Men's vault final - as it happened (From Halesowen News)

4:17pm

Well, that's it from us. I did say it would be short and sweet but didn't realise how right I would be! In a final of incredible quality, one mistake was always going to be costly and so it proved for Kristian Thomas.

4:14pm

HAK SEON YANG HAS DONE IT! He is crowned Olympic vault champion with an average score of 16.533. The Korean had to wait until last but absolutely nailed his second vault to win. Ablyazin takes silver and Radivilov bronze. Kristian Thomas ends up finishing last in the final. Not the end to the Olympics he would have wanted but he can be very proud of what he has achieved over the past ten days.

4:09pm

Yang's all important second vault...and he absolutely nails it. Wild celebrations he thinks he has got it! Have the bookies been proved right? We'll just wait now for his score....

4:09pm

Korea's Hak Seon Yang is up now. He takes on a really tough vault but stumbles forward a bit. Last man up...can he deny Ablyazin....16.466 with his first....

4:07pm

Bit of a step on landing but otherwise pretty good on the second vault for Sepulveda. Let's see his score....16.183 average puts him into bronze. Still Ablyazin leads...

4:04pm

Mikulak scores 16.050 to move into bronze...here comes Sepulveda, him of the iffy 'tache. Cracking first vault from him. He scores 16.400...big second vault now coming up...

4:03pm

Sam Mikulak of the USA is up now and he's scored 16.100 with his first vault. His second vault is "textbook" and he lands it perfectly. This will challenge the Ablyazin's score for sure, it's a case of anything you can do, I can do better at the moment!

4:00pm

Ablyazin scores 16.399 to take over the gold position. This really is high quality stuff. As we've seen, the smallest mistake will prove costly.

3:59pm

Samuel Ablyazin of Russia has nailed 16.433 for his first vault. Stunning competition this regardless. Ultra difficult second vault but he steps back a bit...."Incredible vaulting" says the commentator.

3:57pm

Fantastic first vault from Ukraine's Igor Radivilov scores 16.400. He steps back a bit with his second but it's another HUGE vault. I think this will almost certainly end Thomas' hopes of a medal but you can't really argue...16.316 is his average score... he's up to first. Thomas out of it. I told you it would be short and sweet!

3:53pm

Well, if only he could have landed those two vaults. Isaac Botella Perez scores 15.866 from his two vaults. Thomas down to third.

3:50pm

Thomas scored 16.366 for his first vault. Great platform. Big second vault coming up now.....but disaster, he can't land it and ends up on his backside. Not quite enough rotations. 15.533 is his overall score. He is lower than Koczi. So close there for Kristian!

3:48pm

Now it's Thomas. A double pike with his first vault and he lands it perfectly. Should be a good score to start with. Now for his second...

3:47pm

No warm up here on the vault. We are straight in, Flavius Kochi of Romania up first. Triple twist off..he may get a deduction on the landing. His second vault is up now. The vault has to be different but with the same level of difficulty. It's another monster vault....15.966 is his average.

3:44pm

Commentator says Enrique Sepulveda is probably the most stylish vaulter through the air. You can't say the same about his moustache.

3:42pm

And here we go! Big roar for Thomas as he makes his way out of the tunnel and into the auditorium. Some fairly catchy music they're playing here too. Commentator is saying there is a lot of excellent vaulting in store. Here's hoping!

3:40pm

Looks like activity in the arena, I believe the vault hopefuls are about to emerge from the dressing rooms. Expect Thomas to get a huge roar....he's just got one even when they only announced his name.

3:39pm

I'm sure those with their fingers on the pulse would have noticed the Duchess of Cambridge sitting next to Thomas yesterday, as they watched Louis Smith and Max Whitlock in the men's pommel final. I wonder if she will be there to cheer him on today?

3:37pm

Beth Tweddle is just picking up her bronze medal for the uneven bars - Britain's fourth gymnastics medal of the Games. She is the first British female gymnast to medal at an Olympics since 1928.  

3:35pm

Thomas is joint fourth favourite with the bookies going into the final. Hak Seon Yang is odds-on to take the title, with Russia's wonderfully monikered Denis Ablyazin second favourite.

But this is Thomas' favourite piece of equipment and his score of 16.550 in the team final was unmatched by anyone else.

When I spoke to his coach Michelle Bradley last week, she was pretty positive about today.

She said: “Kristian is going into this final with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

“He’s definitely capable of nailing the vault as we’ve already seen and if he does, he will be right in contention.

“The vault is so tough because you just don’t get the time to correct mistakes like you do in other routines.

“But it is still Kristian’s best piece and I’ll be there watching and praying he lands it.”

3:30pm

We're a little more than ten minutes away from the start of competition, so perhaps a little time to reflect on what's been an incredible week for Thomas. First off there was his stunning qualification scores, followed up bronze in the team final where he played the anchor role. To cap it all, he was one mistake away from medalling in the individaul final, though his eventual position of seventh was still the best by a British gymnast in more than a century.

So, all in all, not too shabby.

3:28pm

Hello and welcome to what promises to be another cracking afternoon of gymnastics involving Earls Gymnastics club star Kristian Thomas. Well, I say afternoon, in actual fact the vault final at North Greenwich Arena is only scheduled to last just over half-an-hour so it will be short and sweet.

Just one piece of apparatus involved - the vault. It's Thomas' favourite but also the one on which he made a crucial error in last Wednesday's individual final, which probably cost him a medal.