Wales’ Women’s Artistic Gymnastics team produced a performance full of quality, resilience and determination to finish fourth in the Commonwealth Games Team Final with a score of 153.400, narrowly missing out on a place on the podium.
While the team were understandably disappointed not to leave Glasgow with a team medal, they left everything out on the competition floor. Across four apparatus, Ruby Evans, Emily Roper, Abigail Roper, Jemima Taylor and Frances Stone showcased the depth of talent within Welsh gymnastics, with three gymnasts progressing to apparatus finals and strong performances throughout the competition.
Wales made an excellent start on the uneven bars despite an early setback. Abigail Roper unfortunately clipped her feet on the high bar on her dismount, resulting in a fall, but the team responded brilliantly. Jemima Taylor and Ruby Evans both produced composed routines to score 13.300, finishing tied for eighth in qualification. Ruby secured the final qualification place for the bars final thanks to her higher execution score. Emily Roper then delivered one of the standout routines of the rotation, scoring 13.600 to qualify comfortably for the apparatus final in fourth place.
The team moved onto balance beam where Ruby Evans again led from the front, producing a confident routine to score 12.550 and secure her place in the beam final in eighth position. Abigail Roper followed with another clean performance, scoring 11.650. Emily Roper unfortunately suffered two falls during her routine, while Frances Stone incurred a fall and lost difficulty after missing a connection. It was not the beam rotation the team had hoped for, but the squad battled through and kept themselves firmly in contention.
Floor exercise saw Wales regain momentum with a series of impressive performances. Jemima Taylor opened the rotation with an excellent routine, scoring 12.350 to finish as first reserve for the floor final. Frances Stone followed with another clean exercise for 11.950 before Emily Roper added 11.800. Anchoring the rotation was reigning World silver medallist Ruby Evans, who delivered a powerful performance to score 12.900 and qualify for the floor final in fifth place. Aside from a couple of minor errors, including stepping out of bounds, the routines were executed with confidence and helped set Wales up perfectly for the final apparatus.
Wales saved their best until last on vault in what proved to be a spectacular final rotation. Frances Stone opened with an impressive full-twisting Yurchenko to score 13.200 before Abigail Roper performed two vaults in pursuit of a place in the apparatus final. Scores of 13.450 and 12.700 gave her an average of 13.275, enough to qualify through to the vault final in fifth place. Twin sister Emily Roper followed with two consistently excellent vaults to earn an average of 13.300 to qualify herself into the vault final in forth place, just 0.025 ahead of her sister. To round off the competition, Ruby Evans produced a huge double-twisting Yurchenko, earning a superb 14.050 and bringing Wales’ team campaign to a memorable close.
Although the podium ultimately remained just out of reach, Wales can take enormous pride from their performances across the competition. Emily Roper qualified for the uneven bars and vault finals, Ruby Evans progressed to the uneven bars, balance beam and floor finals, while Abigail Roper secured her place in the vault final. Together, the performances demonstrated the quality, resilience and composure of a Welsh team capable of challenging the Commonwealth’s very best. Jemima Taylor is also the first reserve for the floor final.
The competition also provided plenty of encouragement heading into the individual finals, with Wales represented across five apparatus final appearances by three gymnasts over the coming days.