PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – 2005 world uneven bars and balance beam champion Nastia Liukin of Parker, Texas, and Jonathan Horton of Houston won the all-around titles the 2006 Tyson American Cup at the Liacouras Center at Temple University in Philadelphia in front of a crowd of 4,237. Shayla Worley of Orlando, Fla., finished second on the women’s side, while Japan’s Hisashi Mizutori was the runner-up for the men.

Liukin led throughout the entire competition, edging out teammate Worley by 0.275 points. Her 15.600-point score on bars, where she nailed her double layout dismount, was an event-best, and even a fall on her beam mount did not keep her out of first place. With a one-tenth lead heading into the floor exercise, her final event, Liukin tumbled a clean front handspring, front layout, Randi first pass and finished with a high triple twist, earning the highest score on the event, 15.125 points.

"I tried a little too hard on my beam mount," Liukin said. "It was a little nerve-wracking falling so early in the routine, but I had to come back and hit (it). That fall was just a fluke."

Worley, competing in her first senior-level meet, finished second with 59.775 points. She had the highest balance beam score of the day, 15.350, combining difficult leaps and jumps with acrobatic elements.
"I had so much fun going out and performing on floor," said Worley "It was amazing at this competition, the energy was amazing."

Horton, who competes for the University of Oklahoma, defeated 2005 world all-around silver-medalist Hisashi Mizutori of Japan by 0.250 points to win his first major title. Going into the high bar, his final event, Horton, had a three-tenths lead over Mizutori, who was a member of Japan’s 2004 Olympic gold medal team. After catching a layout Kovacs, a Kolman and a tucked Kovacs, Horton landed a clean full-twisting double layout to score 15.450 points. Mizutori was the last gymnast on the high bar, but his 15.500 was not enough to overtake Horton. Horton had the highest vault score of the competition, 15.600, and the rest of his scores ranked among the top four – an indication of his strength as an all-around athlete.

"The NCAA season prepares me for situations like this," Horton said. "I’ve been doing routines over and over in competition, so I come into a high-pressure situation like this and feel very confident."

David Durante finished third with 91.350 points. He had the highest parallel bars and pommel horse scores of the day, where his form and extension helped him to scores of 15.500 point and 15.000 points, respectively.

"We showed the world that the USA is back on top again," Durante said. "We are a country that should be looked at as medal contenders."

2006 Tyson American Cup
Liacouras Center at Temple University
Philadelphia, Pa.
March 4, 2006
Final results (day 2 of 2)

Women’s all-around

  1. Nastia Liukin, USA/Parker, Texas, 60.050
  2. Shayla Worley, USA/Orlando, Fla., 59.775
  3. Aisha Gerber, Canada, 57.650
  4. Lais Souza, Brazil, 57.525
  5. Elsa Garcia, Mexico, 57.050
  6. Zhuoru Zhou, China, 56.325
  7. Daria Bijak, Germany, 56.000
  8. Elena Zamolodchikova, Russia, 54.575

Men’s all-around

  1. Jonathan Horton, USA/Houston, 92.500
  2. Hisashi Mizutori, Japan, 92.250
  3. David Durante, USA/Garwood, N.J., 91.350
  4. Sergey Khorokhordin, Russia, 89.200
  5. Fabian Hambuechen, Germany, 89.100
  6. Nathan Gafuik, Canada, 88.550
  7. Junhao Li, China, 86.850
  8. Florent Maree, France, 84.300