CALI, Colombia, November 26, 2021 – The U.S. men’s team claimed gold on the first night of competition at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia, behind a top all-around performance from Vahe Petrosyan of Van Nuys, Calif./Gymnastics Olympica USA. Petrosyan’s combined 77.100 led all scorers, while teammate Toby Liang of Roswell, Ga./Roswell Gymnastics earned bronze with a 76.350.
Collectively, the U.S. team (230.700), which also featured Cole Partridge of Bountiful, Utah/USA Gymnastics World and David Shamah of McKinney, Texas/WOGA Gymnastics, outscored second-place Brazil (226.350) by more than four points. Host Colombia (220.950), Mexico (219.850) and Chile (218.450) rounded out the top-five.
Shamah was fifth in the all-around with a 75.600, while Partridge finished ninth with a 74.450. Chile’s Luciano Letelier claimed the silver medal with a 76.500.
Performances Friday at the Coliseo el Pueblo determined who will compete in the men’s artistic gymnastics individual event finals later in the week. Liang was the top qualifier on floor exercise with a 13.400. He also advanced to the pommel horse (12.100) and vault (13.475) finals. Liang will be joined in the pommel horse final by Shamah, who qualified in the top spot with a 12.800. Shamah will also compete on still rings (12.700) and parallel bars (12.650). Petrosyan advanced on rings (13.100), parallel bars (12.800) and horizontal bar (12.750). Partridge will make his lone finals appearance on horizontal bar after qualifying fourth with a 12.750.
The floor exercise, pommel horse and still rings finals will take place Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m. ET, while the remaining apparatus finals will follow at the same time on Monday. The women’s artistic team and all-around competitions kick off tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET. The U.S. women will compete in group three, beginning at 6:30.