EVERETT — With several top members of the national team on hand, the United States rolled to the men’s team title on Friday during the opening night of the 2016 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships at Xfinity Arena.
Competing on rings, pommel horse, vault, parallel bars, high bar and floor exercise, the United States finished with 355.950 points to claim the team gold medal in an evening session that included Japan, China, Canada, Australia and Chile.
The team silver medal went to China (347.400) and the bronze medal to Canada (333.200).
The Americans were led by Donnell Whittenburg, who won the silver medal in all-around, and Sam Mikulak, who earned the bronze medal. U.S. gymnasts John Orozco and Alex Naddour placed fourth and fifth.
The all-around gold medalist was Weifeng Cai of China.
It was a strong showing by the U.S. men, but certainly not one without flaws. Whittenburg, a bronze medalist in vaulting at the 2015 World Championships, fell on a vault landing and later on a floor exercise tumbling run. Mikulak and Naddour also went down during the floor exercise, and Naddour came off the pommel horse and had to restart.
Kevin Mazeika, the coordinator of the U.S. men’s national team, admitted that the Americans “were definitely rough.” There were, he went on, “definitely some ups and downs. … We’re going to take a lot away from this. It is April and we’ve still got three or four months to go (before the August Olympics in Rio de Janeiro). We’ll take all the lessons we can from this and build on them.”
The team’s goal, Mikulak said, “was to come out and win the team (gold medal), so thankfully we achieved that. I think we would’ve liked to do it with a little more pizzazz. But I think the biggest takeaway that you can get from this competition is that even though we had a lot of mistakes, we never looked back, we never defeated ourselves, and we kept a very upbeat vibe.”
“We just need to go back in the gym and work on a few things because we’re still not at that level that we want to be at,” Whittenburg added. “It was a good showing for the crowd, but there’s still work to be done.”
Japan, which won the team gold medal at the 2015 World Championships, did not send any senior men to these championships, but instead was represented by a squad of junior gymnasts. Likewise, China did not send any team members from its 2015 world championship team, which won the bronze medal.
In the men’s trampoline competition, Russia placed first followed by Japan and the United States. Brothers Jeffrey and Steven Gluckstein of the United States finished second and fourth individually with Russia’s Dmitrii Ushakov placing first and Japan’s Ginga Munetomo taking third.
The Americans finished third in trampoline behind champion Russia and runner-up Japan.
The championships continue Saturday with the women’s team and all-around competitions, beginning at 7 p.m. The U.S. women, led by three-time world all-around champion Simone Biles, and 2012 Olympian Aly Raisman, are expected to make a strong showing.
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