Anaheim: Reports

Men's High Bar Final

Alexander Jeltkov: Layout Kovacs; Rybalko immediate hop 1.5 twist, immediate hop to Healey; Higgins roll to full pirouette (fall); Layout double-double (stuck). 9.187

Not his best routine, but team Canada sure has a lot to be proud of this week. Both the men's and women's program have really risen to the occasion and raised more than a few eye-brows in Anaheim.

Men's Vaulting Final

Kyle Shewfelt:

Vault One: Layout Yurchenko with 2.5 twists, tiny hop. Beautiful vault, and lands dead center in front of the vaulting table. Great technique. 9.650 (9.9 SV)

Vault Two: Layout Kasamatsu with 1.5 twists, with a step on the landing. Fantastic and strong second vault. 9.575 (9.9 SV)

Average Score (total): 9.612

Kyle Shewfelt has just won his second bronze medal of the 2003 World Gymnastics Championships! He is the first Canadian, man or woman, to win multiple medals in a single world championships!

Alexander Jeltkov will be performing on the high bar later on in the event finals today.

Men's Floor Exercise

Kyle Shewfelt's BRONZE MEDAL winning floor exercise!

Whip-1 1/2, punch front full, Rudi (stuck cold); 2 1/2 twist, front layout, punch front 1 3/4 (incredible amplitude and form); full-twisting back handspring to prone (crowd loved that!); roundoff, layout arabian, jump full twist to prone (unique, more applause!); double-double dismount in an open tuck position, with a tiny hop. The crowd just loved Kyle's routine, and gave him a tremendous ovation! Kyle waved to the crowd, showing his appreciation. Excellent routine. 9.737 (10 SV)

Final Results:

1. Paul Hamm (USA) 9.762

1. Jordan Jovtchev (BUL) 9.762

3. Kyle Shewfelt (CAN) 9.737

4. Diego Hypolito (BRA) 9.662

4. Marian Dragulescu (ROM) 9.662

6. Igors Vihrovs (LAT) 9.612

7. Robert Gal (HUN) 9.487

8. Ng Shu Wai (MAS) 9.475

Kylie Stone: (Uneven Bars) Healy immediate Jaeger; tucked double front dismount (small hop). Hit her routine. Great start! 8.900 (9.5 SV)

Rotation Two: (Balance Beam) 1-arm FF, layout; switch side-half, side-somi; 2 FFs to tucked double. Totally nailed everything! The best routine she's done. The judges were tough on her, giving her only 9.012 (9.8 SV). Really excellent routine!!!

Rotation Three: (Floor Exercise) Full-in; arabian double front (slightly over-rotated); and whip thru to piked double back. Another fantastic set for Kylie! 9.175 (9.9 SV)

Rotation Four: (Vault) Khorkina. 9.162 (9.7 SV) Excellent vault! So far, with the fourth rotation to finish up, Kylie's total is 36.249! Great job!!

1. Khorkina, Svetlana (Russia) (38.124)
2. Patterson, Carly (United States) (37.936)
3. Zhang, Nan (China) (36.736)
4. Yarotska, Irina (Ukraine) (37.311)
5. Gomez, Elena (Spain) (37.286)
6. Ban, Oana (Romania) (37.262)
7. Kang, Xin (China) (37.162)
8t. Memmel, Chellsie (United States) and Kozich, Alina (Ukraine) (36.974)
10. Pavlova, Anna (Russia) (36.737)
11. Lepennec, Emilie (France) (36.499)
12. Russo, Monette (Australia) (36.386)
13. Slater, Allana (Australia) (36.362)
14. Stone, Kylie (Canada)(36.249)
15. Munteanu, Andreea (Romania) (36.074)

Rotation One:
Alexander Jeltkov: (Rings) Inverted cross; Guczoghy; full-twisitng double back. 8.512
David Kikuchi: (Vault) Layout Yurchenko with 1.5 twists. One step on the landing. Good start. 9.112 (9.5 SV)

Rotation Two:
Alexander Jeltkov: (Vault) Double twisting Yurchenko. Big step forward. 9.312 (9.7 SV)
David Kikuchi: (Parallel Bars) Peach (form break), giant to double back; piked double back (stuck). 8.950

Rotation Three:
Alexander Jeltkov: (Parallel Bars) Peach to Bilozerchev; Fall on straddle glide on the side; Healey twirl (from one bar) to Healey twirl (extra swing); piked double back. 7.950.
David Kikuchi: (High Bar) Layout Voronin; inside Endo to immediate Healey, hop to Healey; Piked double fron half-out dismount (stuck, to loud cheers from the audience). 9.062.

