Birmingham 2022 | Men’s All-Around

Frank Baines and Pavel Karnejenko returned to the competition arena today, competing in the individual all-around final at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.  

Following a disappointing team result for the men’s artistic gymnasts representing Scotland on Friday, Frank and Pavel put in a stellar performance to secure two top ten placings in the individual all-around, including a fifth-place finish for Commonwealth newcomer Pavel.

In the individual all-around competition, Team Scotland gymnasts faced tough competition but improved on their qualification scores to achieve impressive results at this major competition.

Frank – a previous all-around finalist at Gold Coast 2018, and three-time Team Scotland gymnast started his all-around campaign on the floor alongside the top six performers from the qualification round. He starts with a confident and tight twisting somersault with two and a half twists and immediately into a straight punch front. His routine builds, packed with twisting somersaults and great floor flexibility work. He ends with a full twisting Arabian and lands well for 13.35.

Pavel – a first time senior multi-sport competitor after competing at the Glasgow 2018 Junior European championships made an impact with his Commonwealth debut in the team final on Friday with his competition today starting on the pommel horse.

He starts well with a strong lift into handstand. He rotates well and keeps momentum going, moving to a one-handed turn and pushing hard into handstand for a clean end to the routine. He scores 13.150 which is a big improvement from qualification and a great start to the competition as well as his highest score on this apparatus in this code of points cycle.

Frank moves to pommel horse next where he scored 12.650 in qualification. He starts in good form, with a nice set of split leg swings. He rotates well, moving along the pommel with ease, and maintaining good lines. He lifts up to handstand nicely with a half turn to dismount and a smile to finish. He looks happy with his performance and should be with a score of 12.900 – up from his qualification score by 0.25 points.

Pavel’s second rotation takes him to rings where he scored his highest in qualification with a strong routine and 14.20. He shows plenty of strength in his routine with a nice set of holds to start, including a strong and controlled iron cross. He pushes up to handstand with a bit of movement on the rings and rotates well into a somersault. He regains control and delivers a strong double twisting somersault dismount for 14.15, just 0.05 behind his qualification score.

As we move to the third rotation, both gymnasts put in a solid performance and have the results to show for it. Pavel sits in third place, with Frank in sixth – but there’s still some of the higher scoring qualifiers to compete on vault and parallel bars, so it could all change.

Pavel’s vault – the same as his qualification, with two tight twists and a difficulty score of 5.2 is performed well with a very solid landing. The performance here leaves him with a score of 14.30 – another personal highest score in this competition so far – and leaves him in a very strong first place position at the half-way stage.

Frank’s rings routine secures him a score of 12.95 – lifting into both a pike and straddle hold to start followed by linked handstands where he leans slightly before a somersault between the rings and builds to a double piked dismount with just the tiniest of hops on landing.

Frank competes first in the next rotation, with a 13.75 on vault thanks to a full twisting Tsukahara, with a deduction for a small step out on landing – down from his qualification score of 14.15.

Pavel performs well on parallel bars, losing 0.40 from his score in qualification. He starts well performing some nicely linked skills and showing strength in his handstand holds and pirouettes. He falters slightly on one element and doesn't quite make it up to handstand. He finishes well with a lovely double somersault dismount, sticking the landing for a score of 13.400.

In the penultimate rotation, Frank competes his parallel bars routine first, standing up strong into handstand and maintaining his composure throughout the routine – he makes a slight adjustment to his grip and performs a set of nice turns – ending with a solid double pike somersault and a stuck landing for 13.250.

Pavel’s high bar routine is confident, with a range of great release and catch elements. He pirouettes very nicely, with strong clean lines, and builds to a stunning double twisting somersault with a step forward on landing achieving a score of 12.90.

Frank completes his competition on horizontal bar – showing his experience here. Lifting straight into a half turn catch and release over the bar. He builds up to a brilliant twisting dismount and scores 13.25 – matching his performance in qualification.

The final rotation sees Pavel compete on floor – hoping for the routine of his life and a score enough to give him a place on his first senior multi-sport podium. He performs very well, packing his routine with complex tumbling, tight twisting and a great show of control on landings. He improves on his qualification score, but it’s not enough to put him in medal contention.

The individual all-around competition ended with an improvement to the Scottish gymnast’s scores – with England’s Jake Jarman winning the gold medal with a score of 83.450. Gold Coast medalist and England teammate James Hall takes the silver with 82.900 and Marios Georgiou from Cyprus securing bronze after their team’s stand-out performance in the team competition. Fourth place goes to Felix Dolci (Canada) with Pavel Karnejenko in fifth.

After the competition, Frank thanked the people supporting him back home, and hopes the support continues for the finals later this week. He added: “I’m really happy with my performance, and I’m really proud of Pavel. Three pieces in, he was absolutely smashing it and he kept it going towards the end.”

Pavel said:

My main target for today was to improve on my performance, I didn’t actually think I’d be as close as I was – but it’s just made me hungrier to get back in the gym and work harder.  I hope we can do a good job in the apparatus finals!

We will see Frank and Pavel back on the competition floor tomorrow when they compete for individual apparatus final glory. Frank is competing in the floor final from 1pm, with Pavel hoping to replicate his success on rings from 3.45pm.

> Missed any of the competition? You can catch up on BBC iPlayer

Read more about Team Scotland's Games:

> Birmingham 2022 | Women's Artistic Day One
> Birmingham 2022 | Men's Artistic Day One
> How to watch, share and get involved
> Find out more about the team

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