Cairo –
Nina Derwael performed a beam exercise of 13.030 during her comeback in Cairo. Good for sixth place, but less good than Erika Pinxten from Hasselt with 13.230. The two Limburg girls will now compete with each other, both in the final on Sunday and in the battle for the same Olympic ticket.
Nina Derwael (23) has made her comeback in Egypt, 472 days after the 2022 World Cup in Liverpool, where she won bronze. After her shoulder operation, De Truiense is not yet fit enough for a bridge exercise and is trying to qualify for the Olympic Games on beam. Initially she was also going to participate in the floor exercise, but she ultimately dropped it.
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In Cairo she achieved a score of 13.030, which is less good than the 13.850 she received in 2020 for her beam exercise in Liverpool. A fall during the take-off was not unusual. Derwael recovered from this and still achieved sixth score out of 63 participants. This means she can go to the final with the best eight.
READ ALSO. Erika Pinxten, the new gymnastics talent from Hasselt: “Of course Nina is a great example”
Pinxten excels
The five girls she had to let go included Erika Pinxten from Hasselt. Derwael’s 16-year-old clubmate at Sta-Paraat Hasselt received 13,230 points, the second score after the British Ondine Achampong.
In the battle for the two Olympic tickets you have to eliminate all gymnasts who have already qualified, such as Achampong. That puts Pinxten virtually in the lead on that purified list, ahead of Derwael. But because they are both in the final, that order could change on Sunday.
In any case, the two Limburg girls are now in danger of becoming competitors of each other, because you can earn two tickets for Paris on the beam, but only one is handed out per country. That could be a nice duel between the Olympic champion and the emerging talent, where one used to be the idol of the other.
They will meet again on Sunday in the final in Cairo, and then perhaps also in Cottbus, Baku and Doha. The best of those four World Cups can go to Paris.
© AFP
READ ALSO. Nina Derwael makes a comeback after 472 days without competition: “This will be good for her”
Earlier in the day, Pinxten had also excelled with her floor exercise. In that discipline she came fourth, or second on the refined ‘Olympic’ list. In this way, the Hasselt native hit back strongly after she had completely failed at the bridge on Thursday. The final of the floor exercise will also be contested on Sunday. Last year Pinxten won two bronze medals in Cairo.
Dorien Motten from Bilzen played for Georgia in Cairo, but did not reach the final. She came 23rd on the vault with 12.380, 39th with 11.070.
2024-02-16 18:14:21
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