Canada Defeats Reigning Champs to Win First Commonwealth Games Team Title in 20 Years

Ethan Ikeda, Jordan Carroll, Félix Dolci, William Émard, and René Cournoyer

The Canadian males’s staff placed on a stellar efficiency in Glasgow on Friday evening, profitable this system’s first Commonwealth Games staff gold medal since 2006.

It was a little bit of a shaky begin on pommel horse, although specialist Jordan Carroll pulled by means of them by means of with a large 14.550 – the second-best rating of the day – and as soon as they bought it over with, the remainder of the competitors was clean crusing, with standout performances on rings and vault adopted by principally stellar work throughout the remaining occasions.

Led by Félix Dolci, who din’t rely a single main mistake and topped the all-around {qualifications} with an 81.650, the staff additionally noticed principally constant performances from veterans William Émard and René Cournoyer, whereas newcomer Ethan Ikeda struggled a bit however bought some invaluable expertise and contributed to the pommel horse whole.

Émard needed to battle by means of bizarre errors in his pommels set, however got here again with revenge routines all through the remainder of the night, together with his rings and vault after all at a brilliant excessive stage, however I used to be most impressed with how effectively he got here by means of for the staff on parallel bars and excessive bar, the place he’s usually gotten into his head. Cournoyer had a few falls on excessive bar that the staff sadly needed to rely, however by that time of the competitors the staff had a major sufficient lead, which they had been capable of maintain onto with a stable end on flooring.

The win was particularly vital, because the Canadians had been capable of oust England, the reigning champs. Coming to Glasgow with a mixture of veterans and proficient however younger athletes, England began off with a stellar flooring set, however misses from key pommel horse athletes – notably Joshua Nathan and Alexander Yolshin-Cash – held them again early on and so they weren’t capable of recuperate, particularly after a horrific fall from Gabriel Langton fully modified their momentum within the penultimate rotation.

Langton, making his senior worldwide debut right here at 19, got here into the Commonwealth Games because the reserve athlete, changing an injured Max Whitlock with solely a few week’s discover. He seemed principally good at this time, displaying principally lower-difficulty however in any other case good units and combating a missed component on parallel bars, however then because the lead-off athlete on excessive bar he went for a comparatively easy component – a Tak with a half flip – he didn’t fairly make it to handstand and began turning over the incorrect approach. This occurs on a regular basis with Tak components, and the gymnast often is ready to merely drop down onto the mat, however Langton’s palms slipped giving him no time to react within the air, inflicting him to drop instantly down onto his head.

It was the scariest, most sickening fall I’ve seen in my lifetime, and I’m so glad the cameras on the feed I used to be watching minimize away for privateness whereas the medics attended to him, but in addition grateful that individuals watching different streams or sitting within the area had been capable of inform me that he was aware and transferring his legs and arms, even attempting to take away his grips at one level. Later updates from Team England additionally say that he was chatting with the physician on the hospital, so I hope he’s doing effectively and issues find yourself not being too critical.

Almost as dangerous because the harm itself was the English staff together with the opposite rivals within the area having to attend round whereas the whole area was placed on maintain, a lot of them simply having watched the accident after which have to maneuver on about quarter-hour later with one other contact warmup earlier than getting again to competing. I can’t think about being in that place however the athletes – and the English staff particularly having to go up and subject three extra excessive bar routines – carried out admirably to complete out the day.

Luke Whitehouse, who had stellar routines all day, did nice work in his set as the primary up after Langton, and although he sadly ended up sitting his dismount, Yolshin-Cash and Adam Tobin (who was top-notch all day!) wrapped issues up with pretty hit units to safe the silver medal for England. Though they weren’t capable of battle to convey again one other staff gold, I feel their actual win at this time was getting back from a devastating state of affairs to complete robust collectively.

The battle for bronze gave the impression to be between Australia and Cyprus because the competitors went on, and although Scotland made a last-ditch effort to make themselves part of that battle, the Australians in the end ended up on the rostrum for the primary time since 2010, taking what might be a sketchy rotation for many groups – pommel horse, after all – and doing among the strongest work of the competitors there.

