South Korean rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae achieved career-high scores in ball and clubs Sunday en route to winning three medals at an International Federation of Gymnastics (FIG) competition in Portugal.
At the FIG World Cup in Lisbon, Son posted a career-high score of 18.550 in both ball and clubs, surpassing her previous best score set two days prior by 0.050. The 21-year-old marked 18.500 for the first time on Friday in hoop before repeating the same score earlier Sunday.
Despite getting career-high scores in ball and clubs, Son settled for silver medals in the two apparatuses. Russia’s Aleksandra Soldatova took the gold medal in ball at 19.000, while Ukraine’s Ganna Rizatdinova topped in clubs at 18.600.
In hoop, Son won the bronze medal at 18.500, finishing behind Soldatova (18.650) and Rizatdinova (18.600).
Son didn’t perform in the ribbon finals after posting 17.450 to tie for seventh with three other players in the qualifiers. She was on the alternate list for the final stage where the top eight players perform but didn’t get the opportunity to compete.
Son finished fourth in the individual all-around on Saturday.
Soldatova, Rizatdinova and Neta Rivkin of Israel were the top three.
Yana Kudryavtseva, a three-time world individual all-around champion, and Margarita Mamun, a two-time world all-around silver medalist, didn’t compete at the Lisbon World Cup.
Son, who won the gold medal in ball at the first World Cup of the season in Finland last month, will travel to Pesaro, Italy, for her third World Cup starting on April 1. (Yonhap)
