The USA Women’s Gymnastics team claimed the gold medal during the team finals at the World Championships in Liverpool, England. Members of the team included Shilese Jones, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Leanne Wong, and Skye Blakely. At the end of the week the USA women’s team ended up with a total of seven medals. Here's how they did it:
A Gold Performance - Team Final
The U.S. women totaled 166.564 points and hit 11 out of 12 routines during the team final. This was the sixth consecutive women’s team title won by the U.S. The win officially clinched the team a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Carey led the team on vault, scoring a 14.800, and floor scoring 14.100. Jones claimed the team high on bars earning a 14.333, while Chiles led the squad on balance beam with a 13.333.
What makes the win even bigger is that this is the first time since 2012 that the USA women’s team has competed without Simone Biles. Even without the greatest women’s gymnast of all time, they can still come out on top.
Britain claimed the silver medal and earned their best-ever team finish at worlds. Canada received the bronze medal, also making history being the first women’s team to ever win a team medal.
All-Around
Jones and Carey claimed the top two scores on team USA during qualifications, earning them a spot in the all-around competition. Jones and Carey both fell short of the gold medal, but they each earned spots in the top six.
Rebeca Andrade from Brazil claimed the gold medal after earning an all-around score of 56.899. Andrade is the first all-around gold medalist for South America.
Jones earned a place on the podium by earning the silver medal and scoring a 55.399. After placing 10th in the Olympic Trials competition, Jones thought about leaving her elite gymnastic days behind her. She decided to follow her and her late father's dreams of getting her to the Olympics, and is now one of the top gymnasts in the world.
Jessica Gadirova earned bronze for Great Britain and made history by earning Britain's first world women’s all-around medal. Carey finished sixth, improving her placing from the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Vault Finals
Carey and Chiles both earned themselves a spot in the vault finals and claimed the top two spots on the podium.
Carey averaged 14.516 points between her two vaults and received the gold medal for that performance. This is being looked at as her redemption performance from the 2020 Tokyo Games, after she had a slight misstep that took her out of contention for the Olympic medal. This gold makes Carey the fifth American gymnast to have earned both an Olympic and World medal for an individual apparatus.
Chiles was only .166 points behind Carey, earning herself the silver medal. This silver medal was Chiles’ first individual medal at the World Championships.
Uneven Bars Finals
Following her all-around silver, Jones claimed a second silver during the uneven bar finals. She scored a 14.766 to earn silver, just .200 behind gold medalist Wei Xiaoyuan.
Xiaogyuan claimed gold for China scoring a 14.966. The bronze medal was awarded to Nina Derwael of Belgium.
Floor Finals
Chiles and Carey competed in the floor final where they earned two more world medals for the USA. Chiles walked away with the silver medal after scoring a 13.833 on her performance. Carey followed closely behind Chiles scoring a 13.733 to earn her a bronze medal.
Claiming gold was Jessica Gadirova from Great Britain, who scored a 14.200. Gadirova, who was suffering from ankle pain during the vault finals, was able to keep fighting to finish off her Worlds performance with a gold medal.
Carey tied for the bronze with Rebeca Andrade of Brazil. No tiebreaker could be completed because both gymnasts had the same difficulty and execution score.
Balance Beam Finals
Blakely was the lone USA competitor for the balance beam finals. She fell just short of a medal, earning a 13.300 on the event and placing fifth.
Winning gold was Hazuki Watanabe from Japan, who scored a 13.600. The silver medal was claimed by Ellie Black from Canada who earned a 13.566. Earning bronze was Shoko Miyata, who scored a 13.533 on beam.
Recap
The World Championships for women’s gymnastics became a historic one for many different countries. After this competition, it’s becoming even more clear that the 2024 Paris Olympic Games will be a promising and competitive meet.