HARTFORD -- Jonathan Horton might owe his second consecutive U.S. all-around title to a coke.
Two rotations into the senior men's final of the 2010 U.S. Championships, Horton was feeling jittery, as though he hadn't eaten anything in a long time.
He had already performed on parallel bars, where the judges made him wait for eight minutes on the podium before giving the green flag to start, and on high bar, where he watered back his difficulty on a release combination and took out a twist (two twists if it was a good night) on his dismount.
With four events to go, I can't keep going like this, he thought.
"I haven't drank a soda in like, months because of this nutrition kick I'm on, but I was like, I need some caffeine. I need some sugar in my body," Horton said. "So I ran back to the media hospitality and I grabbed a coke and drank that entire thing and I felt like a million bucks after that."
He performed like it, too. Aside from a fall on high bar during the first night of competition, Horton was consistent in Connecticut, hitting all six routines during the final to take the title over Danell Leyva, 18, who coasted through his difficulty on both nights.
Leyva's only mistake came on high bar, his best event, where he had cover up for a missed handstand and swing in the opposite direction than intended. But even if he had been perfect, he would not have caught Horton, who won by a comfortable margin of 2.3 points.
After a year where first place finishes have been relatively few and far between, Horton has reason to celebrate his second U.S. title. The 24-year-old from Houston won the 2009 U.S. Championships as well, but followed it up with a disastrous World Championships that led some to question his consistency.
Ohio State senior-to-be Brandon Wynn hit on all events to retain his third place ranking from day one, winning the title on rings, his best event, to match the ones he won at Winter Cup and the NCAA Championships. He finished in the top six on four events, making him a likely candidate to represent the U.S. at the World Championships in October.
"I hope that kind of puts me up there [in contention for the World team]," he said.
Wynn is capable of more difficulty. Here in Hartford, he took out his Def (full-twisting Geinger, which he usually does from a Takemoto half) on high bar to protect his left wrist, which he injured prior to the competition.
Oklahoma's Chris Brooks, who fell twice from pommel horse on the first night, hit his routine on day two to climb to fourth. He was tied for seventh going into night two. Both Brooks's ankles were heavily taped from previous injuries, but Brooks didn't appear fazed on floor, vault or high bar.
His goals? "Get healthy and stay healthy," Brooks said. "And get back to the basics on horse."
Horton has already shifted his thoughts to October's World Championships, where he'll try to challenge reigning World all-around champion Kohei Uchimura. Horton isn't sure that's realistic right now, but said he does believe he can be among the top three in the all-around.
"If he makes a mistake and I'm on fire, who knows what could happen? I could be world champion," Horton said. "Realistically I think I could be the second best gymnast in the world...[Uchimura's] an incredible gymnast. He hits everything, no one's going to touch him right now."
Leyva led for part of the second day before being eclipsed by Horton more than halfway through. It didn't appear to matter to him -- Leyva's almost tearful reaction on the podium after hitting his rings dismount was made doubly moving by his father and coach Yin Alvarez's emotional comportment.
Alvarez spent plenty of time jumping up and down and pumping his fists after Leyva hit, leading photographers to train their cameras on him almost more than on his son. But after their final event, Alvarez embraced his son in a more solemn, tender manner.
What did Yin whisper as they stood there?
Leyva smiled. "That I made the world team," he said.
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