US women lead at gymnastic worlds (Reuters) Updated: 2005-11-24 14:11
Set to salsa music, Dos Santos smoldered her way through a virtually flawless
routine that enraptured the small crowd, who produced the loudest cheer of the
first session when the 22-year-old finished.
"I took a couple of steps on one of my landings so I can improve but I'm
happy with that," she said.
Athens triple gold medallist Catalina Ponor is in danger of missing the
top-eight qualifiers for the weekend's floor final after recording 9.200 to
stand ninth with the last sub-divisions still to come.
She could still make the final as Memmel is fifth on the floor, but is the
third-ranked American. Only two competitors from one country can contest an
individual apparatus final.
Romania's Ponor, Olympic beam champion, ended her routine on that apparatus
with a double back somersault and led qualification with a score of 9.562.
China's Cheng Fei produced two superbly-executed new vaults for scores of
9.662 and 9.600 respectively to lead the vault competition with an average of
9.631.
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