THE job’s a good’un. Now there comes the nail-biting wait for the Great Britain men as they cool their heels over the next 36 hours until discovering whether they have made the top eight and secured a place in the team final at the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow.
Being up first in the opening session of qualification was always going to be a tough draw for the six-strong team of Daniel Purvis, Louis Smith, Max Whitlock, Nile Wilson, Kristian Thomas and Brinn Bevan at the SSE Hydro.
There were clearly some early nerves. While Scotland’s Purvis – who was first up for the British contingent – went clean on high bar, Bevan and reigning world all-around silver medallist Whitlock both suffered hard falls.
Bevan looked dazed as he hit the mat and remained on the floor for several heart-stopping moments. He recovered to finish his routine with remarkable panache.
Whitlock also had a fall early in his routine but briskly chalked his hands to remount and stuck the landing.
Wilson appeared untroubled as he produced a stellar routine, thumping a fist to his chest in pride as he exited the apparatus, while Thomas, the quiet workhorse of the team, also pulled off a classy performance to settle the butterflies a tad.
If Whitlock was rattled by his fall on high bar, he certainly didn’t show it going on to produce a top drawer routine on floor with Purvis also looking strong.
Pommel horse maestro Smith demonstrated why he is the reigning European champion and an Olympic silver medallist on this apparatus with a massive score of 15.533.
The ear-splitting screams around the arena that followed his routine were arguably as much testament to his trademark swagger and boy band looks as what is a phenomenal gymnastics prowess.
But Smith – who revealed afterwards he was suffering a throat and sinus infection – is a true performer in every sense of the word.
Whitlock wasn’t far behind with a pommel horse routine that posted 15.266. Confident performances from Wilson and Purvis on rings further bolstered British ambitions.
By this stage it was shaping up to be a tight three-way battle between Purvis, Whitlock and Wilson for the two Great Britain spots in the men’s individual all-around final on Friday.
Vault was also strong with Whitlock and Purvis sitting first and second going into the final rotation. Wilson wasn’t far behind in fourth.
It all rested on parallel bars. Whitlock posted 14.700 while Purvis – with echoes of the performance which saw him become Commonwealth Games champion on this apparatus last summer – scored 15.358. Next up was Wilson who navigated his routine like a boss to garner 15.500.
That was enough to see Purvis post the highest all-around score of the opening session with 88.956. When Wilson’s score flashed up there was incredulous glances then laughter among the Brits as it sunk in that he and Whitlock were tied on 88.365.
With only two Great Britain places available in the individual all-around final the tie-break rule – in which the lowest of the six apparatus scores is dropped for each gymnast – saw Whitlock ranked highest by a mere 0.133 of a mark.
“It was a huge relief because it was very nerve-wracking,” said Purvis. “I’m happy to have gone clean six for six with my routines.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Whitlock. “It was good and everyone in the team is pleased,” he said. “Hopefully that is enough to make the team final and we can go in there with a lot of confidence from what we did today.”
While delighted to finish as one of the top two British men, Whitlock was conscious of Wilson’s disappointment.
“I have spoken to him and he is very happy to come out here, compete at the worlds and put in a good job. He did brilliantly today.”
A croaky sounding Smith, who is receiving antibiotics for a throat and sinus infection, said he was pleased with how his pommel horse went despite being under the weather. He performed a less difficult than usual routine on parallel bars.
“I thought I was going to faint on p-bars,” he said. “I was just happy and relieved to get through my pommel horse routine. The doctor and medical team have been taking care of me.”
He was also satisfied with Great Britain’s overall performance. “We wanted to just do our jobs today and let the judges take care of [the rest],” he said. “There was a few little niggles and mistakes but nothing major.”
The Great Britain team scored 354.417 to top the morning’s rankings but this evening saw Japan – led by five-time world and reigning Olympic all-around gold medallist Kohei Uchimura – usurp that with 358.884 while defending world champions China posted 357.027.
Qualification continues at the SSE Hydro tomorrow with the men’s teams from Ukraine, USA, Canada, Italy, Romania and the Netherlands in action.
The British men must finish in the top eight to claim a spot in Wednesday’s team final and gain that all-important qualification spot for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
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