International Gymnast

Men’s Competition

KOJI Uematsu was the first competitor on floor (piked double Arabian half; double layout; tucked full-in). And although 0.3 in neutral deductions landed him in last after the first rotation, it was good to see a routine with more flips and fewer twists.

Philipp Boy’s (Germany) 11⁄2 twist to tucked Thomas was secure, but his ending triple twist was rather messy. Horton opened with a tucked double double, and a few hops on his landings put him narrowly behind Boy, 15.133-15.066.

Dalton tumbled a huge layout double Arabian and triple twist. It was a fantastic routine ( 6. 6 D-score) with impressive execution ( 9.166 E-score) for a well-deserved 15.766 and the early lead.

Britain’s Daniel Purvis was only 0.1 behind Dalton in difficulty, but a hand down after a 21⁄2 twist to rudi and a large step after a piked double Arabian left him in a tie for fifth ( 14.633).

Purvis and Boy fell off pommels, and the Americans were hampered by low D-scores ( 3. 8 for Dalton). Samuel Hunter (Great Britain) fought to

2011 World Cup Series Category A: Competition II (All-Around)

1) Jacksonville, Florida: March 5
2) Glasgow, Scotland: April 14-17
3) Stuttgart, Germany: November 12-13
4) Tokyo, Japan: November 26-27

OPPOSITE: American Jonathan Horton (top) won his third American Cup title, while Ukraine’s Nikolai Kuksenkov (bottom) finished a close second.

ABOVE: Strong floor, vault and parallel bars routines helped Jake Dalton (USA) overcome a relatively simple routine on the pommel horse and place third overall.

LEFT: Japan’s Koji Uematsu won parallel bars ( 15.433) and was in position to finish in the all-around medals until he scored only 14.700 on high bar.

stay on the apparatus when his Russians went awry, and recovered nicely to place fourth ( 13.733). Cyril Tomassone (France) showed good form and extension for a 14.666, while Ukraine’s Nikolai Kuksenkov won this event with a secure and fast-paced routine ( 14.866).

Horton dominated rings (Maltese to iron cross; Jonasson to planche; tucked double-double dismount) for an event-high 15. 5. Kuksenkov stayed on Horton’s heels (Jonasson to Yamawaki to straddle planche; piked double front dismount), tied with Dalton ( 11⁄2-twisting double tuck).

Uematsu’s routine was original and included a Jonasson to handstand; piked Guczoghy to O’Neill; and piked double front dismount. Hunter struggled here and put a hand down on his 11⁄2-twisting double back dismount ( 13.266).

Boy won vault with a high, stuck handspring-double front that elicited cheers from the crowd. Horton performed the same vault but scored 0.1 less (low landing, step to the side), while Dalton’s Lopez (Kasamatsu-double twist) was the most difficult vault of the day. Meanwhile, Kuksenkov took a 0.1 lead after his double-twisting Yurchenko ( 15. 7).

Boy, Dalton and Horton shared second place on parallel bars ( 15.066), with all of them using a double pike dismount. Kuksenkov, whose form here wasn’t the best, finished .266 behind this trio, and was in second place after five rotations.

Uematsu claimed the top p-bars score ( 15.433) with a routine that included a peach-half, piked Belle and Tippelt, but this was not enough to move him higher than seventh with one event remaining.

Going into high bar, less than 2.5 points separated the top seven gymnasts, and Horton clung to a 0.16 lead over Kuksenkov, who led Tommasone by 1.10.

Boy, who had climbed back to fourth at this point, showed the most difficult routine ( 7.2) of the competition. However, he dropped to the mat twice and dropped two places to finish in sixth.