Gymnast finished fourth in floor exercise final at Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam.
By ALLON SINAI, APshatilov 311(photo credit: AP)
Israel’s Alexander Shatilov came agonizingly close to claiming a second straight medal at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam on Saturday, finishing fourth in the floor exercise final, just 0.033 points away from the podium.The 23-year-old, who won a bronze at last year’s World Championships – Israel’s firstever medal at the event – registered a result of 15.333 points on Saturday, just behind Britain’s Daniel Purvis, who scored 15.366.Despite the disappointment of missing out on another medal, Shatilov’s performance in the Netherlands is very encouraging.The gymnast seriously injured his knee just six months ago, but after an excruciating recovery process, he looks to be back near his best, finishing in a career-best 10th in the allaround final on Friday.Shatilov recorded a result of 88.205 to improve on his 11th place finish last year and proved he remains one of Israel’s best medal hopes at the 2012 London Olympics.Meanwhile, Alicia Sacramone of the United States came out of retirement to win the gold in the vault, edging all-around champion Aliya Mustafina.Mustafina was second in the uneven bars behind Britain’s Elizabeth Tweddle, giving the Russian two silvers on Saturday to add to two golds.In the biggest surprise of the day, Olympic and defending champion He Kexin fell off the bar, ending her overwhelming domination of the event. That gave Rebecca Bross of the United States her third medal and second bronze of the championships.Mustafina is the most successful gymnast at the world championships so far with four medals and still has two events on Sunday. The United States and China lead the medals tables with five medals overall, followed by Russia with four.The men’s all-around champion Kohei Uchimura won his third medal, finishing second behind Greece’s Eleftherios Kosmidis on the floor. He still has the parallel bars on Sunday.
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