Overall, the day was sort of hit and miss for the Australians, who had some moments of greatness, however then additionally some stunning missteps, together with a fall from pommel horse specialist Tru Hagens (although his routine is so incredible, he nonetheless outscored nearly all of the sphere with a 13.100).

I feel most surprising was two falls for standout Jesse Moore – on excessive bar after which once more on flooring – and I used to be additionally saddened by Ritam Malik sitting his parallel bars dismount after a superb routine. Both of those athletes in any other case did robust work, nevertheless, and had been bolstered by an important day from James Hardy together with a few easy however very clear routines from Ben Foster, who counted hits on flooring and parallel bars to make up for others’ falls on each.

The host nation, Scotland, bought issues began with a flooring rotation that included all hits, albeit with a couple of bobbles right here and there, after which adopted up on pommel horse with the most effective rotation of the day, capped off by a superb routine from star Reuben Ward, who earned a 14.550 to steer the competitors.

Unfortunately, issues fell aside for the blokes on rings, the place they needed to rely a fall after each Hamish Carter and Cameron Lynn sat their dismounts, and the hit routines that counted had been too low-difficulty to make up for the errors. The staff got here again slowly however certainly on vault and parallel bars, after which put collectively a fully sensible excessive bar rotation.

The rotation began off with Lynn competing an important Tak half to Kovacs, adopted by Carter with a caught full-twisting double structure, Ward with a wonderful Liukin after which a Tkachev to Gienger to Endo half, and Connor Sullivan, who caught the whole lot to wrap issues up brilliantly for the blokes. But whereas it seemed like that they had an opportunity on the podium, the Australians had been concurrently too good on pommel horse, and the hosts ended up simply over some extent again from making it. Still, it was a valiant effort and a lot enjoyable to look at, and the blokes improved their rating from fifth place in 2022.

Cyprus ended up ending in fifth place after beginning off robust however ending the day with tough rotations on flooring and pommel horse, although Marios Georgiou was after all notable for doing a little unbelievable work all through the day, particularly together with his caught Yurchenko double full adopted by sensible routines on parallel bars and excessive bar. Rounding out the staff rankings had been Wales in sixth place, India in seventh, and Bangladesh in eighth.

Despite the traumatic expertise for the athletes to kick off that closing rotation, the competitors as a complete was very thrilling to observe with so many moments of pleasure and triumph. I hope Langton is doing okay and is ready to come again robust from this harm and from this expertise.

Rankings from at this time’s competitors are under. We’ll be again brilliant and early tomorrow (5 am ET!) to stay weblog the ladies’s competitors.

TEAM FINAL RANKINGS

1. Canada 241.400
2. England 238.250
3. Australia 235.650
4. Scotland 234.300
5. Cyprus 238.350
6. Wales 227.000
7. India 208.550
8. Bangladesh 161.350

ALL-AROUND QUALIFICATIONS

1. Félix Dolci, Canada, 81.650
2. Marios Georgiou, Cyprus, 80.950
3. Reuben Ward, Scotland, 79.650
4. Adam Tobin, England, 79.650
5. William Émard, Canada, 78.850
6. Luke Whitehouse, England, 78.700
7. Jesse Moore, Australia, 78.150
8. Ritam Malik, Australia, 77.550
9. Cameron Lynn, Scotland, 77.450
10. Hamish Carter, Scotland, 76.500*
11. Elliot Vernon, Wales, 76.350
12. Alexander Niscoveanu, Wales, 74.900
13. Daniel Stoddart, New Zealand, 72.850
14. Benjamin Foster, Australia, 72.450*
15. Jovi Loh, Singapore, 72.400
16. Georgios Angonas, Cyprus, 71.800
17. Tapan Mohanty, India, 71.700
18. Yogeshwar Singh, India, 71.400
19. Kyriakos Markidis, Cyprus, 70.350*
20. Ethan Ikeda, Canada, 70.350*
21. Chane Cumbermack, Trinidad & Tobago, 70.200
22. Clayton Bell, Jamaica, 70.050

