North Vancouver’s Scott Morgan finished eighth in the floor final Saturday in Antwerp, Belgium, to wrap up his first ever appearance at the world gymnastics championships.
Morgan posted a score of 14.833 points in the final after executing a solid routine. Kenzo Shirai of Japan won gold with 16.000 points, followed by Jacob Dalton of the United States with a score of 15.600. Four-time men’s all-around world champion Kohei Uchimura of Japan took bronze with a score of 15.500. Morgan chalked up the scoring gap to the difference in degree of difficulty.
“I have a difficult routine but not a huge start value like the winner from Japan,” he said in a Gymnastics Canada release. “I went in and hit an amazing routine for me and stuck most of my landings.”
Morgan, 24, was the first Canadian male gymnast to qualify for a world championship event final since 2004 Olympic champion Kyle Shewfelt won a bronze medal on the floor at the 2006 worlds.
Morgan’s rise up the gymnastics ranks is all the more impressive considering he quit the sport for four years while in high school at Seycove secondary. He resumed training with North Vancouver’s Flicka Gymnastics Club in 2007 and made the Canadian national team in 2011. He now has his sights set on representing Canada at the 2016 Olympic Games.
“These past three or four years have been absolutely amazing leading up to this world championship and I wouldn’t change it for the world,” he said. “It was incredibly nerve-wracking but so exciting to compete here and I want to do it all over again. It’s one thing to think about it and to dream about it and it’s another thing to feel it and it’s absolutely amazing.”
