China's Wang Zilu into rhythmic gymnastics individual all-around final

PARIS - China's Wang Zilu made history on Thursday at the Paris Olympics as the first Chinese athlete to qualify for the rhythmic gymnastics individual all-around final.

Wang, a 21-year-old Olympic debutant, scored a total of 128.100 points in the four rotations in ball, in hoop, in ribbon and in clubs of the rhythmic gymnastics individual all-around qualification at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena, ranking 10th in the total of the 24 athletes.

The top 10 gymnasts advanced to the final, which will be held on Friday.

Wang said after the match that although she had not performed well during the qualification, she was excited to advance to the final.

"At the beginning of the competition I felt quite nervous, so I did not get a very high execution points in the rotation one in ball. I also made some errors in the last rotation in clubs, which was regrettable," added Wang.

Discussing the final, she said she hoped to be able to compete at her best and have no regrets.

Italy's Sofia Raffaeli was on the top of the rankings in the individual all-around qualification with a total of 139.100 points.

"I'm happy for the routines I did, but the real competition is the final," said 20-year-old Raffaeli, the 2022 world champion and 2023 world runner-up.

Germany's Darja Varfolomeev, the 2023 world champion, slipped out of her early lead when she dropped her hoop, which subsequently rolled off the carpet. However, the 17-year-old came back strongly in the competition in ribbon and in clubs later to qualify second by a gap of 2.250 points.