The US men showed their depth, taking the Gold medal at the Pan American Games on Saturday. With an all new lineup from the team that competed at the World Championships, they defeated top squads from Canada and Brazil. NCAAers on the team include Cameron Bock (ex Michigan), Stephen Nedoroscik (ex PSU), Curran Phillips (ex Stanford) and Colt Walker (Stanford). Bock and teammate Donnell Whittenburg went one-two in the AA to advance to the final. Whittenburg qualified to the Ring final in 1st and the FX final in 2nd. Bock qualified on the HB and PH. Phillips was the top qualifier on PB while Nedoroscik qualified to the PH final. Walker qualified to the R, PB and HB finals (and was 4th AA, but will not advance due to the two per country rule). Illini Vahe Petrosyan, who qualified as an individual, was 25th AA and 7th on PH (but is also subject to the two per country rule). None of the Americans competed two vaults to be eligible for the event final there. The US men's team total would have placed 4th at the recent World Championships.
Link: USA Gym
Kara Eaker has left the Utah program, has disenrolled from the University, and will retire from gymnastics, citing emotional and verbal abuse leading to debilitating mental health issues resulting in physical issues and suicidal and self-harm ideation. She has been in therapy for a year and a half. Her exit echoes similar statements made this past spring that lead to an investigation.
Elite gymnast Gabby Van Frayen, Gym X-treme, competed three events at the '23 Winter Cup and the Magical Classic elite qualifier.
Stanford's Khoi Young won a silver on VT to go with his silver on PH as the World Championships conclude. He became the first American man to win multiple individual event medals since 1979. He is also the first to win three medals overall since 2003. Simone Biles won BB and FX to bring her total to 23 World Championships.
Michigan's Paul Juda was 5th on VT and HB. Stanford's Asher Hong was 6th on HB while former OU great Yul Moldauer was 8th on PB. Florida commit Shilese Jones was 7th on BB and 5th on FX.
Link: USA Gym
Khoi Young of Stanford won the silver on PH to lead the NCAA-related effort at the World Championships Event Finals. Florida commit Shilese Jones won bronze on UB while Simone Biles took silver on VT (after falling on the Biles 2). On Men's FX, Fred Richard was 8th. On Women's VT, Florida's Leanne Wong was 7th and Nebraska's Csenge Backsay (Hungary) was 8th. Biles was 5th on UB.
Event finals continue tomorrow.
Link: Results
Simone Biles of the USA won her sixth World AA title, tying the all-time record. She also became the gymnast with the most World and Olympic medals in all of history, man or woman. Brazil's Rebeca Andrade was 2nd and Shilese Jones, a UF commit, was third. Biles started off with a 15.1 for a stuck Cheng, her best version of that VT since coming back, with a solid block and huge distance. She stayed steady on UB. On BB, she had a wobble after her mount and went to her backup combo (switch split, switch 1/2, back pike). The crowd gasped, however, on FX when Biles tripped when heading into her switch split full. Laughing after she landed, she posted a 14.533 despite losing the value of the skill. As we all can attest, gymnasts can do a triple twisting double, but they'll trip when walking across the room.
Link: Results
Michigan's Frederick Richard won the bronze medal in the AA finals of the 2023 World Championships. At 19, he becomes the USA's youngest individual medalist and youngest multi-medalist at World's. Daiki Hashimoto of Japan defended his title to win gold, with Illia Kovtun of the Ukraine in 2nd. Hashimoto had a 0.6 lead over Richard heading into the final round, but Richard had a miss on HB. He finished up strong to prevail as the next nearest competitors also experienced errors.
Link: Results
The US Women, led by Simone Biles, overcame a pre-meet injury (Joscelyn Roberson) and a fall from Leanne Wong (Florida) on BB (11.7) to easily win the team Gold. The Gold Medal team includes Florida commits Skye Blakely and Shilese Jones. Arkansas commit Roberson was injured during the one-touch warmup on VT. Brazil won silver and France won the bronze. Biles cemented the meet with one of the best FX routines of her career, sticking three of the landings emphatically and registering a huge 15.166.
Link: Results (PDF)
The US "NCAA Edition", comprised of four current and one former NCAA gymnasts, won the bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships. It is the first US team medal since 2014. Japan won the title while China won the silver. The US team includes Paul Juda and Fred Richard of Michigan, Asher Hong and Khoi Young of Stanford and Yul Moldaer, formerly of OU.
Link: Results
The Women's qualification round for the World Championships have concluded, with teams and individuals claiming Olympic berths for next year. The USA, Great Britain and Canada secured their slots last year. China, Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Australia, Romania and South Korea secured their spots for Paris during this qualification.
Simone Biles of the US leads the qualifications in the AA, VT, BB and FX. She qualified 5th on UB. Teammate Shilese Jones, a Florida commit, qualified to the AA, UB, BB and FX finals. Arkansas commit Joscelyn Roberson qualified to the VT final. Florida commit Skye Blakely qualified to the UB final but is subject to the two finalist per country rule. If a US athlete withdraws she will advance to the final, bumping out two tied for eight. LSU's Aleah Finnegan, representing the Philippines, qualified for the Olympics and is the 2nd alternate into the AA final. Florida's Leanne Wong also was subject to the two per country rule in the AA, and will advance if one of the US athlete withdraws.
Link: Individual Results (AA, Filter by Events)
Videos: Link
The qualifying round for the Men's World Championships was completed, with the US finishing in 2nd. Several US Men qualified for finals. Michigan's Fred Richard and Stanford's Asher Hong qualified for the AA final. Richard qualified 2nd on FX while Hong qualified on 6th PB. Stanford's Khoi Young qualified 2nd on PH and 6th on VT while Michigan's Paul Juda qualified for 5th on VT and 6th on HB. Former OU Sooner Yul Moldauer qualified 4th on PB.
The qualifying round served as a qualifying round for the Olympics. Previously, China, Japan and Great Britain qualified. The US, Canada, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, the Netherlands and Ukraine all qualified. For the AA spots, Brazil, Korea and Belgium each earned a nominative AA spot by finishing in the next three positions. The top 8 AAers not on one of the 12 qualifying teams were also named. Additional spots will be earned in the event finals, the World Cup series, the Continental Championships (AA) and a place reserved for the host country, France (if they do not qualify in any other method) and a Universality place. Unofficially, three gymnasts have already qualified in individual events by placing ahead of those on qualifying team/AA spots. These three include Kevin Penev of Bulgaria, who competed for Michigan and is from New York.
Link: Men's Olympic Qualifiers (Will download a PDF)
Link: Full Men's Results
The young US Men's squad, which includes four current NCAA gymnasts and one former champ, placed an impressive 2nd in the standings after the first day of qualifications. Japan leads the field, with the UK 3rd, Germany 4th and China 5th. Eight more teams compete tomorrow. The US team includes Michigan's Fred Richard and Paul Juda and Stanford's Asher Hong and Khoi Young. Former NCAA champ and ex-Sooner Yul Moldauer completes the squad.
Link: USA Gym Release and Results
SUU has been competing in the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference and it makes the switch in the upcoming season.
Levandowski comes to Brown from a career in club coaching.