PARIS (Reuters) – Britain took an early lead in gymnastics qualifications on Sunday despite a shaky showing on the uneven bars before the U.S. team led by Simone Biles were set to make their Paris Olympic debut.
The British, who scored 160.830 overall, led Romania by more than a point at the Bercy Arena, recovering with solid performances on the balance beam and floor exercise.
Ruby Evans, 17, scored the highest among her teammates with an Amanar vault, consisting of a two and a half twisting flip in an outstretched position.
After their strong showing on vault, with scores ranging from 13.766 to 14.200, Britain struggled on the uneven bars but were salvaged by a difficulty-laden routine by veteran Rebecca Downie that earned her a score of 14.666.
“I think we’re coming in a bit of the underdogs because we’ve had so many injuries,” said Downie, who is competing in her third Games.
“We’ve had a lot of disruption across our squad but we’ve pulled together really well and gelled as a team and everyone is super excited to be here.”
Romania’s Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who could contend for a medal in the floor exercise, scored 13.800 in the event, higher than the score that secured her fourth place at last year’s world championships.
The U.S. team and Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all-time, are competing in the next category starting at 0940 GMT in front of what is expected to be a celebrity-packed crowd.
The 27-year-old Biles is returning for her third Olympics after suffering from the “twisties” at the Tokyo Games, a term used by gymnasts to describe the temporary loss of spatial awareness they can experience when doing high-difficulty elements.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Rory Carroll, Chang-Ran Kim and Karen Braun; Editing by Ed Osmond)
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