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≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡
This was the year the U.S. was going to have a hard time at the World Artistic Championships, unfortunately held in Jakarta (INA), which made headlines that will continue for years after the Indonesian government refused to allow Israel to compete.
For the American teams – men and women – only Brody Malone returned from the bronze-medal-winning Paris team. None of the U.S. women returned at all from the superstar 2024 team that won seven medals, including the team gold.
So? Instead of a flop, the U.S. ended up with five medals (2-2-1), the same as three of the prior four post-Olympic Worlds, when the Team events are not held:
● 2021: 5 (1-1-3)
● 2017: 5 (1-3-1)
● 2013: 12 (3-6-3)
● 2009: 5 (2-1-2)
● 2005: 9 (4-4-1)
The American women’s squad suffered the loss of U.S. All-Around champion (and Paris alternate) Hezly Rivera to injury as well as emerging star Claire Pease, 16, who was the U.S. runner-up on Vault in her first senior nationals in 2025 and won a FIG World Cup on Beam.
So it was the men who picked up the slack, producing two golds and a bronze, while the women earned one silver and one bronze.
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The men’s wins came from veteran Donnell Whittenburg on Rings and Malone on the Horizontal Bar. It’s the first time for two American men’s golds in the same Worlds since Paul Hamm won the All-Around and tied for the Floor Exercise title since 2003, when the meet was held in Anaheim, California! Before that, you’re back to 1979 and three golds for Kurt Thomas (Floor and Horizontal Bar) and Bart Conner (Parallel Bars). Details:
● Whittenburg, 31, was in his sixth Worlds, with his prior best on Rings of eighth in 2022. But he was a four-time U.S. champion, although only third in 2025. But he dominated in Jakarta, with the highest difficulty score of 6.000 and the third-best execution score of 8.700 to total 14.700, well ahead of Turkey’s 2022 World Champion Adem Asil (14.566) and China’s 2022 World Champion Xingyu Lan (14.500).
Whittenburg broke all kinds of records for age, passing Thomas as the oldest U.S. men to win a Worlds golds; Thomas was 23 in 1979. Moreover, he’s the oldest American Worlds medalist ever, well past Paul O’Neill (1994 Rings silver), who was 28.
It’s Whittenburg’s third career Worlds medal, after a Team bronze in 2014 and an individual bronze on Vault in 2015.
● Malone, 25, was less of a surprise, having won the Horizontal Bar gold at the 2022 Worlds and was the lone Paris Olympian returning. The key to his win was again having the highest difficulty (6.400) and he tied for the best score in execution (8.533) and totaled 14.933. He beat All-Around champ Daiki Hashimoto (JPN: 14.733) and Britain’s Joe Fraser (14.700), the 2019 Worlds Parallel Bars gold medalist.
For Malone, it’s his third career Worlds medal, also including a 2021 bronze on the Horizontal Bar.
In the other men’s events, China took two wins, with Yanming Hong scoring 14.600 on Pommel Horse to edge Mamikon Khachatryan (ARM: also 14.600) on better execution, with Patrick Hoopes of the U.S. winning bronze at 14.566), his first Worlds medal. Jingyuan Zou, China’s two-time Olympic champ on Parallel Bars, won his fourth Worlds gold in the event at 15.300, ahead of Japan’s Tomoharu Tsunogai (14.500). Whittenburg placed fifth at 14.233.
Carlos Yulo (PHI) was dazzling in Paris with Olympic wins on Floor and Vault and he was back for both in Jakarta. He won the Vault (also in 2021) at 14.866, ahead of Artur Davtyan (ARM: 14.833), but Britain’s Jake Jarman, the 2023 Vault World Champion led a U.K. 1-2, scoring 14.866 to 14.666 for teammate Luke Whitehouse. Yulo picked up the bronze at 14.533, with Kam Nelson of the U.S. fourth at 14.133.
The American ended with five finalists in the six events and three medals, despite losing Asher Hong, the U.S. men’s 2025 All-Around-Floor-Rings-Vault champion, to injury.
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The U.S. women started well with a silver for Leanne Wong in the All-Around, repeating her 2021 Worlds silver. There were American finalists in all four apparatus finals, who earned one medal.
That was from Joscelyn Roberson on Vault, who scored an average of 13.983, behind All-Around winner Angelina Melnikova (RUS “neutral”) and Lia Monica Fontaine (CAN: 14.033). Algeria’s Olympic Uneven Bars winner Kaylia Nemour won her first Worlds gold, scoring 15.566, way ahead of Melnikova (14.500) and Fanyuwei Yang (CHN: 14.500). American Skye Blakely was fourth at 14.333.
On Beam, Qingying Zhang (CHN), the A-A bronzer, took the Beam at 15.166 ahead of Nemour (14.330) and Japan’s Akio Sugihara (14.166). Dulcy Caylor of the U.S. – age 17, in her first Worlds – placed eighth at 11.800. Sugihara won on Floor, scoring 13.833 to edge Britain’s Ruby Evans (13.666) and Abigail Martin (13.466). Caylor, in her third final of the meet, was sixth at 12.966.
The two medals for the American women was the worst since 2001 (0-0-2 then), but there were also three-medal performances in 2002 and 2021.
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