Yeo Seo-jong misses women's vault podium as Simone Biles takes gold

Korean gymnast Yeo Seo-jeong failed to medal in the women’s vault on Saturday, landing short in both of her jumps to finish in seventh.

Yeo Seo-jeong competes in the women's vault final at the Bercy Arena in Paris on Saturday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korean gymnast Yeo Seo-jeong failed to medal in the women’s vault on Saturday, landing short in both of her jumps to finish in seventh.

Yeo, who appeared to be in pain during the warm up before Saturday’s final, made two high difficulty attempts, but failed to make a solid landing on both occasions, with the second counting as a fall. Those mistakes proved costly, dropping her down to seventh on the leaderboard with a score of 13.416.

Simone Biles of the United States took gold with 15.300, followed by Rebeca Andrade of Brazil on 14.966 and Jade Carey of the United States on 14.466.

Yeo became the first Korean woman ever to medal in gymnastics with a bronze medal in Tokyo and is the captain of the Korean gymnastics team in Paris. She is the latest member of a gymnastics dynasty — both of her parents represented Korea in artistic gymnastics, with her father Yeo Hong-chul taking silver in the vault at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]