R1. Harry Eyres, Isle of Man, 66.550
R2. Justin Spencer, Cayman Islands, 65.100
R3. Daniel McLean, South Africa, 63.600
R4. Asher Pua, Singapore, 62.750

FLOOR QUALIFICATIONS

1. Luke Whitehouse, England, 14.400
2. Félix Dolci, Canada, 13.700
3. René Cournoyer, Canada, 13.500
4. Daniel McLean, South Africa, 13.350
5. Muhammad Sharul Aimy, Malaysia, 13.250
6. Reuben Ward, Scotland, 13.150
7. James Hardy, Australia, 13.150
8. Joshua Nathan, England, 13.100

R1. William Fu-Allen, New Zealand, 13.050
R2. Marios Georgiou, Cyprus, 13.000
R3. Eamon Montgomery, Northern Ireland, 13.000

POMMEL HORSE QUALIFICATIONS

1. Reuben Ward, Scotland, 14.550
2. Jordan Carroll, Canada, 14.550
3. Rhys McClenaghan, Northern Ireland, 14.500
4. Marios Georgiou, Cyprus, 13.650
5. Ritam Malik, Australia, 13.500
6. Jesse Moore, Australia, 13.300
7. Tru Hagens, Australia, 13.100*
8. Cameron Lynn, Scotland, 13.000
9. Adam Tobin, England, 12.950

R1. Joshua Nathan, England, 12.900
R2. Elliot Vernon, Wales, 12.850
R3. Félix Dolci, Canada, 12.750

RINGS QUALIFICATIONS

1. William Émard, Canada, 13.850
2. Adam Tobin, England, 13.400
3. Félix Dolci, Canada, 13.400
4. René Cournoyer, Canada, 13.350*
5. James Hardy, Australia, 13.200
6. Luke Whitehouse, England, 13.150
7. Jesse Moore, Australia, 13.000
8. Sokratis Pilakouris, Cyprus, 12.850
9. Daniel Stoddart, New Zealand, 12.800

R1. Marios Georgiou, Cyprus, 12.750
R2. Swathish Kaitheri Puthalath, India, 12.450
R3. Pavel Karnejenko, Scotland, 12.400

VAULT QUALIFICATIONS

1. Félix Dolci, Canada, 14.100
2. Luke Whitehouse, England, 14.000
3. James Hardy, Australia, 13.775
4. Muhammad Sharul Aimy, Malaysia, 13.725
5. Ewan McAteer, Northern Ireland, 13.650
6. Neofytos Kyriakou, Cyprus, 13.625
7. Kyriakos Markidis, Cyprus, 13.500
8. Clayton Bell, Jamaica, 13.300

R1. Henry Lewis, Wales, 13.150
R2. Yogeshwar Singh, India, 12.600
R3. Connor Sullivan, Scotland, 12.525

PARALLEL BARS QUALIFICATIONS

1. Alexander Yolshin-Cash, England, 14.100
2. Marios Georgiou, Cyprus, 13.800
3. Adam Tobin, England, 13.800
4. William Émard, Canada, 13.650
5. Elliot Vernon, Wales, 13.650
6. Félix Dolci, Canada, 13.550
7. Reuben Ward, England, 13.500
8. Jesse Moore, Australia, 13.500

R1. Georgios Angonas, Cyprus, 13.200
R2. Alexander Niscoveanu, Wales, 13.150
R3. Hamish Carter, Scotland, 13.100

HIGH BAR QUALIFICATIONS

1. Félix Dolci, Canada, 14.250
2. Marios Georgiou, Cyprus, 13.750
3. William Émard, Canada, 13.500
4. Cameron Lynn, Scotland, 13.500
5. Ritam Malik, Australia, 13.450
6. Alexander Yolshin-Cash, England, 13.250
7. Alexander Istock, New Zealand, 13.200
8. Alexander Niscoveanu, Wales, 13.200

R1. Reuben Ward, Scotland, 13.150
R2. Adam Tobin, England, 13.100
R3. Elliot Vernon, Wales, 12.700

*Not eligible to qualify to the ultimate attributable to two-per-country limitations

Article by Lauren Hopkins