EVERETT — Even without their star, the gymnasts of the United States women’s national team continued their dominance on Sunday in the evening finale of the 2016 Pacific Rim Championships.
Likewise the U.S. men, coming off a winning but less than stellar showing on Friday in the all-around and team competitions, bounced back to claim all six individual championships during the event finals at Xfinity Arena.
Aly Raisman, the defending Olympic gold medalist in women’s floor exercise, was a convincing winner in that event Sunday. She was also a definite crowd favorite — young fans repeatedly shouted her name during her routine — and it helped her to a comfortable victory over teammate Brenna Dowell.
“I always can hear everyone clapping and I love that,” Raisman said. “Before I go (on the floor) I can hear the little girls cheering for me and that always calms me down. I of course get nervous, but hearing the little girls, the 4- and 5-year-olds in the stands, it’s like the sweetest thing ever. And it definitely gives me that extra boost in confidence.”
Raisman seemed ready to nab a second victory on balance beam, but teammate Ragan Smith edged her with a less difficult, but better executed routine.
Donnell Whittenburg of the U.S. men was the evening’s only double winner, claiming gold medals on rings and parallel bars, and he came close to adding a third gold in vaulting but was narrowly edged by teammate Eddie Penev for first place.
Alas, Whittenburg also capped his night in disappointment by failing to hold his grip on the high bar and tumbling to the mat on the session’s final event. He finished sixth.
Overall, said Whittenburg, a bronze medalist in vault at the 2015 world championships, “there’s still a lot of work to do, but I feel it was a pretty good day. … I just wanted to come out here and get in front of a crowd, get that adrenalin pumping, and make sure that I can still compete. Because you never get the feeling of competition unless you’re actually competing.”
In the months ahead, he added, “I just need to get back in the gym, get more consistent with my routines, and then go out there and do what I know how to do best. But I feel pretty confident where I am right now.”
No doubt, the evening’s biggest disappointment was the absence of Simone Biles, the three-time defending world all-around champion and the star of Saturday night’s all-around competition. Biles was held out of Sunday’s finale by U.S. officials (as was teammate Laurie Hernandez) as a precaution in her Olympic-year preparations.
“The Olympic year is a long one, and we are excited to provide the rest of the team with another important competitive opportunity,” said Martha Karolyi, coordinator of the U.S. women’s national team. “We are very proud of the entire team’s performance and want to make sure that we keep everyone in their optimal physical condition.”
Other event winners for the American men were Jake Dalton in floor exercise, Alex Naddour on pommel horse and John Orozco on high bar. Also winning for the U.S. women was Ashton Locklear on uneven bars.
The only event not won by an American was women’s vaulting. The U.S. had no one in that event because competitors are required to have two vaults in qualifying, and the only American who vaulted twice was Biles.
Dowell became the first U.S. woman to fall in a routine at these championships when she missed gripping the higher of the uneven bars and dropped to the mat. None of the American women had fallen during the team and all-around competitions Saturday, or in the earlier events Sunday.
Ahead for both the U.S. men’s and women’s teams are months of continuing training, additional events including the July 8-10 Olympic Trials, and then the announcement of the teams for the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“The men’s and women’s teams have great depth, and that’s something the U.S. has always been fantastic at,” said Sam Mikulak, a 2012 Olympian who placed second on pommel horse in Everett. “On the men’s side we obviously don’t have the depth that the women do, but we’re growing every year.”
Sunday’s attendance was 5,300 and it pushed the event’s three-day total to 15,318.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
