Gymnastics: China’s Wei Xiaoyuan retains bars title as McClenaghan wins Ireland’s first world gold
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Xiaoyuan Wei of China performs on the parallel bars in the women's Apparatus Finals in Britain on Nov 5, 2022.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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LIVERPOOL – China’s Wei Xiaoyuan retained the uneven bars title at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool on Saturday against a high-class field which included Olympic champion Nina Derwael.
Many leading competitors were absent when Wei, now 18, triumphed in Kitakyushu, Japan, in 2021.
But she proved that that success was no fluke as she inflicted Belgian star Derwael’s first defeat at a world championships since 2017.
Wei gave China their first women’s gold medal in Liverpool with a winning score of 14.966, ahead of American Shilese Jones, the all-around silver medallist (14.766) and Derwael (14.700).
“I am super happy, especially that I managed to stick my dismount today,” said Wei.
“Defending the title will boost my confidence for the whole of the Paris Olympic cycle.
“I have high hopes of winning gold again in Paris 2024.”
In the men’s competition, 23-year-old Rhys McClenaghan won Ireland’s first world gymnastics gold by taking the pommel horse title three years after his bronze in Stuttgart.
“This has been a long time coming,” he said. “It has been a difficult year but I’m glad I could finish it off with my greatest achievement ever.”
Rhys McClenaghan of Ireland on the pommel horse at the 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships on Nov 5, 2022.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Ahmad Abu Al Soud’s silver was Jordan’s first of any colour at a world meet while 38-year-old Armenian Harutyun Merdinyan became the oldest medallist in the competition’s history by taking the bronze.
Britain’s Giarnni Regini-Moran, 24, put years of injury misery behind him by winning the men’s floor gold medal.
As a 17-year-old, he had major surgery after damaging knee ligaments in a training accident.
Giarnni Regini-Moran performing in the men’s Apparatus Finals at the 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships on Nov 5, 2022.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
But on Saturday, he became only the fourth British artistic gymnast after Beth Tweddle, Max Whitlock and Joe Fraser to win a world title.
Regini-Moran’s score of 14.533 was just enough to edge out Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto, the all-around winner on Friday, by 0.033. The second Japanese, Ryosuke Doi (14.266), claimed the bronze.
“I’m lost for words,” said Regini-Moran, the son of an Irish father and Italian mother. “There were so many times when I almost gave up and threw in the towel.
“I lost that self-belief – you can let this stuff get you down and be negative about it, but you have to believe in yourself.” AFP