Rotation Four:
David Kikuchi: (Floor Exercise) 2 1/2 twist, punch front; 1 1/2 twist, front layout; double full. 8.525.
Alexander Jeltkov: (High Bar) Layout Kovacs; Rybalko (fall); hop 1.5 twist immediate hop to Healey; stuck his layout double-double. 8.637.

Rotation Five:
David Kikuchi: (Pommel Horse) Magyar to Zivado travel, really excellent lines and form. Great routine! 9.425.
Alexander Jeltkov: (Floor Exercise) 2 1/2 twist, front, front-full; 1 1/2 twist, punch layout, punch front 1 3/4; good routine to bounce back with. 9.262.

Rotation Six:
David Kikuchi: (Rings) uprise to Maltese to bounce cross; pull to Maltese; 1/2 in 1/2 out tucked. 9.350.
Alexander Jeltkov: (Pommel Horse) Tong Fei travel, flairs to pirouette dismount. 8.625.

Final Results:
1. Paul Hamm (USA) 57.774
2. Yang Wei (CHN) 57.710
3. Hiroyuki Tomita (JPN) 57.435
4. Yernar Yerimbetov (KAZ) 57.286
5. Eric Lopez Rios (CUB) 56.611

20. David Kikuchi (CAN) 54.424
22. Alexander Jeltkov (CAN) 52.298

VAULT
The team looks very confident and sharp, and they really attacked the first event, vault.
Kylie Stone: One step on a Khorkina vault. 9.050 (9.7 SV)
Melanie Banville: Layout Yurchenko with 1.5 twists, step to the side. 9.087 (9.7 SV)
Heather Purnell: Layout Yurchenko with 1.5 twists, with very small hop. 9.225 (9.7 SV)
Richelle Simpson: Explosive layout Yurchenko with 1.5 twist, large step forward. 9.125 (9.7 SV)
Amelie Plante: Competing this vault for the first time, Amelie nailed her handspring piked front with half twist for a 9.050 (9.6 SV).

UNEVEN BARS
Kylie Stone: Healy immediate Jaeger; tucked double front dismount, with one small step. 8.875 (9.5 SV)
Heather Purnell: Full-twisting giant to Gienger; giant full to overshoot-half (a bit off, which made her toe-on to high bar a bit close, but she moved right out of it); and she stuck her full-twisting double back! She saved that routine very well. 8.850 (9.4 SV)
Melanie Banville: Giant-full immediate Tkatchev; accidentally ended up doing a giant-DOUBLE-full (Zharganova), but fit it into her routine without a hitch; nailed her transitions and a perfectly stuck double layout. 9.062 (9.7 SV)
Lydia Williams: Saved a crooked stalder-full; great Jaeger; down on the low bar, she had to cover and do an extra sole-circle, which decreased her start value by .10; great giant-full immediate Tkatchev; good tucked double front with small step. 8.837 (9.4 SV)
Amelie Plante: Gorgeous routine. Caught her Def with ease, great Gienger, and nailed her double layout dismount. The judges are tough in these early sessions, and gave Amelie a 9.200 (9.8 SV). It was a fantastic routine.

Notes: So far, the Canadian women have faced the pressure well, hitting 10 routines out of 10. Next up: Balance Beam!

BALANCE BEAM:
Richelle Simpson: Great start for Canada with a FF, layout, layout; good split jump-half to 1-arm FF; solid puch front and a RO, tucked double dismount with a small step. 8.700 (9.4 SV)
Melanie Banville: Melanie had a tough time on beam, suffering falls on her FF, layout and on her punch front. Nailed the rest, though. 7.775
Kylie Stone: 1-arm FF, layout; switch side-half, side-somi; 2 FFs to tucked double. Really hit her routine well! 9.100 (9.8 SV)
Lydia Williams: Lydia also had a hard time with the beam tonight. She came off on her new combination of 1-arm FF, layout, and spun-off the beam on her illusion. She showed a fabulous double turn under the pressure, and was solid the rest of the way. 8.075.
Heather Purnell: Front aerial, switch leap full twist; great front tuck; slipped off on her FF, layout; great front full dismount. 8.250.

News: Despite having breaks, the girls never watered-down and kept barreling through their routines, never holding back. They are focused and ready for floor exercise!

FLOOR EXERCISE:
Lydia Williams: 8.637 (9.4 SV) Layout front-full, punch tucked front-full; good 2.5 twist for last pass. Good start.
Kylie Stone: 9.187 (9.9 SV) Hit all of her tumbling! Full-in; arabian double front; and whip thru to piked double back.
Heather Purnell: 9.112 (9.8 SV) Again, another hit routine! Piked full-in; front-full immediate front-full; double pike.
Melanie Banville: 8.862 (9.6 SV) Piked full-in (great!); 1.5 twist thru to triple twist (a bit short); and closed with a solid piked double.
Richelle Simpson: 8.800 (9.8 SV) Awesome double layout; great front-double full; got a bit tired at the end of the routine and had to put her hands down on her whip thru to double pike.

