The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsGreat Britain have ended the Gymnastic World Championships in fifth place in the medals table after a collection of excellent team and individual performances. The team won five medals in all, including one gold.
Britain performed well in both team events, with the men and women’s teams both collecting medals. The men won silver after finishing above China in the rankings, while the women claimed a bronze medal by finishing behind the USA and China. The two medals show the strength in depth that British gymnastics currently has and both the men and women’s teams look in good shape ahead of the Rio Olympics next year.
Max Whitlock and Louis Smith finished first and second respectively in the Pommel Horse. Smith recorded a score of 16.033, a score which would usually be enough to claim gold. However, Whitlock produced a faultless routine to earn a score of 16.133 and take the gold medal. Both men will be key members of the team in Rio next year and while Whitlock came out on top this time, Smith will be keen to add to his Olympic medal collection next year.
Whitlock also earned a silver medal for his performance on the Floor. He was narrowly beaten into second place by Kenzo Shirai of Japan, but his medal will come as a bonus as he was not expected to perform as well as he did in the discipline.
While the women were unable to pick up any indiviudual medals, Ellie Downey came fourth in the Vault and will be confident of earning a medal at next year’s Olympics. She finished less than a point behind Simone Biles, who claimed third place.
The performance of the British gymnastic team has been improving over recent years, and the strong performance at this year’s World Championship has put Britain amoung the elite in the sport. While the team will have plenty of hard work to do in order to be successful next year, the foundations are in place for a golden era in British Gymnastics.
