2017 Worlds: 29th place for Maxime Gentges in qualifications

The 2017 World Championships finally started on Monday with the men's qualifications. Maxime Gentges kicked things off for Belgium. He placed 29th after both days of qualifications!

Credit: Mathias Hikketik

Maxime started the competition on vault, where he performed a double twisting Yurchenko. He didn't get a big enough push off the table and couldn't avoid the fall (12.266). On parallel bars, Maxime had to count another fall on the dismount, as he stumbled backwards on his double pike (12.466).

Maxime seemed to regain a bit of confidence on his next two events. On high bar, he showed a good routine, with good heights on the releases to score 12.966. He got his best score on floor, with a great front layout to double front as his opening tumble. With a 13.600, Maxime seemed to be on the right path again. 

On pommel horse, one of his best event, a couple of leg separations cost him a few tenth (12.900). He finished his competition on rings, where he got 12.166. With a total score of 76.364, he placed 29th in qualifications, not enough to qualify for the all-around final. At the last World Championships in Glasgow, in 2015, Maxime was 65th. Last Spring, he placed 19th at the European Championships. He will now undergo surgery to fixa wrist that caused him pain for more than a year now.

Cuban Manrique Larduet lead the qualifications, ahead of China's Xiao Ruoteng and Russia's David Belyavskiy. Japan superstar Kohei Uchimura, 6 times World allaround Champion and 2-time Olympic all-around gold medalist was set to defend his titles but injured his ankle on vault. He couldn't finish his qualifications round.

The all-around final will take place on Thursday.

Full results here.