with a routine that had six releases (Higgins, Ono,
Markelov-Gienger; toe-on piked Tkatchev; toe-on
Tkatchev with cross-grip catch-barani to low;
Maloney-half), and her reward was a 15.733.
2009 world all-around champion Bridget Sloan
followed, but her 6.2 D-score was . 60 below
Tweddle’s. Her 14.666 would need mistakes from
others to medal.
Mustafina matched Tweddle’s D-score, but if you
need to find a weakness in this accomplished all-around gymnast, it could be her inside-Stalder position (not very deep) and her Tkatchev, which
resembles a slingshot—flat, with no float. Still, her
Maloney-half is dynamic, and her half-in full-out is
just the type of dismount that impresses judges,
even though she stumbled after it here. Perhaps a
bit worn out from her fourth day of competition,
Mustafina was fortunate to receive 15.600 at this
point.
Germany’s Elisabeth Seitz began with an interesting Maloney, back uprise, Stalder-half to Def, but
she missed the regrasp and went splat. After
remounting, she missed a toe-on piked Tkatchev.
Her 10.466 was significantly lower than her
14.966 qualifying score, but the world final experience should pay off eventually.
Romania’s Ana Porgras, who tied for the bars
bronze in 2009, lacked the difficulty here ( 6.2) to
challenge for a medal, but she folds in deep on her
OPPOSITE: American Alicia Sacramone used
clean execution to win the vault gold over top
qualifier Aliya Mustafina, who had the edge in
difficulty.
After both Chinese finalists fell, Great Britain’s
Beth Tweddle won the gold on bars. She also
won in 2006.
Top qualifier Ana Porgras (top) maintained
her rank to win the balance beam title over
defending champion Deng Linlin of China
(above) and American Rebecca Bross (left),
who tied for second.
