Petrounias wins gold in Melbourne
Greece’s Eleftherios Petrounias took gold at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Melbourne, Australia, and has now kept his 2020 Olympic qualification hopes alive.
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After finishing first in Thursday’s qualifying round with a score of 15.058, Petrounias was the overwhelming favorite to finish first in the final as well. With a score of 15.066, the Greek did in fact finish first. Second place went to Iran’s Mahdi Ahmad Kohani (14.500), and finishing in third was Egypt’s Ali Zahran (14.200).
This win gives Petrounias 30 points to add to his World Cup ranking, and he now has 55 points. China’s Liu Yang, who did not compete in Melbourne, leads the rankings with 90 points. It should be noted that only the top three scores from each participant are included in the ranking, and there are just two World Cup events remaining before the Olympics. As only the first-placed gymnast in the standings will qualify for the Olympics, Petrounias will have to win both of the two remaining World Cup events in order to tie Yang in the standings, as Yang can no longer gain any more points. Then, Petrounias would need better scores than Yang in order to overtake him via tiebreaker and get the last spot for Tokyo.
The next World Cup event will take place from March 12-15 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Petrounias, who missed most of the 2019 season due to injury, will then compete at the final World Cup event in Doha, Qatar, from March 18-21.
FINAL STANDING:
Gold: Eleftherios Petrounias (GREECE) - 15.066
Silver: Mahdi Ahmad Kohani (Iran) - 14.500
Bronze: Ali Zahran (Egypt) - 14.200
4th: Kiu Chung Ng (Hong Kong) - 14.066
5th: Courtney Tulloch (Great Britain) - 13.766
6th: Rick Jacobs (Netherlands) - 13.266
7th: Devy Dyson (New Zealand) - 13.166
8th: Hamza Yilmaz (Turkey) - 12.700
