Kaylia_Nemour (Photo by By Ocoudis)
Algerian Kaylia Nemour became the first African gymnast to win a World Championship title Friday in Jakarta, coming full circle on an Uneven Bars odyssey that began with silver at the World Championships two years ago.
Thought to be untouchable for gold if she hit her routine, the 18-year-old rose superbly to the occasion in the eight-woman final. Nemour scored 15.566 points for an exciting exercise that begins with her own named skill, an inbar stalder through to layout Tkatchev on the Horizontal Bar, and finishing with a stuck double layout dismount done directly from a pirouette.
Those kinds of combinations set Nemour apart even in a field of the world’s best, including China’s Yang Fanyuwei, the gymnast who has come closest to Nemour’s numbers on bars this year. Despite a small form break at the beginning of her routine, Yang carried on and caught her signature full-twisting layout Jaeger and hit the rest to earn bronze, her first World medal.
Having narrowly missed out on an All-Around medal Friday, Nemour was elated to finally stand atop the podium.
“After the All-Around final yesterday, my morale was a bit low. But I knew I still had finals to do so I focused on that. I stayed in my bubble and I focused,” she said. “I am so truly happy.” Nemour’s bars title gives her the final jewel in gymnastics’s triple crown, making her World, Olympic and continental champion all at the same time.
Whittenburg claims his own piece of gymnastics history
Top qualifiers prevailed in three of the five apparatus finals inside the Indonesia Arena, but one exception was Pommel Horse winner Hong Yanming of China.
The 19-year-old newcomer surprised by taking gold in a highly competitive final that included Olympic silver medallist Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan and European champion Hamlet Manukyan of Armenia. Both had problems in their routines, clearing the way for Hong and Manukyan’s teammate Mamikon Khachatryan, who earned silver in his Worlds debut.
“This result is something I never expected,” said a visibly astonished Hong. “My original goal was just to make it into the top eight. This is my first time participating in such a major competition as an adult, and it’s quite meaningful. I’m very satisfied.”
American Patrick Hoopes, a former All-Around gymnast who became a Pommel Horse specialist when he joined the U.S. Air Force Academy, hit his routine for bronze.
At his sixth World Championships, 31-year-old Donnell Whittenburg became the first U.S. gymnast to win the title on Still Rings, relegating previous World champions Adem Asil of Turkey, Lan Xingyu of China and Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece to silver, bronze and fifth place, respectively.
The immensely strong Whittenburg earned the medal by drilling the competition’s only triple pike dismount, a skill that was named for him several years ago and is considered one of the most difficult in all of gymnastics. It is Whittenburg’s first World title, and comes a decade after he won Vault bronze.
The secret to his success? “A whole bunch of repetitions,” Whittenburg said. “I think the reps just played a big role and gave me the confidence I needed to just go out there and you know, not be perfect, but just be myself.”
Redemption and resilience on Floor and Vault
Women’s All-Around champion Angelina Melnikova (AIN) added the Vault title and a surprise silver on Uneven Bars, giving her a career total of three World titles and 10 medals. Absent from international competition for the last several years, Melnikova said that the results have surprised her.
“I still can’t believe this, especially my medal on Bars; I worked a lot for this.” Melnikova said. “I just enjoy gymnastics every time I go out here, and I enjoy competition.”
As the final gymnast to perform on Vault, Melnikova showed a composed Cheng and double-twisting Yurchenko to compile 14.466, but much of what came before was wild by gymnastics standards.
Deng Yalan of China, second in the preliminary round, balked on her first attempt and flew right over the vaulting table. European champion Karina Schoenmaier of Germany landed the complicated Cheng for the first time in competition but was deducted 2.0 because she did not touch both hands to the table.
Silver went to Canadian Lia-Monica Fontaine, a World Championships debutante whose steady double-twisting Yurchenko and Lopez showed great technique.
After struggling on Vault in training earlier this week, American Joscelyn Roberson upgraded her first vault to a roundoff, half on, front layout full twist off and landed her double-twisting Yurchenko for bronze, a fitting revenge for a gymnast who injured herself vaulting at the World Championships two years ago. Roberson said she decided Thursday night to do that first vault despite not having trained for the past several months.
“I felt so confident in that vault, so that’s what we decided to do,” Roberson said. “I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster just because vault is my best event I would say, but it’s what gets me most emotional because I did get injured on that vault in ‘23, so it’s hard for me to be confident in myself.”
The day began with the Men’s Floor Exercise final, where the “Battle of the Brits” promised by Briton Luke Whitehouse came to full fruition. It started with Whitehouse, who nailed his opening triple back somersault and delivered powerful tumbling in the rest of the exercise to top Olympic champion Carlos Yulo of the Philippines 14.566 to 14.533.
That set the stage for top qualifier Briton Jake Jarman, a man whose envelope-pushing twisting ability propelled him to the top of the table in qualification. Jarman’s difficulty — beginning with the competition’s only triple-twisting double layout – proved a cut above, and so did his 14.866 score. It gave Jarman his second World title in two years, and his first on Floor Exercise.
“It feels like a dream come true, honestly,” said Jarman, the Olympic bronze medallist from Paris. “I’ve had a Vault title in the past, but I’ve always thought of myself as a Floor guy, so to go to loads of competitions – Europeans, British champs or World Champs – and constantly miss out on a floor final, and miss out on a medal, it’s gut wrenching.”
