At the 2024 National Gymnastics Championships, the competition in the balance beam event was fierce, and the famous players took on difficult sets of movements, and finally Hunan player Zhou Yaqin won the championship with a high score of 15.466 points. Zhang Qingying won the second place with 14.533 points, and Qiu Qiyuan fell off the wood sideways, and finally won the third place with 13.966.
Historically, Liu Xuan won the balance beam championship at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Deng Linlin won the balance beam Olympic championship in 2012, and Guan Chenchen won the balance beam championship at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. In the last Olympics, Tang Qianjing won the silver medal in the balance beam.
During the Paris Olympic cycle, the Chinese team still has strong strength in the balance beam event. Qiu Qiyuan won the championship at the 2023 National Gymnastics Championships with a score of 14.900, and at the German DTB Cup Gymnastics Invitational in March 2024, Qiu Qiyuan took out a movement with a difficulty of 7.0 and completed it with high quality, scoring 15.500 points to win the championship.
In this national championships, Qiu Qiyuan has won the gold medals in the all-around and uneven bars, and she is also the favorite to win the balance beam competition. However, she did not play well, and there was a situation where she fell off the wood, and in the end she could only finish third.
The 18-year-old Zhou Yaqin, who also came through the Paris Olympic cycle, excelled in balance beam and floor exercise. Zhou Yaqin has already emerged in the 2020 National Gymnastics Championships, winning the championship with 15.166 points in the balance beam competition. However, she was not selected for the Tokyo Olympic squad. In the 2021 National Games, Zhou Yaqin won the balance beam championship.
At the 2023 World Gymnastics Championships, Zhou Yaqin won the second place on the balance beam with a score of 14.700, and the championship was won by the famous Biles with a score of 14.800 points.
A year later, Zhou Yaqin increased her difficulty, using a big kill move in the national championships, the difficulty coefficient was increased to a terrifying 7.2, and successfully completed the competition, thus getting a high score of 15.466 points. This is the highest personal score of Zhou Yaqin's balance beam career. This score will also be very competitive at the World Series.
Zhou Yaqin and Qiu Qiyuan formed the double insurance of China's balance beam, and the two participated in the Paris Olympics, as long as they successfully completed the balance beam event, they are expected to help the Chinese team win the gold medal in the balance beam event, and even win the top two.
The 18-year-old Zhou Yaqin has the right time to break through herself, and her transformation will also make Chinese women's gymnastics more competitive in team events. Looking ahead to the Paris Olympics, the Chinese women's gymnastics team should be expected to stand on the podium if there are no particularly big mistakes.