2009 World Championships, men's prelims: Russian Maxim Devyatovsky leading after first session

October 13, 10:17 AMGymnastics ExaminerBlythe Lawrence

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Tim McNeill of the U.S. is in second place after the first subdivision of men's qualifying at the 2009 World Championships in London. AP Photo/Alastair Grant

Russia's Maxim Devyatovsky is leading the qualification round on the first day of competition at the 2009 World Championships, being held at London's O2 Arena.

Devyatovsky stayed consistent through six events (89.35) to finish ahead of the United States's Tim McNeill (88.775) and Britain's Daniel Keatings (88.4).

Japan's Kazuhito Tanaka looked strong throughout the first four events but took a large step on his high bar dismount and came unglued on pommel horse to finish fourth (86.65) in this division.

The young Keatings, a hometown favorite, looked solid before an error on his pommel horse dismount caused him to put his hands on the mat on his dismount.

''I was just going round and I misplaced my hand - a silly mistake. Because it's one of my highest-scoring pieces, I was quite upset,'' Keatings told The Sporting Life afterward. The 2009 European all-around silver medalist noted that he was thrilled with his rings performance, however.

McNeill accidentily did a front handspring out of a double twisting front on floor, but was otherwise consistent and finished well on his best events, pommel horse and parallel bars.

Highest scores from this subdivision: Surprisingly, Chile's Sepulveda Gonzalez leads on floor with 15.575, as well as on vault (16.25). McNeill has the high on pommels with 15.35, Yan Mingyong of China with a 15.9 on rings, Guanyin Yang of China on parallel bars with a 15.8 and Kim Kyon Hak of North Korea on high bar (15.0).

Lots more great gymnastics to come in the next sessions, including all-around favorites Jonathan Horton of the U.S. and Kohei Uchimura of Japan.