Canada’s Ellie Black finishes seventh at gymnastics world championships

GLASGOW, United Kingdom – Halifax gymnast Ellie Black finished the women’s all-around final at the artistic gymnastics world championships with a best-ever Canadian result on Thursday.

Black eclipsed her own previous mark of ninth place set at last year’s world championships to finish seventh this year with a score of 56.758 points. She would have finished even higher if not for a fall on the balance beam, normally her best event.

“It’s a risky routine that she’s doing so it’s hard to hit all the time,’ said her longtime coach David Kikuchi of Halifax.

“But her vault and floor and bars were pretty much as good as we could have asked. Overall it was a great performance and I’m really proud of how she came back with her very best floor routine after the mistake on beam.”

Black scored highest on vault with 15.033 points, followed by floor (14.425), uneven bars (14.000), and beam (13.300).

“I was looking forward to trying to improve so just to go out and have a performance that was a step up from last year was very satisfying,” said Black.

Isabela Onyshko of Brandon, Man., placed 16th with 55.332 points.

Simone Biles of the United States dominated the final to win a record third straight all-around world title with a score of 60.399 points.

Olympic champion Gabrielle Douglas of the U.S., won silver with 59.316 and Larisa Iordache of Romania took the bronze at 59.107.

Considered a long shot to make the 2012 Olympic team, Black blossomed into one of the leaders on the Canadian squad as it soared to a record fifth-place finish in London.

Since then the Dalhousie University student hasn’t looked back, chalking up three straight Canadian all-around titles, numerous World Cup medals and most recently five medals, including three gold, at the Pan Am Games this summer in Toronto.

Black competes again in the beam final on Sunday.

“It’s not every day that you get to compete with the top girls in the world,” she said. “So that is definitely an amazing experience on its own and it definitely gives you the confidence to go back home and work harder.”