© John Cheng

NANNING, China, Oct. 9, 2014 – Sam Mikulak of Newport Coast, Calif./University of Michigan, and Donnell Whittenburg of Baltimore, Md./Team Hilton HHonors (U.S. Olympic Training Center), finished 12th and 17th, respectively, in the men’s all-around finals at the 2014 World Championships at the Guangxi Sports Center Gymnasium in Nanning, China. Competition continues tomorrow with the women’s all-around finals at 7 a.m. ET, featuring defending champion Simone Biles of Spring, Texas/World Champions Centre, and 2013 silver medalist Kyla Ross of Aliso Viejo, Calif./Gym-Max. U.S. fans may follow the action live at universalsports.com and usagymworlds.com.

Japan’s Kohei Uchimura won his fifth consecutive all-around title with a 91.965, finishing ahead of Great Britain’s Max Whitlock at 90.473 and Japan’s Yusuke Tanaka at 90.449. Mikulak’s total was 87.591 (12th), and Whittenburg posted an 86.248 (17th).

The U.S. men return to competition for the individual event finals. On Saturday, Oct. 11, the USA competes in two of the three men’s events – Jake Dalton of Reno, Nev./Team Hilton HHonors (University of Oklahoma), floor exercise, and Alexander Naddour of Queen Creek, Ariz./Team Hilton HHonors (USA Youth Fitness Center), pommel horse – and both women’s events –– Biles and MyKayla Skinner of Gilbert, Ariz./Desert Lights, on vault, and Ashton Locklear of Huntersville, N.C./Everest Gymnastics, on the uneven bars. On Sunday, the final day of competition, Dalton competes on vault; and Danell Leyva of Miami, Fla./Team Hilton HHonors (Universal Gymnastics), and Whittenburg both take on the parallel bars. For the women, Biles and Ross will compete on the balance beam, and Biles and Skinner on floor.

In the all-around’s first rotation, Whittenburg began with a back one-and-a-half to double front and stuck the landing in his floor routine. He was clean through a front layout to double pike front and layout Thomas. He dismounted with an Arabian double pike half out for a 15.100, putting him in ninth place in the overall ranking.

Opening with a back uprise to Maltese and kip to Maltese sequence, Mikulak earned a 14.800 on the still rings. He dismounted with a nearly stuck double-twisting, double back. Mikulak tied for 11th.

For the second rotation, Whittenburg broke form toward the beginning of his routine but recovered to perform a Magyar to Sivado combination and a handstand dismount on pommel horse. He earned a 13.783 for 16th place.

With a Kasamatsu double full, Mikulak earned a 14.633 for his vault. He landed outside of the landing zone, incurring a .300 neutral deduction, and was in eighth place after two rotations.

After missing a peach toward the beginning of his routine, Mikulak remounted and finished strong on the parallel bars at the mid-point of the competition. He performed a peach 1/2, giant Suarez and a double pike dismount. He scored 13.400, putting him in 17th with 42.833.

Whittenburg began with an impressive strength sequence on the still rings that included an Azarian Maltese, bounce cross and back uprise to inverted cross. Dismounting with a layout double-double, he scored 15.266, giving him a three-event total of 44.149.

On the horizontal bar in the fourth rotation, Mikulak soared on his Cassina release to open his routine, but had to break form on the catch of his Kolman. He finished his routine with a layout double-double to earn a 14.658, bringing his four-event total to 57.491 (14th).

Performing a Dragulescu, Whittenburg came up short on his vault and had to put his hands down for a 13.700. He was 17th with 57.849.

In the fifth rotation, Mikulak tumbled a back one-and-a-half to front double full and stuck a front full to double front to start his floor routine. He finished with a triple full for a 15.300, which gave him a 72.791.

Whittenburg began with a front toss between the parallel bars. He followed it up with a peach half to peach to one bar sequence, but went to the side and couldn’t save it. He dismounted with a double front half out for a 14.533, moving him to a 72.382 total.

In the final rotation, Mikulak swung cleanly throughout his entire pommel horse routine, dismounting with a handstand pirouette for a 14.800.

Whittenburg bounced back in the final rotation to deliver a hit routine on the high bar that included a Yamawaki half and layout double-double dismount to score a 13.866.

Ways to follow the action
Here’s a quick overview of the ways to watch and follow the U.S. Team’s performances at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China. The time difference between Nanning and New York City is 12 hours; when it is noon in Nanning, it is midnight in New York. For more information on the World Championships, please go to usagymworlds.com.

  • Live webcasts. UniversalSports.com will have live webcasts of the team, all-around and individual event finals from Nanning, which will also be available at usagymworlds.com. For U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings time, the live webcasts are scheduled for: Oct. 10 – women’s all-around, 7 a.m.; Oct. 11-12 – individual event finals, 1 a.m.

  • Cable TV. Universal Sports Network will air each finals session of the 2014 World Championships daily from 8-10 p.m. ET on Oct. 7-12. In addition, UniversalSports.com will provide LIVE streaming of the final six sessions. The network’s broadcast team includes Olympic gold medalists Bart Conner and Amanda Borden. Live webstreams of the finals sessions will also be available at usagymworlds.com.

  • NBC. NBC will broadcast coverage of the Worlds on Oct. 11 at 2 p.m. and Oct. 12 at 3 p.m. ET, hosted by NBC Sports Group’s gymnastics team of Al Trautwig, Tim Daggett, 1984 Olympic team gold medalist, and Nastia Liukin, 2008 Olympic all-around champion.

  • usagymworlds.com. USA Gymnastics will provide enhanced coverage from Nanning, including results, photos, interviews and the webcast. Fans can also follow the action on Facebook, facebook.com/USAGymnastics, and Twitter, @usagym, #FIGWorlds2014ART or #USAGymWorlds.

  • Live scoring. The International Gymnastics Federation provides live scoring from its World Championships. For more information and access, go to fig-gymnastics.com.