Derwael wins Belgium first ever Gymnastics medal at World Championships

Belgium’s Nina Derwael made history at the 48^th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Friday night. The 18-year old put up a great routine during the uneven bars event final to finish with the gold at the Aspire Dome. It was the first time Belgium had a gymnast win a medal in the sport. American Simone Biles secured another medal winning silver and Germany’s Elisabeth Seitz holding the bronze.

Biles competes in what she considers as her favorite apparatus but would have some friendly competition as Morgan Hurd qualified for the event final as well. Rebecca Downie of Great Britain was the first to go up starting with a great routine before it all came apart. During a difficult combination, Downie stalled on the high bar before bailing off to walk and chalk up. She finished things with a great dismount but knew that it wouldn’t help compete for a medal.

The 17-year-old American went next and fired up the crowd with a very good routine that included a full pirouette before dismounting with a double tumble before landing where she took two steps after landing. Despite the small misstep, she got a 14.433 that set the pace for the six remaining competitors. Huan Luo took the lead with a 14.500 having a great release which saw her flip far from the high bar landing cleanly.

Seitz continued to change up the top of the leaderboard where her routine that had a 6.2 difficulty value earned her a spot in first with a 14.6. Derwael was back to show her skills on the apparatus after having the best score at the all-around Thursday. With a lot of skills in her combinational movements, the Belgian finished it with a terrific dismount to earn a 15.2.

Biles and Mustafina were left to go with the 21-year-old American going first. Biles had another tremendous routine and dismounted with a small hop that got her a 14.7 that put her in second place. Derwael would secure Belgium’s first gymnastics medal but would wait to see where the Russian would finish. Mustafina had no errors and a perfect dismount. With her difficulty not as high as the Belgian, she earned a 14.433 that would deny her a consecutive medal on her strongest event.

Biles captured her 21^st world championship medal in gymnastics surpassing Svetlana Khorkina to become the all-time winningest women’s gymnast. With two more event finals to go, the 21-year-old could come close to being the only gymnast to win the most world medals ever.