2009 World Championships: Sloan captures World all-around title

American Bridget Sloan won her first World all-around title Friday night, besting teammate Rebecca Bross and Koko Tsurumi of Japan. AP Photo/Matt Dunham

LONDON -- Bridget Sloan became just the fifth American woman to capture the World all-around gymnastics title Friday night, emerging as the winner after a stunning last-second fall from teammate Rebecca Bross. Japan's Koko Tsurumi finished third after a display of beauty and power on balance bam and floor exercise.

Sloan turned in solid performances on all four events to keep herself in medal contention throughout the meet, though she trailed Bross by more than 1.2 points going into floor exercise, both gymnasts' final event. There, Sloan competed before her teammate and showed a confident, polished routine, punctuating it with a stuck double pike.

"I knew [Bross] had a good lead, and I had to do the floor routine of my life," Sloan said after the competition.

Bross, who had moved into first place with a dazzling, aggressive beam routine, took small deductions on the landings of her first two tumbling passes. Still, the 16-year-old, who resides in Plano, Texas, seemed to be cruising toward the title until her legs buckled on her last tumbling pass, which was supposed to be a 2.5 twist to immediate front half. 

Bross landed the front half partly on her knees, partly on her hips. The mistake -- a 1.0 deduction -- left Sloan the overall winner.

"I was feeling good and when I went to punch, my legs just kind of gave out," Bross said after the competition. "It just didn't work out."

Sloan, the only member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team to participate at this World Championship, received the highest score on vault during the first rotation for her energetic double twisting Yurchenko. She looked relaxed and sharp during her uneven bars routine, which featured two high-flying release skills and a full-twisting double layout dismount. But balance beam, where Sloan fell in prelims, made her nervous.

"As soon I jumped on, I was like, 'all right, let's get this thing going,'" said Sloan, who confessed that "beam has never been my strongest." "Prelims was going through my head. On my front tuck I was like, 'don't fall.'"

The routine looked tentative in a few places, including after a layout stepout and after her front aerial, side aerial combination. But it was enough to keep Sloan near the front of the pack.

Others expected to challenge for the all-around title fared worse on beam. China's Deng Linlin nearly fell on her front pike, then came off after executing a switch leap, back tuck combination. Ana Porgras of Romania, second in Wednesday's preliminary competition, fell after a combination tumbling series that ended in a layout to two feet.

Bross, buoyed by a successful bar routine that ended with a stuck full-twisting double back dismount, looked confident on beam, setting her feet down deliberately on all her acrobatic elements, including a standing Arabian. A step forward on her Arabian double front dismount was the only visible deduction. Going into floor, Bross had built a lead of more than a point over Sloan, her nearest competitor.

"I didn't feel like I had already won," said Bross, who referred to the fall on her last element as "a little mishap at the end of my routine."

"It happened," she said. "There's nothing I can do to change it now."

Bross's coach Valeri Liukin, who guided his daughter Nastia Liukin to the 2008 Olympic all-around title, said Bross's fall was a good learning experience.

"She's still very great," Liukin said. "She's still very young. We learn." 

The early all-around leader was Japan's Tsurumi, who began the meet with a beautiful bars performance and followed up with one of the best routines of the night on balance beam. Her floor routine contained graceful dance and powerful tumbling, but her vault, a relatively easy full-twisting Yurchenko, cost her valuable tenths in terms of difficulty.

"Today I believe I was able to perform with elegance," 17-year-old Tsurumi said. "The [Japanese] women's team hasn't been strong, but since last year with the Olympics there's been more attention paid, and they're getting stronger and stronger, and I hope this continues for the [2012] Olympic Games."

Australian Lauren Mitchell landed her double twisting Yurchenko vault well during the first rotation and survived uneven bars to keep herself near the leaders. On balance beam, Mitchell began with a large wobble but settled down to score 15.1. She finished 0.025 behind Tsurumi after stepping out of bounds on her full-twisting double pike on floor.

"I'm definitely happy with what I've done today, but there's definitely some disappointment," Mitchell said. "I mean, 0.025, that's not even a step."

Sloan, 17, joins Americans Kim Zmeskal (1991), Shannon Miller (1993, 1994), Chellsie Memmel (2005) and Shawn Johnson (2007) as the only women to have won World all-around titles in gymnastics.

Will she be celebrating tonight? "I'm probably just going to go eat dinner," Sloan said. "I have bar finals tomorrow, so there won't be much celebrating tonight."

Note: An injury kept Ana Maria Izurieta of Spain from competing in Friday's all-around final. Izurieta, who qualified in 11th place, was replaced in the final by Mayra Kroonen of the Netherlands.