The USA men's and women's teams left the the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland with seven event finals medals for truly tremendous performances. Below are the routines of the medalists as well as our analysis on what made their routines podium-worthy.

Simone Biles - Vault, Bronze - 15.541

Obviously Simone is an absolute powerhouse and simply soars on every vault she does. Her Amanar had its typical huge height and beautiful form, but not as stunningly perfect of a landing as usual. She was still able to score an impressive 15.90 even with the big hop forward. Biles’ second vault of a Lopez has a 5.6 D score, so although she nearly stuck it, she was unable to surpass Russia’s Maria Paseka and Korea’s Hong Un-Jong who both had 6.3 and 6.4 D scores on their two vaults. 

Vault 1: 15.90 (6.3, 9.6)


Vault 2: 15.183 (5.6, 9.583)

Madison Kocian - Bars, Gold (4-way tie) - 15.366 (6.6, 8.766)

Biles - Beam, Gold - 15.358 (6.4, 8.958)

Biles truly nailed her beam routine in event finals, which was redemption for her after a bit of a shaky beam performance in the all-around final where she touched her hands down on a punch front. Biles had been nailing routines in training, but said she was having a hard time controlling her nerves in competition. She showed no signs of nerves in her phenomenal 15.80 event finals routine where her tuck Barani, back handspring layout layout series and stuck full in dismount were the highlights. Biles took the title by over a full point to become the Worlds beam queen once again.

Biles - Floor, Gold - 15.80 (6.8, 9.0)

With sky-high tumbling including an effortless full twisting double layout and her signature Biles pass, Simone is untouchable on floor. She executes with precision, and rarely takes more than a small hop out of any pass she does. She came out with an impressive 9.0 E score on this routine, and when combined with her 6.8 D score, it was easily another golden performance for Biles.

Maggie Nichols - Floor, Bronze - 15.0 (6.2, 8.8)

Nichols is making herself known for incredibly crisp and clean landings on her big tumbling passes. She upgraded her first pass to a tuck double double just this year, although she looks like no rookie while performing it. Nichols shows off her routine well and owns her middle passes of both a pike and tuck full in. Also don’t miss Biles in the background doing the pose before Maggie’s third pass because it’s endearing as ever.

Donnell Whittenburg - Vault, Bronze - 15.350

Whittenburg’s opening Dragulescu was performed with massive height and a clean landing, which earned him a 9.10 E score. However, his second vault of a Tsuk full in is where he set himself apart from many of the other competitors. This vault has a big 6.4 D score and Whittenburg executed it impeccably well. Just a small hop backwards, a double fist pump, and the bronze was all his.

Vault 1: 15.10 (6.0, 9.10)


Vault 2: 15.60 (6.4, 9.2)

Danell Leyva - High Bar, Silver - 15.70 (7.3, 8.4)

Danell Leyva is a high bar standout, and most definitely showed off a crowd-pleasing (and judge-pleasing) routine in the event final. His layout Kovacs with arms stretched to the side, as well as his giant Kolman bolster his strong 7.3 D score. Leyva capped off his routine with a stuck double twisting double layout. Coach and dad Yin Alvarez celebrated this set in his classic way, but with even more animated fist pumps than normal and definitely more jumping. It was all justified, as Leyva locked in the silver with a 15.70.



All videos via USAG


Related:
World Championships Central