It was US Simone Biles who finished the contest with his standalone program. The American leadership was already so big that the star basically had to trip to lose the gold.
And of course she didn't. Instead, the 22-year-old once again offered double volts backwards with a triple screw, the combination she is alone in mastering in an international championship. And became the top scorer with 15,333 points.
This was behind expectations mainly in Russia and China, second and third from last year. The Russians fought well and defended their World Cup silver, but China unexpectedly looked defeated.
With a small margin, the sticker Italy managed to sail up the bronze site. The team could hardly believe it themselves afterwards when they were cheering for the medal. Italy's total score was 164,230, compared with China's 164,796.
- Italy, Italy ladies and gentlemen. An achievement I did not think was possible by the Italian team, comments SVT's AnnaMaria Fredholm.
- There are many other countries I had sat in before, just about everyone, states SVT's expert Veronica Wagner.
A decisive moment for the Italians was when 16-year-old Asia Damato went last on the boom. But the young debutant kept his nerves in check and landed at 13,266 points.