It’s looking that way so far, after Nate hit a BIG 7.1 Horizontal Bar routine last night
… Gafuik placed first in three of six events for a total score of 85.300 points to claim his second Canadian all around title in the last three years. …
… took a huge step towards clinching the highly-coveted Olympic men’s berth with one of the most difficult high bar routines in the world.
Gafuik’s high flying routine was awarded 15.300 points, a score that would have placed him fourth in the event at the 2011 world championships.
“When I saw the score it there was a huge sigh of relief,” said Gafuik, a 10-year national team veteran and two-time Olympian. …
Gafuik and others in the running have four meets, including the Canadian championships, to earn a score in an individual event that would have put them in a final at the most recent world championships last October in Tokyo. The gymnast with the highest ranking among those that meet the standard wins the Olympic berth. So far only Gafuik has met the standard with the two final selection meets coming up next month in Europe. …
The veteran looked great tonight. He easily won the all-around in a competition where the guys were trying the maximum start scores on their best apparatus. (25 competitors)
1. 85.30 Nathan Gafuik AB
2. 83.75 Jayd Lukenchuk SK
3. 81.95 Robert Watson BC
4. 80.55 Anderson Loran SK
5. 79.75 Tariq Dowers ON
6. 79.00 Hugh Smith NS
Talk is that Nate will be awarded the sole Men’s Olympic spot for Canada.
His 7.1 start on H Bar scored 15.30. That would rank him higher than any other Canadian man on any apparatus.
… Still, there are several World Cup meets left where Canadian men can try to top Nathan’s ranking on Horizontal Bar. Nothing’s been decided yet. Good luck to the rest of the guys at those events.
Hugh Smith is the first Canadian to compete Tsukahara with 3/1 twist (7.0) … but fell on landing. He was trying to make a claim on the Olympic berth.
Scott Morgan won Floor 6.2 / 14.30 and Rings 6.5 / 13.80
Ken Ikeda won Pommels 6.0 / 14.65
Nate won Vault, P Bars and Horizontal Bar. But Jayd had a 6.90 start on pipe. Anderson and Jackson Payne a 6.80.
… It’s not actually necessary to use the “Chinese” tap for Bar dismounts. Old timers like me recall the days before the 1985 World Championships when Tong Fei popularized it.
