© John Cheng

GLASGOW, Great Britain, Oct. 30, 2015 – Donnell Whittenburg of Baltimore, Md./Team Hilton (U.S. Olympic Training Center), finished in eighth place in the men’s all-around final at the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships at the SSE Hydro Arena in Glasgow, Great Britain. Competition continues tomorrow with the first of two days of individual event finals, on Oct. 31 at 1:30 p.m. local/9:30 a.m. ET. Fans in the U.S. can watch coverage of Team USA, presented by AT&T, live on USAGymWorlds.com/live.

Whittenburg, one of the reserve athletes, was added to the field when Belarus’ Dzmitry Barkalau withdrew earlier today. Whittenburg’s 88.797 put him in eighth. Danell Leyva of Miami, Fla./Team Hilton (Universal Gymnastics), finished 17th with 84.565. Japan’s Kohei Uchimura extended his winning streak, clinching his sixth-straight title with a 92.332. Cuba’s Manrique Larduet was second at 90.698. China’s Deng Shudi completed the top three, posting a 90.099.

Saturday is the first day of event finals, and the U.S. athletes competing are: pommel horse – Alexander Naddour of Queen Creek, Ariz./Team Hilton (USA Youth Fitness Center); still rings – Brandon Wynn of Voorhees, N.J./Team Hilton (U.S. Olympic Training Center), and Whittenburg; women’s vault – Simone Biles of Spring, Texas/World Champions Centre; and uneven bars – Gabrielle Douglas of Virginia Beach, Va./Buckeye Gymnastics, and Madison Kocian of Dallas/WOGA. Sunday’s event finals feature the following USA gymnasts: men’s vault – Whittenburg; parallel bars – Leyva; horizontal bar – Chris Brooks of Houston/Team Hilton (U.S. Olympic Training Center), and Leyva; balance beam – Biles; and women’s floor exercise – Biles and Maggie Nichols of Little Canada, Minn./Twin City Twisters.

In the first rotation, Leyva began on the floor where he had to put his hands down on his opening tumbling pass. He finished strong with a double layout dismount to post 13.733. Whittenburg earned a 15.533 on the still rings, opening his routine with an Azarian Maltese, bounce L cross, push Planche sequence. He dismounted with a clean layout double-double.

Whittenburg went for broke on the vault, throwing the harder of his two vaults, the full-twisting double Tsukahara. He couldn’t control the landing and rolled out of it for a 14.533. On pommel horse, Leyva began with two clean scissors to handstands but then nearly fell after a single-pommel sequence, earning a 12.933. At the end of the rotation, Whittenburg was ranked third at 30.066. Leyva’s total of 26.666 put him in 23rd. Uchimura was in first with 30.833, followed by Britain’s Max Whitlock at 30.616.

Whittenburg posted a 15.633 on the parallel bars with an intricate opening sequence of front toss, Peach-half, Peach to one bar, Peach. He dismounted with a stuck double front half out. Leyva opened his rings routine with a whip-it to L cross. He swung smoothly through piked and tucked Yamawakis into a back uprise straddle planche. He stuck his double-twisting, double back flip for a 14.233. After three events, Whittenburg was second at 45.699, behind Uchimura at 45.766. Whitlock ranked third at 45.616. Leyva moved up to 21st with 40.899.

Leyva scored a 14.300 for his well-controlled Kasamatsu full vault. On the horizontal bar, Whittenburg executed a Cassina and a stalder Rybalko to Yamawaki-half. He finished with a stuck layout double-double for a 13.666. Whittenburg’s four-event total was 59.365, which dropped him to sixth. Leyva tallied a total of 55.199 for 22nd place. Uchimura retained first with 61.399.

Whittenburg threw huge tumbling skills and controlled his landings en route to a 15.266 for his floor exercise. He opened with a one-and-a-half twist to double front and a layout double-double and nearly stuck his Arabian double pike half out to close. Displaying his trademark under bar work, Leyva scored a 15.366 on the parallel bars. He opened with an intricate sequence that included a Peach Diamidov, Peach to one bar, Peach full pirouette, giant Diamidov-half, giant Diamidov and a giant. After five events, Whittenburg’s total was 74.631 for fifth, and Leyva’s 70.565 moved him to 17th. Uchimura remained in first with 77.232.

In the final rotation, Whittenburg was clean on the pommel horse, working through both a single pommel spindle and Russian before moving to a Magyar-Sivado combination and a handstand dismount. He scored a 14.166. Leyva started strong on the high bar with clean catches on a layout Kovacs and a Kolman but then went the wrong way on his Takamoto-half and had to hop off the apparatus. He finished strong with a layout double-twisting, double back dismount for a 14.000. Whittenburg’s total for the day was 88.797 and eighth place. Leyva’s 84.565 put him in 17th place.

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 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Due to daylight saving time, from Oct. 19-24 and Nov. 1, Glasgow will be five hours ahead of the U.S. Eastern time zone. From Oct. 25-31, Glasgow will be four hours ahead of the Eastern time zone. For more information on the World Championships and the complete online and television schedule, go to USAGymWorlds.com. All coverage of the World Championships is presented by AT&T.

  • Live streaming of the six finals sessions will be available on UniversalSports.com and USAGymWorlds.com/live.
    • Oct. 31, individual event finals (men’s floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings; women’s vault, uneven bars), 9:30 a.m. ET
    • Nov. 1, individual event finals (men’s vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar; women’s balance beam, floor exercise), 8:30 a.m. ET
  • Universal Sports Network will air each finals session of the World Championships daily at 8 p.m. ET Oct. 27-30 and Nov. 1 and at 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 31. The network’s broadcast team includes Olympic gold medalists Bart Conner and Amanda Borden.
  • NBC will broadcast delayed Worlds coverage on Oct. 31 at 2:30 p.m. and Nov. 1 at 12 p.m., with commentary from NBC Sports Group’s gymnastics team of Tim Daggett, 1984 Olympic team gold medalist, Nastia Liukin, 2008 Olympic all-around champion, and Al Trautwig.
  • USA Gymnastics will provide enhanced coverage from Glasgow, including results, photos, interviews and the webcast. Fans can also follow the action on Facebook, facebook.com/USAGymnastics, and Twitter, @usagym, #FIGWorlds2015ART 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.