Birmingham 2022 | Men’s Artistic Day One
The men’s artistic team has completed their qualification event in the first day of competition at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
An evening of strong performances led by captain Frank Baines resulted in him and Games first-timer Pavel Karnejenko qualifying for the individual all-around final. Frank has also qualified for apparatus finals on floor and horizontal bar. Pavel qualified for the rings final and Hamish Carter the horizontal bar.
In the team competition, the Scots finished in fifth place, with medals going to now three-in-a-row team champions England, Canada and Cyprus, which was a first for them in a men’s artistic competition at the Commonwealth Games.
Scotland started the session on pommel horse with debutant Cameron Lynn going first and showing no signs of nerves in his biggest event so far. The 19 year-old opened well with good rhythm, maintaining control throughout for the best possible start to his Commonwealth Games career. His score of 13.000 was the highest he has achieved on this apparatus under this code of points.
The youngest team member was followed by the most experienced, captain Frank Baines who showed his style and competitive edge to score 12.650. Scottish senior champion Pavel Karnejenko, also in his first Games came next with 12.300. Hamish Carter kept his speed throughout his routine and built his difficulty, deservedly punching the air after dismount as he earned 12.850 putting Scotland in a good position after the first rotation.
Cameron was first up on rings and a confident performance to match his first score of 13.000 was also better than he had posted during the Games selection period. Hamish followed with an assured performance and solid dismount (12.900) followed by Frank whose high execution score of 8.700 contributed to his 13.200. Pavel won silver at this year’s British Championships and his high difficulty routine (value 5.600) ended with a solid landing and total of 14.200 to put him in second place on rings at that stage, and the support of the audience in the arena, and at this stage of the competition a third placed ranking.
The Scots moved to the vault and an opportunity to boost the overall team score on this high scoring piece of apparatus. Captain Frank led the way with a beautiful double twisting Tsukahara, his 9.35 execution score leading to a total 14.15. Hamish followed with another high difficult vault and took one wee step back on landing to earn 13.800. Pavel competed a strong vault with a 5.2 d value with a powerful take off and tight twists, landing with a small step for 13.950. Gold Coast team bronze medal winner David Weir then made his first appearance of this Games. He went for 5.200 difficulty in his first vault but he stepped out and put his arm down on landing. He didn’t get enough height to make the landing in his second, falling forwards for 12.950 to give him an average of 12.750.
Cameron was back for parallel bars and his good routine was spoilt by one costly error which left him lower score than he would be aiming for, finishing with 12.650. Hamish moved smoothly along the bars displaying control throughout ending with a double pike dismount in his well-executed routine earning 13.600. Frank showed his proficiency, looking comfortable on the bars before a floating dismount (13.350) before Pavel demonstrated stepped up with a 5.600 d score and was rewarded with 13.800.
Their team score of 161.55 at this stage put them in sixth place with two rotations to come. The horizontal bar was the next opportunity to move up the table and overtake the countries from earlier sessions, including Team Wales who were sitting in top position.
A shaky start for Pavel but any tension eased for a strong finish and score 12.550. Cameron was just outside the medals at the British Championships earlier this year and he showed a range of skills looking strong with great hand positions. An unfortunate small stumble forward on landing cost him dearly and he would be disappointed with 12.050 having upgraded his routine over the selection period and opting for skills that were on par with some of the bar specialists from the likes of Cyprus. Frank’s big routine was therefore important to keep the team in contention, his graceful and skillful performance earning 13.250.
Hamish added a strong performance with his own flair and a perfect dismount which certainly got him smiling and the crowd cheering. The judges were also impressed and awarded him 13.500 for his well-executed routine.
To the floor for the final flourish, and where this team usually shine. Frank led the charge with a good opening tumble, his usual grace, skills and control with a double Arabian for a strong finish and a score of 13.300. Pavel started with a double front somersault with strong tumbling combinations throughout. He lost a point from a fall which took the shine of his finish on a strong triple twist and his final score of 11.650 was much lower than he would have expected. David would also be disappointed with his score 11.850 falling short of his usual graceful floor routines with a few steps on landing and loose twists. Hamish went for it in the final performance however his routine of well-controlled tumbling was also marred by a fall and a 0.3 point deduction and he finished on 11.800.
The long evening session ended with individual success although no team medal as the home nation England streaked ahead to take Commonwealth title with a combined score of 254.550, Canada won the silver medal (241.200) and Cyprus bronze (239.650). Australia finished with in fourth (239.000) ahead of Team Scotland (237.800) and Wales were just behind with 236.300. Disappointment for the Scots who won bronze in Gold Coast four years ago.
In the all-around competition, Frank qualified in sixth place for the final (79.000), with Pavel in ninth (78.450) with Hamish on the same score misses out due to the two gymnasts per country. Frank also qualified for the floor final after placing eighth and for the horizontal bar final where he’ll be joined by Hamish who finished in seventh. Pavel qualified for the rings final in fifth place – Frank is second reserve – and was listed as third reserve on parallel bars. Cameron narrowly missed out on the pommel final and is second reserve.
The individual all-around final featuring Frank and Pavel is on Sunday morning, with the floor and rings final on Monday afternoon when we’ll see Frank and Pavel. Captain Frank and Hamish are in action again on Tuesday on the horizontal bar.
Speaking after the competition, Cameron Lynn said: "For me the competition went really well. A couple of pieces didn't go as well as I'd planned it but as a whole, I'm just so happy to even be here, and just be with this group of boys, it’s just amazing – love it! I couldn't have asked for anything better.”
Hamish Carter said:
I'm very proud of how everyone bounced back from the small mistakes we made, there were some really good routines in our team final. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to defend our medal, which is always a hard thing to stomach, but I'm incredibly proud of these boys and it was fun, especially to have it in my hometown.
Pavel Karnejenko added: "I'm looking forward to the finals and looking to improve my performance from today – though rings is a hard one to improve on so we'll try to just replicate and do the same as I did today in the final. I'm looking forward to getting out there to the amazing crowd and performing."
We look forward to the women’s artistic team beginning their campaign tomorrow – with live coverage on BBC iPlayer.
> Missed any of the competition – catch up on BBC iPlayer
> How to watch, share and get involved
> Find out more about the team
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