LIVERPOOL, Great Britain (November 2, 2022) – In an evening of dramatic competition, the U.S. men’s team finished fifth Wednesday at the 2022 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.
The group, comprised of World Championships veterans Brody Malone (Aragon, Ga./Stanford University), Stephen Nedoroscik (Worcester, Mass./Penn State University) and Donnell Whittenburg (Baltimore, Md./Salto Gymnastics) and newcomers Asher Hong (Tomball, Texas/Stanford University) and Colt Walker (Cedar Park, Texas/Stanford University) posted a combined 245.692 across six rotations at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena. China earned top honors with a 257.858, while Japan (253.395) and Great Britain (247.229) rounded out the podium. Italy (245.995) was fourth, edging the U.S. by less than half a point.
Hong paced the team on pommel horse, where he notched the day’s fourth-highest score with a 13.566, vault (14.533), parallel bars (14.533) and floor exercise (13.933). Malone’s 14.366 on horizontal bar led U.S. gymnasts and was the competition’s third-highest total. Whittenburg delivered the team’s top showing on still rings with a 14.466, the session’s fourth-best performance.
Collectively, American gymnasts garnered scores of 40.265 on floor, 38.265 on pommel horse, 42.265 on rings, 42.833 on vault, 42.865 on parallel bars and 39.199 on horizontal bar.
The U.S. men will return to action this weekend for individual finals. Hong and Malone will vie for the all-around title Friday at 1:45 p.m. ET. Nedoroscik and Wittenburg are through to Saturday’s pommel horse and still rings finals, respectively, and Malone, the reigning World horizontal bar bronze medalist, will compete in the high bar final Sunday. All finals will stream live on Peacock
On the women’s side, Jade Carey (Phoenix, Ariz./Oregon State University) and Shilese Jones (Auburn, Wash./Ascend Gymnastics Center) will represent the U.S. in tomorrow’s all-around final. Coverage will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET on Peacock.