Olympic champion Nina Derwael secures Olympic quota with balance beam bronze medal win at Baku World Cup
The Tokyo 2020 uneven bars gold medallist returned to competition after major shoulder surgery last year that held her out of the home world championships in Antwerp, Belgium.
Six months ago, **Nina Derwae**l’s Paris 2024 dreams looked to be in major jeopardy.
But on Sunday (10 March) at the International Gymnastics Federation’s World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Belgian gymnast won the bronze medal on the balance beam, garnering enough Olympic qualification points to mathematically secure her quota to the upcoming Olympic Games*.
The People’s Republic of China’s Zhang Qingying took the gold medal, scoring 14.233, followed by Japan’s Takezawa Kaoruko at 13.933. Derwael’s 13.766 rounded out the podium.
“I’m especially relieved,” Derwael said, according to sporza.be. “For me, it is already as much of an achievement to be in Paris as it is to take the gold in Tokyo. I am very happy with my performance.”
The Tokyo 2020 uneven bars Olympic champion had undergone major shoulder surgery in September 2023, which kept her out of the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.
Without their star, the home team failed to obtain a full team quota to the 2024 Olympic Games and Derwael’s pathway to Paris seemed unclear.
The 23-year-old was able to recover enough to compete on the balance beam at the World Cups in Cairo and Cottbus last month and this week’s edition in Baku. Last month, her performances at the first two stops on the World Cup circuit earned her the maximum available Olympic qualifying points, setting up the opportunity to secure the quota with another solid performance in Baku.
*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.
With her finish on Sunday, Derwael now has the maximum 90 Olympic qualifying points.
“At first, we wanted to bet on the European Championships [in May to qualify to Paris],” said Derwael. “But the rehabilitation went fast and the tests went well on the beam, so we decided, ‘Why don’t we try?’”
Of her recovery, Derwael added, “The shoulder is doing very well, the rehabilitation has gone smoothly. I’m doing almost everything now. We will now re-create the last elements and start building.”
In Sunday’s other women’s final, Austria’s Charlize Moerz won the floor title after posting a 13.566 score. China’s Ou Yushan was right behind with a 13.533, while Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour finished third (13.266).
World medallists Lee Chih Kai, Stephen Nedoroscik share Baku pommel horse gold
USA's Stephen Nedoroscik, the 2021 world pommel horse champion, and two-time pommel horse world medallist Lee Chih Kai of Chinese Taipei shared the men’s pommel horse gold medal in Baku, posting matching 15.400 scores. Because the two men had the same difficulty scores, the tie was not broken.
Lee’s teammate Shiao Yu-Jan was third with a 15.300.
Ukraine’s Nazar Chepurnyi was the champion in the men's vaulting final. He performed a front handspring, double front half out (called a Dragulescu) with a small step for a 14.800. His second vault, a double-twisting Kasamatsu, earned a 15.000, giving him a 14.900 final average score.
Hong Kong China’s Shek Wai Hung and Great Britain's Harry Hepworth both finished with 14.866 scores. Shek took the silver while Hepworth settled for bronze after the tie break.
The competition wrapped up with the men’s horizontal bar final where three men – Lithuania’s Robert Tvorogal, Brazil’s Arthur Nory, and Colombia’s Angel Barajas – earned matching 14.333 marks.
The tie was broken by the highest execution mark. Tvorogal took gold with a 8.833 E-score, Nory the silver (8.533 E-score), and Barajas the bronze (7.533 E-score).
The Gymnastics’ World Cup series wraps up next month in Doha with competition scheduled for 17-20 April.