Leanne Wong made sure the U.S. women’s all-around medal streak remains intact.
Wong won the silver medal at the world gymnastics championships Thursday, finishing just 0.10 behind Angelina Melnikova. It’s Wong’s second all-around silver at worlds – she was runner-up to Melnikova in 2021, also – and extended the U.S. women’s streak of winning an all-around medal at every worlds and Olympics since 2003.
It also is the fifth world medal for Wong, who claimed a bronze on floor exercise in 2021 and was part of the U.S. teams that won gold in 2022 and 2023.
Fellow American Dulcy Caylor, who is making her worlds debut, finished 13th after falls on uneven bars and balance beam. Caylor still has a chance to win an individual medal, having qualified for the beam and floor exercise finals.
Wong came very close to pulling off the upset over Melnikova, who was competing at her first major international event since 2021 because of Russia’s ban from most sports following its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Melnikova had taken a solid lead after the first two events, only to fall on balance beam. That opened the door for Wong, who was steady all night.
Trailing by more than a point going into the final rotation, Wong needed a big score on vault to give herself a realistic shot at gold, and she got it. Her Cheng – a roundoff onto the takeoff board followed by a half-twist onto the vaulting table and then a somersault with 1½ twists – had great height and power, and her only real flaw was the two steps she took to secure her landing.
Wong’s score of 14.466 moved her into first place and put pressure on Melnikova, who was finishing on floor as the last competitor of the event.
Melnikova went out of bounds on her first tumbling pass, and it appeared from some camera angles as if both of her feet were over the line, which would mean a larger deduction. Going out of bounds with one foot is a 0.1 deduction. Going out with two feet is a 0.3 deduction.
The rest of Melnikova’s routine was solid, with lovely leaps and turns. When she finished, it was clear it was going to be close, with the out-of-bounds deduction likely to be the determining factor.
It was.
Melnikova got the smaller deduction, 0.10 points. That gave her an overall score of 55.066 points, 0.10 points better than Wong.
The U.S. women can add to their medal count in the event finals. In addition to Caylor on beam and floor, Josc Roberson qualified on vault and Skye Blakely made the uneven bars final.