Liverpool: The US women’s team clinched their sixth consecutive world team title in style at the 51st Artistic Gymnastics World Championships on Tuesday.
The U.S. team have also secured their spot in the event at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, along with Britain and Canada who finished second and third respectively.
“Just taking it day by day in the gym. We’re all capable of doing big things and more,” said first-time world champion American Shilese Jones, who also qualified for the all-around and uneven bars finals. “I’m super proud and I know we’ll be able to hit something big in 2024.”
China, whose athletes have been struggling to find their form during the preparation, placed sixth with 157.529 points, the same ranking as they had had in the qualification, Xinhua reports.
“We didn’t performed well since the beginning and the girls were nervous all through the final,” said coach Wang Liming. “We didn’t have good preparation and the girls’ fitness is not at the top level.”
Without legendary Simone Biles and the Olympic all-around champion Sunisa Lee, the U.S. were still hot favourites to win the team event.
Led by Jade Carey, Olympic champion in the floor exercise, the American girls collected 167.263 points from Saturday’s qualification and no team managed to earn more after Sunday’s competition.
In the final on Tuesday, the U.S. team started their campaign from the vault and claimed 43.133 points, the highest of all events from all of the eight teams in the evening.
The Tokyo Olympic runners-up collected 166.564 points in total, 3.201 points ahead of hosts Britain, who achieved their best ever results in the women’s team event at the World Championships. Canada earned 160.563 points in third place.
The eight teams in the final have also qualified for next year’s World Championships, and more Olympic berths will be booked in that tournament.
Wang said that China needs new faces for major competitions.
“Most athletes in our team have competed in several big events in recent years. We would love to see them to extend their careers as long as possible but we also need new blood to join the squad. They will have more potential and enhance the team’s motivation,” Wang said.
–IANS
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