The finals of the 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships kicked off in Kitakyushu, Japan, and so far it's been nothing but medals for Team USA. Four women and six men participated in qualifications, then two women and four men ultimately made it past the prelims to compete for world titles. They include Kayla DiCello, Leanne Wong, Yul Moldauer, Brody Malone, Stephen Nedoroscik, and Alec Yoder. Here, we're breaking down how the American athletes fared. Come back as we update this post with new results when the competitions unfold.
Note: There is no team event this time around, and the top eight qualifiers (with a two-per-country maximum) and top 24 all-around qualifiers (also with a two-per-country maximum) moved on to the finals, where scores are refreshed. The four women's and six men's event finals were broken up into sessions on Oct. 23 and 24, though Team USA athletes didn't qualify for all of them, just the ones seen ahead.
Team USA Results: World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Women's All-Around Final
On Oct. 21, Wong and DiCello competed in the world all-around final and finished second and third, respectively, behind the Russian Gymnastics Federation's Angelina Melnikova. Melnikova tallied an overall score of 56.632 and maintained her first-place status from the second rotation onward. Wong also solidified her silver-medal ranking following the second rotation, and she finished with a 56.340.
DiCello started off strong with a 14.6 on vault, then a fall on bars had her contending for that bronze podium position for the rest of the competition (beam and floor were solid for her!). Her final all-around score was a 54.566, almost a point ahead of the next-highest contender, fourth-place finisher and Melnikova's teammate Vladislava Urazova. Read more about how the 2021 world women's all-around final went here.
Team USA Results: World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Men's All-Around Final
The men's side of the world all-around competition took place on Oct. 22. Moldauer, a Tokyo Olympian, placed fourth with a score of 84.365 compared to 84.899 from third-place finisher Illia Kovtun from the Ukraine. A 87.964 from Japan's Daiki Hashimoto earned him silver, and China's Zhang Boheng scored 87.981 to earn the gold medal.
This is the best world all-around finish from an American man since Jonathan Horton won all-around bronze back in 2010 (Paul Hamm is the only gymnast from Team USA on the men's side to have ever claimed a world all-around title, which happened in 2003). Moldauer was the sole American man to compete all-around in the qualifiers this time around; he placed 13th overall with 81.064, so fourth in the finals is quite the achievement. He said it's also the best all-around result he's had on the world stage.
Team USA Results: World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Men's Pommel Horse Final
Nedoroscik, a two-time NCAA pommel horse champion as well as the 2021 US pommel horse champion, won the pommel horse title at 2021 Worlds on Saturday, Oct. 23, with a score of 15.266. This is the first time a man from the United States has earned a world gold medal on this event. China's Weng Hao and Japan's Kazuma Kaya tied for silver, both scoring a 14.9 (they had the same execution and difficulty scores that normally determine a tiebreak).
Yoder, the 2019 NCAA champ and 2021 national silver medalist on pommel horse, also competed in the men's final after qualifying in third place (Nedoroscik qualified through in second with a score that was one tenth higher than his score in the finals). Yoder finished in fifth in the final with a 14.766. No other man or woman from Team USA qualified for the additional event finals on this day, but you can watch four American athletes compete tomorrow, Oct. 24.
Team USA Results: World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Women's Beam Final
Wong and DiCello placed fourth and seventh, respectively, on beam in the qualifying round. These finals take place on Sunday, Oct. 24, and at the top of the pack is Luo Rui from China with a high difficulty score of 6.1. As of now, you can watch the competition live on the Olympic Channel starting at 3:25 a.m. ET, and there will be further World Championships coverage on NBC and Peacock starting at 1:40 p.m. ET that day, according to USA Gymnastics (NBC.com lists this additional coverage as beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET).
Team USA Results: World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Women's Floor Final
Wong and DiCello qualified third and fourth in the floor finals at 2021 Worlds taking place on Sunday, Oct. 24, the same day as the beam final. In the prelims, the top floor competitors were separated by mere tenths (some by less than a tenth), so it'll be a close one. Wong had the highest floor score of the night during the all-around competition on Oct. 21. Coverage of the floor final will be mixed in with the women's beam final and three men's event finals on the Olympic Channel starting at 3:25 a.m. ET. Like we mentioned and according to USA Gymnastics, there will be further World Championships coverage on NBC and Peacock starting at 1:40 p.m. ET that day (NBC.com lists this coverage as starting at 1:30 p.m. ET).
Team USA Results: World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Men's High Bar Final
Also on Sunday, Oct. 24, is the men's high bar final, where Malone, another Tokyo Olympian, will compete after landing in fourth during qualifications. He finished just off of the podium on this event at the Olympics, and he's a two-time NCAA high bar champion as well. The competition takes place on Sunday, Oct. 24; watch Malone compete live on the Olympic Channel starting at 3:25 a.m. ET. As mentioned, there will be further World Championships coverage on NBC and Peacock starting at 1:40 p.m. ET that day, according to USA Gymnastics (NBC.com lists this coverage as beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET).
Team USA Results: World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Men's Parallel Bars Final
You can see Moldauer, the 2021 US parallel bars champion, compete in the men's parallel bars final on Sunday, Oct. 24, as well. He qualified through in sixth place. He'll compete on the Olympic Channel sometime after the live coverage starts at 3:25 a.m. ET, and there will be further World Championships coverage on NBC and Peacock starting at 1:40 p.m. ET that day, according to USA Gymnastics (NBC.com lists this coverage as starting at 1:30 p.m. ET).
Ahead, check out video highlights along with photos from Team USA athletes at 2021 Worlds so far.
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