Hall prepares for British Championships with World Cup silver

James Hall impressed in winning a silver medal in the first all-around World Cup of the year in Chicago.

The Brit scored a total of 83.297 to finish behind only home gymnast Yul Moldauer and just ahead of Ukraine’s Petro Pakhnyuk.

Hall, a European all-around bronze medallist from 2017, followed up a strong performance from Kelly Simm in Saturday’s women’s event at the American Cup.

But it was Hall that shone brightest on Sunday, registering the top scores of the whole field on the pommel and high bar.

"I started off a little shaky on floor after a long wait so that was a little hard to cater for but I got a good score,” said the 22-year-old from Kent.

“I picked up on pommel and got the highest score of the competitors on that so was really pleased with that performance.

"I was looking to go for good execution in this comp and not just to get through routines, I was trying to change my game a little bit.

“The rings and vault were steady and I got some good scores there. I had an unfortunate fall on the parallel bars but the rest of it was clean.

"Then I had a strong finish on the high bar with a nice routine which saw me to second place overall. It was a great opportunity to build my experience ahead of a busy few weeks."

Simm put in a series of consistent performances with fifth on the vault and beam, and sixth on the uneven bars and floor.

Her score of 51.898 was just 3.634 points shy of American Morgan Hurd’s winning effort.

The attentions of Hall and Simm now turn to Liverpool, this weekend, for the British Championships.

Sportsbeat 2018