USA and China bag two apparatus golds each

The People’s Republic of China and the United States collected two golds apiece on the first day of apparatus finals at the Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships in Manila.

Chinese gymnasts gilded their success with golds on Men’s Floor Exercise and Pommel Horse, courtesy of 16-year-old Yang Lanbin and Zheng Ao. It was Yang’s second title and third medal of the championships after team gold Friday and All-Around bronze Saturday, and the first individual medal for 18-year-old Zheng.

While Yang scored 13.833 to prevail over a talented field that mostly hit their routines in the first final of the day, Zheng emerged as the Pommel Horse champion only after six of the eight in the final fell or had visible errors. That included Zheng, who performed three quarters of a superb exercise before dropping off. Still, his 13.533 carried the day.

“It was an interesting final because a lot of gymnasts fell,” Zheng said.

“So actually, I wasn’t thinking about winning the gold medal. I haven’t been thinking that I have a lot of talent for Pommel Horse, but I can say that I have worked very hard, and I will continue to work hard.”

Silver medallist Leeroy Traore-Malatre of France was the first to perform and didn’t think he was in line for a medal after an error on his dismount. The 18-year-old watched with mounting disbelief as competitor after competitor who went up after him failed to turn in clean sets.

“After the first one came off, I was like, ‘oh.’ Then the second one happened and I was like, ‘ohhh.’ After the third one it was ‘wow,’” said Traore-Malatre, who scored 13.200.

Bronze was the third medal in Manila for Japanese team captain Ojima Nao, after team and All-Around silvers.

On Still Rings, American Dante Reive showed two difficult Maltese crosses and stuck his double-twisting double tuck dismount for 13.866, edging strong Simone Speranza of Italy by 0.2 to take the first World Junior gold by an American. Reive, who turned 18 in October, attributed his success to genetics.

“I was kind of born with a lot of unreasonable strength,” he said.

“I’ve been able to do a lot of the strength stuff for a while. I didn’t really start really working on it until last year and this year and it just keeps progressing. So I feel pretty blessed to say the least.”

Speranza, an 18-year-old from Sicily, picked up silvers on both Rings and Floor Exercise. While he knew he was favoured on Rings, Floor came as a surprise.

“I wasn’t expecting it. On rings, yes, because I knew I was carrying a very difficult routine and could do so much. In fact, not getting the gold medal makes me a little angry, let’s put it that way. But I accept it,” the charismatic 18-year-old said.

“This is a great result for me, but I know I can do better. And I’m not going to stop here — we’re going to fly higher and higher!”

On the subject of flight, Karl Eldrew Yulo thrilled the host nation by winning bronze for a Floor routine that ended with a gorgeously stuck double layout.

Eight years after his famed older brother Carlos won the Philippines’s first senior World medal with bronze on Floor Exercise, the younger Yulo has accomplished the exact same feat at the junior level, a fact that was lost on nobody in the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay City.

Not to be outdone by his teammates, Wang Chengcheng capped a solid day for China with Still Rings bronze, giving his nation seven medals so far, the most of any country in Manila.

Vaulting ahead of the rest

Lavi Crain of the USA opted not to perform her double-twisting Yurchenko vault in Saturday’s All-Around final, but the 14-year-old brought it out Sunday and drilled it to take gold in a memorable performance.

Crain added a beautiful Yurchenko full to ensure herself a golden souvenir from what will be her only Junior World Championships. She averaged 13.683 to win the day on execution in a final replete with double-twisting Yurchenkos, 0.2 ahead of Nishiyama Misa of Japan, who showed a double twist and 1.5-twisting variations of her own.

“I’ve been working really hard for this moment, and I was really happy that I nailed it,” said Crain, who became the second American gymnast to win the Junior World Vault after Kayla Di Cello in 2019. “I just knew that if I did what I do in practice it would be good.”

Bronze medallist Alexia Blanaru of Romania saved her double-twisting Yurchenko for last. The15-year-old opened with a flighty full-twisting version, then unleashed the more difficult vault to earn Romania’s first Junior World medal on the apparatus.

Elsewhere, 15-year-old neutral athlete Milana Kaiumova showed superb lines and difficult combinations of inbar skills to win the Uneven Bars title with 13.933. “The competition was great, and I’m so happy with my victory,” said Kaiumova, who finished sixth All-Around Friday. “Honestly, I didn’t expect it, but I was really hoping for it.”

Equally elegant in her work, Lucia Piliarova of Slovakia earned 13.800 and her nation’s first World medal, a silver. A hit set from Caroline Moreau of the USA gave the U.S. another bronze, matching the one they earned as a team Thursday.

New Junior World All-Around champion Elena Colas of France finished fourth on Vault and fifth on Uneven Bars.