Ukraine's Krasnianska Wins Beam Gold

AARHUS, Denmark -- Ukraine's Iryna Krasnianska surprised the favourites with her deft flips to grab gold on the balance beam at the world gymnastics championships on Saturday.

Ukraine's Iryna Krasnianska shows her gold medal for the balance beam at the 39th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark
She had to wait 10 minutes, as the crowd grew impatient, for her score of 15.575 points, surpassing Romanian Sandra Izbasa by 0.075 points and Canadian Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs by 0.100 points.

Top qualifier Zhang Nan from China competed despite suffering a scary training injury that required a trip to hospital on Friday.

She tied for fourth with Russia's Anna Pavlova.

All-round champion Vanessa Ferrari of Italy fell during her routine and finished sixth.

American Nastia Liukin could not defend the title she won last year in Melbourne after hurting her ankle earlier this month.

Source: Guardian Unlimited