Scots Finish on High in Gold Coast All-Around Final
Scotland’s Frank Baines put in a fantastic performance in the men’s individual all-around final to finish fourth, just missing out on a Commonwealth medal, while team mate Hamish Carter achieved a sensensational sixth place in his first Games.
Frank qualified in eighth place from the team event on the first day of the Gold Coast 2018 Games and improved his score on his second visit to the Coomera indoor Sports Centre. However, medals were always going to be hard to come by, given the English gymnasts were on fire when they won team gold.
Hamish had qualified for the finals in fifth place in his first Commonwealth Games, and so his sixth place was a tremendous achievement for the 19 year old, who has emerged from two days of action with a whole load of credit and host of new admirers looking forward to seeing him develop further with experience. Indeed, had it not been for one error on pommel, he would have finished right behind Frank.
This year, each nation was limited to two gymnasts in the finals and so Dan Purvis was denied the chance to try and better his fourth place from Glasgow 2014. And although there were no medals today for the Scottish men’s gymnasts, Frank and Hamish were impressive and still have apparatus finals to come.
This was always going to be a hotly-contested all-around competition, and it enthralled from start to finish. This is how it unfolded.
Rotation One
Hamish, in the top seeded group, started on the floor and immediately took command of it with a series of difficult sequences and accurate landings, finishing on a triple twist and a fist pump. Having not put a foot wrong, he scored 14.600, higher than his qualifying routine, which was his best apparatus in the team event.
Frank began his campaign on the pommel horse which was his least successful piece in qualification, but he was back on form with a solid start and a 13.700, a full two points improvement.
Rotation Two
Hamish was first on pommel in the second rotation and was swinging well but then he just dropped off and had to restart. He recovered and went through the difficult part of his routine well, but it affected his execution mark accordingly, the judges awarding 7.050, for a total of 11.750.
Frank then took to the rings, soaring high in a clean performance which earned 12.750, an improvement on two days earlier which had been his second lowest scoring piece in the team event. His best was yet to come.
At this stage in the competition, Frank was lying in eighth, Hamish in 10th. Marios Georgiou of Cyprus was setting the pace on 27.700.
Rotation Three
Next up for Frank was the vault, which had earned him his best score of 14.100 in qualification. Power, control and a solid landing earned him a well-deserved 14.200.
Last to go in the rotation, Hamish took to the rings. He controlled the rings very well coming out of each series of swings, just having to adjust slightly on landing, but he earned 13.250, an improvement on his qualification, and he maintained 10th position at the halfway point. Frank was on the move and sitting in fifth.
Meanwhile Georgiou, who qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio 2016 through a test event and competed in last summer’s World University Games in Taipei, maintained the lead.
R
otation Four
Frank was now on parallel bars. Having performed well in qualification, he made it look effortless this time as well, and finished with a neat landing to score an even better 14.150. He moved up to fourth on 54.800, closing in on the two English gymnasts, Nile Wilson (55.250) and James Hall (55.825) and competition leader, Georgiou who was just ahead on 55.900.
And Hamish had to follow the leader, on the vault, which was his second-best score in the team event. He did well, but just had to make a slight adjustment on landing, and the judges awarded him 14.100, the same as he’d earned previously. It was enough to propel the 19 year-old up into seventh place with 53.700.
Rotation Five
Frank was first out, on the high bar. And having scored 13.300 before, we awaited this performance with anticipation. And once again, he looked stylishly effortless and produced a clean routine, although slightly down on his previous mark, his 13.200 taking his total to 68.000 with one piece to go.
Meanwhile, England’s Nile Wilson was putting pressure on Georgiou, going immediately ahead of him on the parallel bars and laying a marker of 14.800. And it may have affected the Cypriot gymnast, and his slightly nervy performance was awarded 13.950. They now shared the lead.
So how would young gun Hamish follow that? He scored 13.700 in the team competition and started well, controlling all his moves, for 13.500 this time round.
Hall was still to come on the parallel bars and could threaten the lead. Which he did with a score of 14.050 and he was in first place going into the final round on 69.875. Georgiou and Wilson were 0.025 behind him. And out of nowhere, Australian Michael Mercieca appeared after a whopping 14.150 on the high bar. He moved into fourth, 0.250 ahead of Frank in fifth.
Rotation Six
The podium places were now hinging on the last piece of apparatus and Georgiou was first on the high bar to put pressure on the rest of the field and attempt to take back the lead. The score to beat was now 83.875.
Mercieca was then on the floor and earned 13.100 to finish on 81.350. Frank scored 13.725 on day one but had recently beaten Max Whitlock to become British senior men’s floor champion with a massive 14.800. He was the last in the rotation on the floor and we would have to wait.
Hamish was up on the high bar after Georgiou. And what a way to end his all-around campaign. A tremendous performance at such a pace and he nailed the landing. The City of Birmingham gymnast finished on a high of 13.850 to bring his all-around total to 81.050 and finish in a well-deserved sixth place in his first Commonwealth Games.
It was Frank’s turn. The arena was silent. He was faultless. The score was 14.550. With the English gymnasts on fire, after their gold medal in the team competition, he could not have done any more. An overall score of 82.550 meant he moved back up to finish in fourth place, agonisingly short of the podium but with huge credit for a superb all-around performance.
We then waited to see which of England’s medal winners would finish on top after the high bar. James Hall added 14.100 to total 83.975. Nile Watson had the chance to grab the gold at the last gasp. Which he did, with a phenomenal 15.100 to finish on 84.950. Marios Georgiou took bronze with 83.750.
It was a compelling all-around competition with excitement building right to the end, and two highly impressive performances from the Scots, who we look forward to seeing in the apparatus finals over the next two days. Well done Frank and Hamish!
Here's what Frank and Hamish said after the competition
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