LIVERPOOL, England — Rebeca Andrade of Brazil made history at the world gymnastics championships, becoming the first woman from South America to claim the world all-around title following a dynamic performance during the finals.
Andrade, a silver medalist in the all-around at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, used a dynamic vault in the first rotation to sprint to the lead. The 23-year-old finished with a total of 56.899.
Andrade closed with a flourish, capping her brilliant performance with a floor exercise routine that moved her well clear of silver medalist Shilese Jones of the US Jones finished second at 55.399. Jessica Gadirova of Britain claimed the bronze at 55.199.
Alice Kinsella of Britain was fourth, followed by Ellie Black of Canada in fifth and Jade Carey of the US in sixth.
Andrade came in as the heavy favorite after topping qualifying and didn’t disappoint. Two days after Brazil slipped to fourth in the team final, Andrade – who has sustained three separate torn ACL injuries in her career – responded by finishing a climb that began in earnest with her runner-up finish to American Sunisa Lee in Tokyo.
Gadirova delivered Great Britain’s first-ever women’s all-round World Gymnastics Championship medal with bronze in Liverpool, where team-mate Alice Kinsella finished fourth.
Along with her twin sister Jennifer, Gadirova had been part of the British squad who claimed team silver at the Bank Arena, also securing a place at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The Dublin-born 18-year-old followed that with a fine effort on Thursday evening to take another place on the podium behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and American Shilese Jones.
Gadirova had qualified in fifth for the final, which is where she sat at the halfway stage following two rotations.
After moving up to fourth heading into the final rotation, with Kinsella then in third place, Gadirova produced a stunning floor routine to score 14.400 and put herself into first.
Jones, though, then went to the top of the standings with a 13.700 on the floor, before Andrade – who had been in front from her opening round on the vault – matched Gadirova’s score to claim gold and go one better than her silver from last summer’s Tokyo Olympics.
Kinsella narrowly missed out on a medal – just 0.134 points behind her British team-mate – after finishing on the uneven bars, with a small step on dismount seeing her score 14.166.
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