Who would have thought that the best bars final of the quadrennium thus far would NOT include Beth Tweddle, Aliya Mustafina, a single Chinese gymnast, or a single American?

 

Probably no one.

 

This was definitely the best bars final we’ve seen in a long time – and I would say the best since the historic Olympic bars final in Beijing (which was probably the best bars final of all time).  I don’t think we’ve had another bars final this quadrennium in which the top three gymnasts all scored 15’s, AND all eight finalists scored 14’s and higher.  One or the other has happened, but not both…and that was even with some mistakes.  No one actually came off the bars, though, and that’s part of what made this final so great.

 

Below is a look at all eight routines, in rank order of how they finished:

 

1.  Viktoria Komova, RUS

 

 

6.7 + 8.966 = 15.666

 

 

2.  Anastasia Grishina, RUS

 

 

6.5 + 8.7 = 15.2

 

 

3.  Nataliya Kononenko, UKR

 

 

6.7 + 8.433 =  15.133

 

 

4.  Kim Bui, GER

 

 

6.2 + 8.5 = 14.7

 

 

5.  Celine van Gerner, NED

 

 

6.2 + 8.433 = 14.633

 

 

6.  Lisa Hill, GER

 

 

5.9 + 8.525 = 14.425

 

 

7.  Ruby Harrold, GBR

 

 

6.1 + 8.266 = 14.366

 

 

8.  Youna Dufournet, FRA

 

 

6.2 + 7.866 = 14.066

 

 

Russia continues to prove they are dominant on this event right now, with Komova, Grishina, and Mustafina all consistently performing three of the best routines in the world.

 

 

So exciting to see a medal for Ukraine.  This is a super cool routine from Kononenko and was well deserving of the bronze.

 

 

Germany with TWO strong bar finalists.  I love all the releases and bar-to-bar transitions from Kim Bui, and Lisa Hill has really nice form and lines.  She reminds me of Bridget Sloan in the face!

 

Celine van Gerner was UNDERSCORED!!!  That was an absolutely beautiful routine – one of the cleanest of the final, yet it scored an 8.433 execution?  Where you find almost 1.6 in deductions is beyond me.

 

 

Ruby Harrold’s Shaposhnikova to Bhardwaj is one of the coolest and most ambitious combinations being done on bars.  Great save on the dismount sequence.

 

Youna Dufournet  made the only major error of this bars final.  She almost always seems to run into some sort of a problem on bars, but she is still definitely one of the world’s best here – evident by her 14.066 with essentially a fall.  She has one of the very best Ricnas (stalder Tcatchevs) in the world, and I love the way this connection into the Pak just seems to “float.”  I don’t know why she keeps pulling that Gienger in so close…should be an easy skill for a gymnast who can do a Def!  The double layout is so much improved over the last couple of years.  She should definitely be a bars finalist in London if she hits this in qualifications.