The U.S. women’s gymnastics team won its sixth straight world championship in Liverpool, England.
On Tuesday, Nov. 1, the team mixed veterans like Tokyo Olympic medalists Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles with the U.S.’ new top-all rounder Shilese Jones and Skye Blakely, a 17-year-old rookie.
2008 Olympian Chellsie Memmel acts as one of three leaders for the U.S. women’s program and called the women’s work “fantastic.”
“They all went out there and did their job,” she said.
Blakely did fall off the balance beam, but the Americans had a 2.1-point lead after going three for three on vault and uneven bars. They scored 43.133 on vault and 42.199 on uneven bars. It gave them enough to make it through the last rotation on the floor, where they scored 41.833. On beam, they had scored 39.399.
The team beat out Great Britain and Canada when it achieved gold with a total of 166.564 points with 11 of 12 hit routines.
Earning silver, Great Britain earned their best-ever team finish at an Olympics or worlds while Canada, winning bronze, earned its first Olympic or worlds medal for men or women. All three teams will compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Olympic all-around gold medalists Simone Biles and Suni Lee did not compete and have not committed to the 2024 Olympics as of Thursday, Nov. 3. Recent winner Konnor McClain also withdrew from world team consideration due to a back injury in Oct.
Either way, the newcomers (a few of them only freshmen in college) held their own.
“This is a comeback season for a lot of us,” Chiles told NBC Sports. “We’re going to continue it all the way to ‘24.”
