“Sometimes it works, sometimes it breaks,” said Félix Dolci after the high bar final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, where he fell twice to finish in eighth place.
The Laval gymnast wanted to go “all out” in his second individual final in as many days. He had actually planned to modify a connection and increase the degree of difficulty of his routine presented in qualifying, which had earned him 14,133 points and provisional eighth place.
Dolci, however, fell before he could attempt the shot. Aged 21, the youngest finalist then resumed his program and the bar slipped from his hands a second time. In both cases, the falls occurred at times that the Quebecer normally masters perfectly.
“These aren’t mistakes I make often, it took me a bit by surprise. We’re only talking about a few centimeters. These are things that happen” put Félix Dolci into perspective in an interview with Sportcom.
He finished the day with 11,100 points. The reigning Olympic champion in this event, the Japanese Daiki Hashimoto, won gold with a score of 15,233. The Croatian Tin Srbic and the Chinese Su Weide finished second (14,700) and third (14,500) respectively. .
On Saturday, Félix Dolci placed fifth in the floor exercise. He also helped the Canadian team qualify for the Paris Olympic Games at the start of the worlds. In other words, there is much more positive to remember than the opposite for someone who participated in his first two individual finals at the Senior World Championships.
“In the final, in such a tough group, I wanted to give it my all. Learn and become a better athlete down the line. I am very happy with the work done here in Belgium, especially as a team! It is exceptional what we have achieved, he recalled. I will now return to the gym and try to be more precise, more consistent, even if these are movements that I repeat hundreds of times each week. »
The next stop on Dolci’s schedule will be the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. He will go there with his teammates René Cournoyer and William Emard.
Quebecers Frédérique Sgarbossa and Aurélie Tran will also be there on the women’s side.
