Joe Fraser going back to drawing board after missing out on individual medal
Joe Fraser says he’ll go back to the drawing board after missing out on an individual World Championship medal.
Fraser has had a week of two halves in Liverpool, helping Great Britain to a historic men’s team bronze on Wednesday but finishing down the leaderboard in the all-around and parallel bars finals.
The 23-year-old former Sandwell Academy pupil won gold in the latter in 2019 but a score of 14.700 left him eighth on this occasion and he now has eyes on a fresh start next year.
“I did my best to mentally reset but it’s a confidence knock when you perform as badly as I thought I did on Friday,” he said. “One small error can make a huge difference in a final and my dismount wasn’t the best.
“It wasn’t the best routine I could do but I have to be proud of myself for making the final. I’ll go back to the drawing board and see where I can improve.”
Fraser came into the week as one of the hosts’ leading medal hopes but has instead watched his teammates hog the limelight.
Courtney Tulloch won rings bronze on Saturday while Giarnni Regini-Moran stormed to a sensational floor gold to become Britain’s first male world champion on the apparatus.
“There have been so many ups and downs,” Fraser said. “I’ve never had a week like this in terms of feeling so many different emotions.
“I went from feeling like I’d ruined it for the team, then we came back to medal and qualify for the Olympics.
“My legs were shaking watching Giarnni, I’ve not felt a feeling like that in my career.
“We’ve been team-mates since I was nine and I have been there through however many injuries he’s been through. We had surgery on the same day and we’ve come from the bottom to get to a World Championships in just over 12 months, which is very impressive.
“Now he’s world champion on the floor, which is ridiculous. I’m very proud of him.”
n The World Gymnastics Championships Liverpool 2022 was one of the largest international sporting events ever to be held in the city. Over 500 gymnasts from more than 70 countries competed at the M&S Bank Arena from 29 October to 6 November 2022.
