U.S. women show depth in dominating qualifying at worlds

GLASGOW, Scotland — This just isn’t a fair fight.

Qualifying at the world gymnastics championships was mostly a mess, with Russia stumbling through floor exercise and China flying off the uneven bars. Romania was so bad it didn’t even make team finals, leaving its Olympic status in limbo until April.

As for the U.S. women, they had to count a fall on uneven bars … and still topped qualifying by a little more than five points.

“Yes, that’s pretty good,” said two-time defending world champion Simone Biles, who posted the meet’s highest all-around score as well as the top scores on floor exercise, balance beam and vault.

“But we still have mistakes that we need to go into the gym and perfect, as Martha would say.”

That whimpering you hear is the rest of the world, which has been trying to close the gap on the Americans the last four years only to see it grow wider.

The U.S. had the highest team scores on three events and was second on uneven bars. While the rest of the competition combined for nine scores above 15 on vault, the Americans dropped five in a row — including a 16.0 by Biles that was the highest on any event of the entire meet.

Biles led the all-around standings, with reigning Olympic champion Gabby Douglas third. Fellow Fierce Fiver Aly Raisman was fifth, less than a point behind Douglas, but will miss the all-around final because countries are limited to two gymnasts.

“It just shows how strong Team USA is,” said Maggie Nichols, who posted the second-highest U.S. scores on vault, floor and balance beam, her only events, in her worlds debut.

If there had been any doubt, the Americans erased it right away with five routines on floor exercise that would have impressed even those folks in Vegas.

Douglas didn’t have her usual electricity, but she made up for it with her power and precision. While other gymnasts have been bouncing like rubber balls on their landings, Douglas stuck her tumbling passes as if she’s stepped into a bucket of cement.

She was followed by Brenna Dowell, whose routine won’t soon be forgotten because she did it without music after hers was cued up wrong. Then came Nichols, who tumbled and twisted with the swagger of a veteran.

Raisman had too much adrenaline on her first pass and had to step out of bounds, but the rest of her routine showed the spark and skill that won her the gold on floor in London.

Biles was, simply, spectacular. Every one of her tumbling passes is jam-packed with difficulty, yet she does them with the ease of a child doing somersaults down a hill. She got so high on her opening pass the judges had to look up to see her — and they’re not even seated on the floor at this meet.

But it’s her personality that really sells the routine, her bright smile outshining the hundreds of sparkles on her magenta leotard.

“We love ending on it,” Biles said, “… but to start off with a bang is pretty exciting, too.”

As if the U.S. floor show wasn’t demoralizing enough — the Americans were almost three points higher than Britain, which had the second-highest score — the Americans went to vault next.

Biles, Nichols and Raisman all do the Amanar, which is worth a half-point more than the version of the Yurchenko vault that most women do. It doesn’t take a math whiz to see what an advantage that gives the Americans, and the competition was over by the halfway point.

Even Raisman and Dowell coming off uneven bars — Dowell’s score was dropped as the lowest of the five — couldn’t affect the outcome.

“When one of us has a mistake … we all gather together and be like, `OK, you got this. Don’t worry about that,’” said Douglas, who had a fall of her own on balance beam. “Then if one of us makes a mistake, we’re like, ‘We’re good. We’re good.’ Just put it out of your heads.”

Until the meet ends, that is. Then it’s back to the gym to fix the few flaws before Tuesday’s team final.

Though the scoring format changes — three gymnasts compete on each event and all three scores count — don’t expect the final result to. The Americans set the gold standard at the London Olympics and the 2011 and 2014 world championships, and they have no interest in doing it differently here.

“If we do what we’re capable of,” Douglas said, “then the results will come up by themselves.”

And the rest of the world whimpers again.