Alice Kinsella proud after strong Paris finish
Alice Kinsella might not have got everything she wanted from Paris 2024 but her Olympics has finished much stronger than it started.
A 12th-placed finish in Thursday night’s women’s all-around gymnastics, in which superstar Simone Biles claimed a sixth Olympic gold, represented a more than solid performance from the Park Wrekin ace following her early struggles at the Bercy Arena.
Kinsella did not make any individual finals and only just scraped into the all-around after a torrid time in Sunday’s qualifying.
But the 23-year-old, as so often before in her career, has responded impressively, delivering a strong performance as GB so narrowly missed out on a medal in Tuesday’s team final and then following it up with a solid performance here.
Kinsella’s routine on the uneven bars was more than two marks higher than in qualifying, while she also improved on the floor and was unlucky not to score even higher, the judges appearing to miss one skill which would have earned her a top-10 finish.
All told, not bad for someone who recently revealed she had considered quitting the sport last year.
“I’m really happy with 12th, as I didn’t make the all-around final at Tokyo three years ago,” she said. “I made a few mistakes, I had something that didn’t get counted on the floor and I put my hands down on beam but I’m just super happy.
“My family have given me so much support and I couldn’t be more grateful for it, especially my mum and boyfriend who came out to watch me, which means a lot to me especially with Tokyo where nobody could come out and watch.”
For the second time in three nights the show was all about Biles and while Tuesday’s victory in the team competition was special, it was a win in this event – the one from which she withdrew in Tokyo three years ago citing problems with her mental health – which was required to complete the redemption arc.
The 27-year-old duly delivered the result the crowd, once more packed with US supporters demanded, albeit the brilliance of Rebeca Andrade meant she was required to work for it.
If anyone was ever going to come close to challenging Biles, it was the Brazilian, the reigning Olympic vault champion whose performances denied GB’s women a bronze 48 hours previously.
She delivered another stunning vault here, scoring 15.100, yet Biles went even better, registering a score of 15.766. The American looked ready to show Andrade who was boss.
But a rare mistake on the uneven bars, which led to Biles scoring only 13.733, allowed Andrade to make up the deficit.
Biles’ lead was only 0.166 heading into their final rotation on the floor. Andrade went first and despite a small mistake at the start, when she put one foot out of bounds, it was a strong routine.
But Biles, with the world watching, blew it out of the water in the way only the all-time greats do. Her routine was so good even Andrade applauded and Biles had been handed an American flag in preparation of victory before the colossal score, of 15.066, was announced.
Kinsella, like everyone else, was watching in awe from the sides.
“When she was doing the floor I was speechless,” she said. “With Simone, she’s such a good inspiration for young people coming up.
“I definitely look up to her and watching that floor in person was just wow. I have no words to be honest.”