marta (Karolyi, USA team coordinator) said, 'It's fine, just do what you can do and see what happens.' So it’s just an honour that I even got on the podium today.”

It was Biles' 12th world medal and she could add to her tally in Sunday's women's beam and floor finals, with the final day of competition also seeing the men's vault, parallel bars and high bar finals.

Source: AFP