Hello, and welcome to Gymnastics Insider!
The Pan American Championships are in progress, and there have been some exciting developments. Mainly, the U.S. won the team final, Claire Pease won the all-around, and Rebeca Andrade returned to competition.
Five teams qualified to worlds in the combined quals/team final: the United States (161.628 for team gold), Brazil (157.796 for team silver), Canada (156.997 for team bronze), Argentina (154.397) and Mexico (151.096) (qualifications replay). Despite only competing with four athletes, Panama missed out on a worlds berth by just under a point.
Here’s how it all went down:
There was some drama from the U.S. at the start. At vault, her first event of the competition, Hezly Rivera had only done a FTY before aggravating a sore hamstring and withdrawing from the remaining events. Lila Richardson also withdrew after hitting her face on the bar during warmups. Traveling alternate Alessia Rosa stepped in and did three events, including a floor routine that counted toward the team score.
The team still did well overall, though no one was at their best. Charleigh Bullock (54.165) and Pease (53.932) qualified first and second to the all-around. Bullock’s DTY was a highlight, as well as Pease’s bars.
But on beam, Pease fell on her onodi. Then Rosa fell on her mount, and looked nervous for the rest of the routine. There were a few stumbles on floor as well; Bullock on her 2.5 twist and Pease on her front 1.5. Pease’s landings were a bit short throughout; the routine is indeed an ankle cruncher.
This is the part where the live stream becomes a character in our story. The stream only really showed Americans for the first subdivision, and everyone in the comments was mad (One viewer, meanwhile, thought we should all repent for our sins. Sir, this is a Wendy’s). Canada had almost no air time, though they had a strong enough showing to put them in third, especially from Lia Redick.
Brazil, meanwhile, got a lot of love, both from the stream and the home crowd. Thais Fidelis and Sophia Weisberg led the team with excellent all-around performances — Fidelis’ floaty double arabian and Weisberg’s maloney gienger combination were highlights for me, as well as Julia Soares’ nice switch ring leap.
It was clear this team was drawing energy from the live audience, which, by this point, existed.
Finally, Andrade. In her first appearance since Paris 2024, Andrade did a timer on vault and the crowd went wild. Then, she did a nice clean DTY and a Lopez for a massive 14.549. Goddess.
Pease takes all-around gold
Claire Pease won the all-around title with a so-so performance (all-around replay). She started with a beautiful DTY with just a hop on the landing (14.166). The feed skipped her bar routine, but we know she did well enough for a 13.666. She looked a little nervous on beam, with balance checks on her onodi and her side somi.
On floor, her Moors was messy and she landed short, stumbling. She still finished the competition with a 54.498, on par with her domestic scores over the past couple of years.
Bullock was right behind her with a 54.032. We didn’t see her vault, which strangely had a one-point neutral deduction (probably for an empty run). Bullock’s bars were great aside from some flexed feet throughout, but she earned a 14.266.
We missed her beam, too, but Bullock did well enough for a 13.333, and hit floor.
Then came Fidelis, who had a great day for third. She began with an amazing FTY, followed by a hit bar routine. She had some nervous wobbles on beam but stayed on with just a step on the dismount. On floor, a big step forward on her double arabian and powerful full-in got her to 52.232.
Weisberg had a hit day as well, starting with bars. She had some wobbles on beam but managed to stay on (I’m here for her switch leap+split jump+back tuck combo). Floor was iffy; she was out of bounds on her double arabian and had some form errors on her twisting, but it was a good routine for her. She finished off with a clean FTY for fourth.
Canada’s all-arounders had a rough outing here. Lia Monica Fontaine started off well on bars but then had two falls on beam. She brought things back around, though, finishing with a 14.000 on vault to take fifth place. Redick started strong with a lovely Y1.5, but had to muscle through her bar routine with form errors throughout and fell on the landing, then fell on beam and finished sixth.
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Looking ahead
Overall, this competition bodes well for Brazil. Weisberg is only 16 (she has braces!), and likely has an incredible career ahead of her. Meanwhile, veterans Fidelis and Andrade are still on top of their game.
As for the Americans, it’s good that they can still pull out a performance like this with their leader exiting the competition so abruptly. And I’m glad to see Pease get her first big all-around win of her senior career, with a smashing debut from Bullock as well. Without that one-point deduction on vault, Bullock would have easily won the competition.
I just hope they can keep those ankles intact — with a strong lead going into the final rotation, was it really necessary for Pease to do a Moors? She needed a 12.667 to win, and scored a 13.133. So, no. Should she skip event finals and get a massage instead? Yup.
Seriously, the “Can I go now?” energy is strong here.
Next: event finals
Sunday, June 21 (live stream, start lists/live scores)
All times local
Vault 10:10 a.m.
Bars 10:45 a.m.
Beam 11:50 a.m.
Floor 12:30 p.m.
Andrade is easily in the lead on vault with a 14.549, followed by Fontaine (14.016), and Pease (13.849). Pease is way ahead on bars (14.100).
Fidelis has the top spot on beam (13.833), followed by Bullock (13.566) and Rose (13.566). Pease (13.400) and Bullock (13.033) lead the way on floor.
More news
- The American Classic roster is coming together.
- Dutch superstar and noted twin Lieke Wevers has retired.
Five at The IX
Rebeca Andrade spoke to the media following her team’s silver-medal performance at Pan Ams.
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
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