MONTPELLIER, France (AP) — Daniel Purvis led Britain past Russia in qualifying at the European men’s gymnastics championships despite falling on top of a judge in his first event.
Purvis was competing on only three hours of sleep because he was sick with the flu. He got off to a rough start Thursday, botching the landing on his vault and tumbling onto a judge. After that, he rallied nicely.
He finished with 86.764 points and was followed by Ukranians Oleg Verniaiev (85.064) and Oleg Stepko (84.832).
Britain, the European runner-up two years ago, finished with 265.718 points, more than a point better than Russia. Defending champion Germany was fourth at 260.801, trailing France by 2.886. Romania, Belarus, Ukraine and Switzerland also qualified for Saturday’s team final.
