Becky Downie believes Great Britain’s women are only just getting warmed up after qualifying for the team final at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Nanning.
Needing to be among the top eight nations to make it into Wednesday’s final, the British team of Downie, Hannah Whelan, Ruby Harrold and World Championships debutantes Kelly Simm, Gabby Jupp and Claudia Fragapane scored a total of 224.596 points.
It was enough to put them fourth overall after the two-day qualification competition in China, mirroring the efforts of their male counterparts on Saturday.
At 22 years of age, Downie is one of the older members of the squad and the European and Commonwealth Games champion drew on all her experience, scoring 15.166 on bars to also progress through to the individual final.
“We did our job. We were very well prepared and had great support to get us here,” she said.
“Hannah and I have more experience so took on the role of leading the team which I really enjoyed, all the girls were great and we can offer even more in the final.
“On bars I was a little nervous but the experience of winning the Europeans and Commonwealths this year has definitely helped me in big events as I know I can do it.
“There are a couple of things I can tweak for the final so who knows what might happen.”
Joining Downie in the individual bars final later in the week will be Harrold who also reached Friday’s all-around final with a score of 56.766 points for eighth place.
And Fragapane, star of the Commonwealth Games this summer with four golds, continued her remarkable year by booking her place in no less than three individual finals in the all-around, vault and floor.
© Sportsbeat 2014