Ri Se-gwang of North Korea has won the gold medal in the men’s vault finals. Russia’s Denis Ablyazin took silver, and Kenzō Shirai of Japan won the bronze medal.
Rio 2016 gymnastics: North Korea’s Ri Se-gwang wins gold medal in men’s vault
The men’s vault finals featured some really difficult attempts and phenomenal performances.
Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
Se-gwang’s two attempts carried the highest difficulty ratings of the entire finals, and his average was a remarkable 15.691.
Denis Ablyazin, who won bronze in the men’s rings final earlier Monday and won bronze on the floor, as well as a silver in the team-all around, competed for Russia in the vault final. Both of his efforts were very difficult attempts. Ablyazin won the silver with an average score of 15.516.
Japan’s Shirai also ramped up the difficulty of his first attempt with a three-and-a-half twist. It was nearly impeccable, and he scored a 15.833. His second attempt earned him a 15.066 for an average of 15.449. Romania’s Marian Drāgulescu tied Shirai’s average of 15.499, but Shirai held the tiebreaker, earning him the bronze.
Ihor Radivilov of Ukraine, the bronze medalist on the vault in the London Games, attempted a handspring triple front, which had never been successfully completed in a competition. He very nearly pulled it off, and was rewarded for his efforts with a 14.933. His second vault brought his average to 15.033.
In the vault qualifier, North Korea took the top spot as Ri Se-gwang scored a 15.433. Denis Ablyazin of Russia finished second with a score of 15.416, and Kenzō Shirai of Japan placed third with a score of 15.283.
Interestingly, in the team all-around competition, the United States’ men came away with the highest score in the vault event. No American men qualified for the vault finals, however. Team USA’s Jacob Dalton missed qualifying by landing in 10th place with a score of 14.633.
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