Joscelyn Roberson (Spring, Texas/World Champions Centre) collected three medals, two of them gold at the 2023 Cairo Apparatus World Cup, held Thursday through Sunday in Egypt. Ian Skirkey (Pepperell, Mass./University of Illinois) and Kameron Nelson (Evans, Ga./Ohio State University) each notched top-five finishes.
Roberson was crowned vault and floor exercise champion and secured balance beam silver. She claimed vault gold with a combined 13.983 (14.033, 13.933) after tying for the top qualifying spot with Italy’s Asia D’Amato (14.020) on Day 1. D’Amato finished second in the final with a 13.600 (14.100, 13.100), and Panama’s Hillary Heron in third with a 13.599 (13.766, 13.433).
Roberson’s 13.700 on floor again put her at the top of the podium, ahead of Italy’s Alice D’Amato, who was second with a 13.500, and Indonesia’s Rifda Irfanaluthfi in third with a 12.630. On balance beam, Roberson scored a 13.230 for silver behind first place Giorgia Villa of Italy (13.600) and ahead of Belgium’s Erika Pinxten in third (13.030).
In men’s competition, Skirkey was fifth in the pommel horse final with a 14.266. Taiwan’s Chih Kai Lee was first with a 15.033 followed by Armenia’s Gagik Khachikyan in second with a 14.733. Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun and Armenia’s Harutyun Merdinyan each scored a 14.566 to tie for third.
Nelson picked up a fifth-place finish on vault with a combined 14.070 (14.500, 13.630) on the final day of competition Sunday. Artur Davtyan of Armenia took the top spot with a 15.170 (15.070, 15.270) ahead of Ukraine’s Nazar Chepurnyi in second with a 14.800 (14.770, 14.830), and Czech athlete Ondrej Kalny in third with a 14.330 (14.270, 14.400). Ireland’s Dominink Cunningham was fourth with a 14.150 (14.500, 13.800). During Day 1 of event finals, Nelson was eighth on floor with an 11.800.
Donnell Whittenburg (Baltimore, Md./ Salto Gymnastics Center) was also in action in Egypt where he participated in the still rings (13.930), horizontal bar (13.200) and floor (12.730) qualifying rounds. He was second reserve for the high bars final coming out of qualifications.