Having faced several injury related issues leading into the Games, Bull came up against stellar competition with over 90 athletes taking to the floor, the best of the best having qualified from the top gymnastics’ countries from around the world. 

Bull had earned his Tokyo 2020 place in October 2019, after finishing 7th in the Horizontal Bar final at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. The 28-year-old had very little international competition since due to the challenges facing the global community over the past 18 months. 

Despite the adversity, Bull felt confident going into the qualification session, competing in his speciality of the Horizontal Bar apparatus in the first rotation, relying on his years of preparation and experience. 

“The past couple of performances have all different setbacks,” Bull said. “At the end of the day, you just have to trust the work you have done and know that you have pulled it together when it counted before, and you can do that again. To have that belief in yourself. More than anything, today I just felt confident and knew I had years of work behind it.” 

The preparation paid off, a clean and strong routine to secure a personal best in international competition, beating the previous score he had earned in Stuttgart, Germany in October of 2019. 

Bull said, “It’s a giant feeling of relief and excitement. It’s been anything but smooth leading into the Games, so I was just so stoked to hit that set. It’s the highest difficulty I’ve done and highest score I’ve got on a world stage, so regardless of whether I make the final or not, I’m over the moon.” 

Bull came out strong against a tough field, coming in behind Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto who scored 15.033 as the top qualifier in the apparatus. With the Horizontal bar done and dusted, Bull then had to wait until the sixth and final rotation to also compete on the Parallel Bars to finish his night of competition, earning a 13.566. Bull, having taken part in the second session of the day, would have to wait more than five hours until the last session was competed to learn the final result. 

“It’s a phenomenal feeling.” Bull said. “I’ve had such incredible support from all my close friends, family, teammates, support staff. There are so many people I want to thank in this moment, they know who they are and know they contributed to this performance. I hope I made them proud. I love the support and how all the Aussies get around each other.” 

The Artistic Gymnastics will continue Sunday with the Women’s competition commencing their first day of qualifications. Bull will now refocus ahead of his individual apparatus final on Tuesday, August 3. 

Shannon Knaus