Notes: Canada's team total is 142.560, a nice start for the first session. They are definitely in the hunt for Athens! Also some good news: Amelie Plante appeared to have injured her knee in warm-ups for floor exercise, but is walking around now. She seems to be OK!

PARALLEL BARS
Canada looks HOT! Extremely focused as they blasted through their first rotation, parallel bars.
Ken Ikeda: 9.012 (9.5 SV) Giant-Diamidov, Tippelt; peach to Bilozerchev; stuck piked double back.
Alexander Jeltkov: 9.325 (9.7 SV) Peach to Bilozerchev; Healey twirl (from one bar) to Healey twirl; stuck pike double back.
David Kikuchi: 9.012 (9.4 SV) Peach, giant to double back; stuck piked double back.
Richard Ikeda: 8.725 (9.4 SV) Peach to Tippelt; Bilozerchev; stuck piked double back.
Grant Golding: 8.987 (9.5 SV) Giant-Diamidov to double back; swing double back; piked double back (small hop forward).
Up next: Horizontal Bar!

HIGH BAR
Ken Ikeda: 8.787 (9.4 SV) Kovacs (but had form break on giant swing out of it); stuck his layout double-double.
David Kikuchi: 9.012 (9.5 SV) Layout Voronin; inside Endo to immediate Healey, hop to Healey; Piked double fron half-out dismount.
Richard Ikeda: 8.350 Major form break after his 1.5 twisting hop; layout Tkatchev (got a bit off on his giants, and had to re-cast) slightly tucked down his layout double-double.
Kyle Shewfelt: 9.287 (9.70 SV) Inside Stalder (exquisite form and extension) to immediate Def; inside Endo immediate Healey immediate Healey; stuck layout double-double.
Alexander Jeltkov: 9.650 (10 SV) Layout Kovacs; Rybalko immediate hop 1.5 twist, immediate hop to Healey; tiny hop on layout double-double. His 9.650 moves him into very good contention for event finals.
Next up, floor exercise!

FLOOR EXERCISE
Ken Ikeda: 8.400 - double-twisting front, punch front; Rudi-whip; double tuck
David Kikuchi: 8.587 - 2 1/2 twist, punch front; 1 1/2 twist, front layout; double full
Alexander Jeltkov: 9.325 - 2 1/2 twist, front, front-full; 1 1/2 twist, punch layout, punch front 1 3/4;
Grant Golding: 9.325 - Best routine of his life! Front double-full, punch front, punch front-full; whip, 1 1/2, Rudi; 2 1/2 twist, punch front layout barani, stuck!
Kyle Shewfelt: 9.687 - Looks like the highest score of the day on floor! Whip-1 1/2, punch front full, Rudi; 2 1/2 twist, front layout, punch front 1 3/4; full-twisting back handspring to prone (interesting!); roundoff, layout arabian, jump full twist to prone (crowd went wild!); nailed double-double dismount in an open tuck position... amazing!! Crowd's favorite so far!

After three rotations, the Candian men have counted only one score under 9.0 on each event, and Alexander Jeltkov (high bar) and Kyle Shewfelt (floor) look to be in contention to make event finals.

POMMEL HORSE
Grant Golding: 7.675 - fell twice on Magyar travels
Alexander Jeltkov: 8.737 - Tong Fei travel, flairs to pirouette dismount, good routine
David Kikuchi: 9.362 - very clean lines; Magyar to Zivado travel, great one pommel work to dismount - NAILED routine.
Richard Ikeda: 8.862 - Excellent scissors, great travels, had to muscle the dismount.
Ken Ikeda: 9.412 - single pommel work to Russians on the end; Russians into his dismount. Terrific routine!

RINGS
Alexander Jeltkov: 8.487 - inverted cross, Guczoghy, 1/2 in 1/2 out tucked.
Richard Ikeda: 8.712 - Maltese, bounce cross; Maltese; tucked 1/2 in 1/2 out.
Grant Golding: 9.575 - uprise to Maltese to bounce cross; pull to Maltese; 1/2 in 1/2 out tucked.
David Kikuchi: 9.437 - uprise to Maltese, press to inverted cross, lower to maltese; stuck double layout dismount!
Kyle Shewfelt: 8.400 - L-cross; stuck double double.

Canada has shown amazing improvement on rings. They are still in third place overall, with a 182.580 team total.

