Olympic gold medalist Kyla Ross is off to a strong start in her first major international all-around competition, leading after the first day of qualification at the World Championships. Still, she’s not assured of advancing to Friday’s all-around final.
Ross scored a combined 59.198 over four events in Antwerp, Belgium, on Tuesday, more than one point better than second-place Yao Jinnan of China. Her biggest threats in the all-around will go through qualifying Wednesday -- including Americans Simone Biles and McKayla Maroney and Russian Aliya Mustafina.
Competition continues at 7:30 a.m. Eastern time. U.S. all-around champion Biles will lead off at 7:30, and Olympic champion Maroney will go at 10. The women’s all-around final is Friday at 2 p.m.
World Gymnastics Championships broadcast schedule
One nation can qualify a maximum of two athletes into individual finals, meaning one of Ross, Biles and Maroney will not compete for all-around medals, even if they finish one-two-three in qualifying. This is the same rule that kept 2011 world all-around champion Jordyn Wieber out of the Olympic all-around final.
Ross said she “proved herself” in qualification after being the only member of the Fierce Five to not qualify for an individual final at the Olympics.
"(In) London, I was just there for the team, and we did such an amazing job,” Ross said. “After that, I just went back into the gym and worked for myself.”
The U.S. has gone one-two in the women’s all-around at the last two World Championships in years following the Olympics. Chellsie Memmel beat Nastia Liukin by .001 in 2005, and Bridget Sloan overtook Rebecca Bross for gold in 2009 after Bross fell on her final routine, floor exercise.
Ross was also competing to qualify for individual event finals, where the top eight advance after everybody finishes Wednesday. Ross placed first on the balance beam, second on uneven bars and second on floor. If Biles and Maroney score better than Ross, they will knock her out of those event finals via the two-per-country rule.