Going into action in the first subdivision and then having to start from the beam as well, he asks for trouble. Those problems have also arisen for Belgian women. Nina Derwael fell off the beam and this immediately set the tone for a difficult evening.
After Derwael, Verkest and Brassart also lost their balance on the beam. Lisa Vaelen’s jump brought improvements, but Vaelen of all people got it wrong on the bridge with uneven bars.
There Derwael showed that he did not lose his class. The Olympic champion was able to manage stress and get the best bridge score. Because she was able to keep up with all the American women, the bridge final appears to be for Derwael.
The team final and the ticket for the World Cup in Antwerp next year are not certain yet. We will have to wait and see if the score of 156.063 is enough for the top 8. We will only know on Sunday evening when all the other nations have completed their qualifiers.
It was not a completely satisfied Nina Derwael talking to our Inge Van Meensel after qualifying. “I’m not going to swear on TV, but I feel really bad for that bar. The final was there too, so I have no other words for that.”
“It’s stupid to start qualifying like that, I feel like I’ve let my teammates down. I put the rest in an ambitious situation and that sucks. My nerves were fine, but I lack the race pace and I noticed it today “.
The team final is far from certain. “You really don’t know anything,” Derwael says. “We did our job, what happened, happened. Others still have to do gymnastics and anything can happen there. Now it’s just a matter of waiting anxiously.”
Lisa Vaelen must hope that her bridge mistake won’t cost her a ticket to the all-round individual final. “It will be tight and it will depend on the rest,” says the future lady of Belgian gymnastics. “I also hope that we can make it to the team final so that we can correct our mistakes and show what we can really do.”