VAULT
Ken Ikeda: 9.400 (9.7 SV) double-twisting Yurchenko with one step.
David Kikuchi: 9.275 - Yurchenko 1 1/2 stuck!
Grant Golding: 9.400 (9.7 SV) Kasamatsu full.
Alexander Jeltkov: 9.475 (9.7 SV) double-twisting Yurchenko with one hop.
Kyle Shewfelt: 9.762 for an absolutely nailed Yurchenko 2 1/2; did a second vault of a Kasamatsu 1 1/2, and scored a 9.500.

Final results (after 4 subdivisions): Japan 1st, Romania 2nd, Canada 3rd (team score of 220.617!). This was the best Canadian team performance in world championship history. Ken Ikeda was a hero today! The team is elated.

Many thanks to Matt Esler of worldgymrank.com who helped pass these notes along during the blackout!

Melanie Banville: Nice layout yurchenko 1.5 twist, very solid
Gael Mackie: NO VAULT (heels wrapped heavily)
Amelie Plante: Showed new vault, front handspring front pike with half twist (done like a pro)
Heather Purnell: Solid layout yurchenko 1.5 twist
Richelle Simpson: Very high layout yurchenko 1.5 twist, nailed all of them, improved consistency
Kylie Stone: Showed both Khorkina and Luconi vaults, no problems
Lydia Williams: Pike Luconi, but close to the vaulting table

Melanie Banville: had some small problems on mount sequence, improvised on pirouettes but covered well; giant 1.5 pirouette to overshoot handstand (nailed every time), superb double layout
Gael Mackie: Exercise went smoothely, but only dismounted with piked double flyaway
Amelie Plante: went 50/50 on her Defs (did 4, caught 2) took out freehip full (now SV is 9.8) made all of her pirouettes just fine.
Heather Purnell: All of her transitions were excellent, giant-full to Gienger (good), nice pirouettes.
Richelle Simpson: NO BARS
Kylie Stone: solid mount of jump to handstand pirouette to Ray transition, no problems with rest of routine
Lydia Williams: Had some struggles with the stalder full pirouette, rest of the routine swung well, and had minor problems with double front (short).

Melanie Banville: Switch-side half, improved flexibility on ALL leaps and jumps, stuck 2.5 twist dismount. No falls.
Gael Mackie: Arabian tic-toc looked great (but not connected with the jump following it), 1-arm FF, layout step-out (fall); usual flexibility was good, leaps are much improved also; watered down dismount to double twist (again, the heels) remonuted at end of rotation and nailed the 1-arm FF, layout stepout.
Amelie Plante: Had some small wobbles on RO, layout (2 feet) and on wolf-full; stuck the punch front; no falls.
Heather Purnell: open front pike mount (fall); much improved swith-ring leap; wolf 1.5 twist (hopefull will get it named after her); split jump full (fall); at end of rotation, repeated missed elements and stuck them all.
Richelle Simpson: FF, layout (no second layout) nailed; all of her connections were smooth and solid; good tucked double; at end of rotation, did FF, layout, layout and stuck it. No falls.
Kylie Stone: Really improved, tight form and excellent leap extension; great FF, FF, tucked double salto dismount. No falls.
Lydia Williams: great Flairs mount; 1-arm FF, back tuck (stuck it cold); tour jete 1/2 (solid); nailed illusion; punch front (fall); effortless double turn; rudi dismount was fine.
General notes from beam: each girl took a warm-up on the beam, and then did routines one right after the other. Every girl that fell on a skill, got up and repeated it successfully, except for Lydia.

Melanie Banville: mounted with good piked full-in; 1.5 twist thru to triple twist (good); really improved _expression and extension; well rotated piked double dismount.
Gael Mackie: small stumble on piked full-in mount; whip, whip, FF, FF, 2.5 twist (good); smiled and enjoyed middle section of routine, nice presentation; triple twist dismount (short).
Amelie Plante: mounted with arabian double front (excellent); piked full-in (beautiful form, legs together); whip to double full; ended with piked double (great). She looked very relaxed.
Heather Purnell: piked full-in; front layout full, front full; nice triple turn; very good piked double to close.
Richelle Simpson: excellent double layout (nailed every single time); great front double-full; teriffic double turn with leg horizontal (perfect); excellent 2-whips thru to piked double dismount. The crowd clapped along to her routine, and cheered when she finished. Really sold that routine!
Kylie Stone: stuck full-in mount; arabian double front (stuck); whip to double pike (hands down). Did a great job completing all of the dance and jumps for full credit.
Lydia Williams: front layout full, punch front tucked full; piked double (out of bounds); rest of the routine went withou a hitch.
General floor exercise notes: all of the piked full-ins performed were excellent, great technique and form. All girls that had small tumbling problems repeated skills, with much improved results. Good routines by all.