FIG:
Armenian gymnasts lead the standings in three events after the qualifying round of competition at the Doha World Cup Wednesday in Qatar’s capital city.
Exceptional form and high start values propelled Harutyun Merdinyan (Pommel Horse, 15.45), Artur Tovmasyan (Still Rings, 15.75) and Artur Davtyan (Men’s Vault, 15.175 average) to the top of the leaderboard going into Thursday and Friday’s final rounds.
2013 World Floor champion Kenzo Shirai used his Worlds routine — including eye-popping quadruple twist dismount — to post the highest score of the entire meet so far (15.85).
Meanwhile, Japan’s Yusuke Saito also had a banner day, with the best mark on Horizontal Bar (15.550), surprising Olympic champion Epke Zonderland (NED), who was second …
Romania’s Larisa Iordache looked strong on three events, hitting her notoriously difficult Beam routine for 15.0 (6.4 D-score) to take the lead. Though she struggled on Uneven Bars (11.65), Iordache was also the top qualifier on Floor Exercise (14.55) …
Surprises included Singapore’s Ashly Wei-Ning Lau, who qualified third for the Beam final (14.15), and New Zealand’s Courtney McGregor, who became the first woman from her country to land a double-twisting Yurchenko Vault. McGregor qualified second for the Vault final (13.95 average), while teammate Charlotte Sullivan sits fifth in the standings on Floor (13.2). …
Gymnastics Coaching.com 