© From our reporter Marc Cornelissen in Cottbus
Nina Derwael and Erika Pinxten secured the final on beam during the World Cup gymnastics event in Cottbus, Germany, on Friday.
Derwael finished third in the qualifications with a score of 13.700. With this she improved on her score of 13.630 from last week in the final in Cairo. That was enough for gold.
Erika Pinxten finished joint fifth in the qualifications with 13,333 points. The Chinese Yaqin Zhou (14,533 pts) was the best. The beam final will take place on Sunday.
Erika Pinxten also performed the qualifications for the floor exercise on Friday. She finished eleventh, with 12,733 points. Only the top eight advanced to the final. Here too, the Chinese Zhou (13,600 pts) was the best.
© AFP
Among the men, Noah Kuavita finished nineteenth in the qualifications on the high bar. He reached 13,600 points. Taiwanese Chia-Hung Tang (14,600 pts) achieved the best score.
On Thursday, Maellyse Brassart already qualified for Saturday’s bridge final.
For Nina Derwael, the World Cup in Cottbus is her second competition of the season. On her return last weekend, she immediately won gold on beam during the World Cup round in Cairo, ahead of Pinxten. Cairo was Derwael’s first competition in 472 days. The 23-year-old from Limburg underwent shoulder surgery in September. A month later she had to forfeit the World Cup in her own country, in Antwerp. The Olympic champion on the uneven bars still has to punch her ticket for the Olympic Games in Paris.
After the four World Cup events this spring (Cairo, Cottbus, Baku and Doha), the two best gymnasts who have not yet qualified on each of the four apparatus will earn an individual ticket for the Games. Then there is one last chance for qualification during the European Championships in Rimini, Italy (May 2-5).