2:55 p.m.: The young person's hour. Brazil's brilliant youngster, Sergio Sasaki Junior, who competed in his first Worlds in 2009 at the tender age of 17, is a guy with enormous power and potential. Up to now, he's been somewhat overshadowed on the Brazilian team by Diego Hypolito, but by finishing first in the all-around in men's qualification he showed that his time may be dawning.
Also very much in the all-around hunt is Colombia's Jorge Hugo Giraldo, who has spent a decade as his country's top gymnast in international competition. But waiting in the wings is the impressive, athletic Jossimar Calvo of Colombia, who qualified sixth all-around.
Rotation one:
Petrix Barbosa, vault: DTY with a pretty big hop back. Nice in the air, however. 15.45.
Ernesto Vila, rings: Cross. Double pike front, double tuck front. Stuck full twisting double tuck. Nice routine from the 2010 Youthe Olympic Games floor champion. 13.55.
Nicolas Cordoba, rings: A bit of swing in an early handspring. Front double pike, front double tuck ending in iron cross...giant, giant to full twisting double tuck with a hop. 13.55.
CJ Maestas, floor: Hit routine given the fist pump and the way he ran off the floor...14.65.
Javier Cervantes, rings: Roll to cross, cross. Planche. Fairly wild handstand with some swing. Front Yamawakis -- piked and tucked. Double pike front half out with a large step forward, a bit underrotated. 13.3.
Anderson Loran, rings: Nice routine from the young Canadian with 1.5 twisting double tuck dismount with a step. 13.45.
Sergio Sasaki, pommel: He looks a little bulky to be a horse guy, but he gets through this one well, and he's got a good start score, so it's all good for the young Brazilian here. No real apparent form breaks, and nice pirouetting dismount. He knows it, too -- does a fist pump as he lands. 13.8.
Rotation two:
Petrix Barbosa, pbars: Peach, giant, double tuck. Interesting peach/back somie combo. Underswing to cut and catch. Collapses on the bars on his Belle -- big mistake. Double pike off and overrotates it to his back. That will take him out of contention, unfortunately. 12.1.
Brandon Wynn, rings: Maltese to cross, very nice. Inverted cross, excellent. Double front pike to Maltese, which looks very hard. Planche. Giant to double double tuck with a pretty big step back. 15.2.
CJ Maestas, pommel: Scissor to handstand to open, nice routine so far...and then the feed cut out. 13.2.
Luis Rivera, pbars: Straddle cut and catch. Giant to Belle, half turn. Back toss 1/4 onto one bar. Stutz. Double pike with a small hop. 14.15/5.6.
Tomas Gonzalez, rings: Received 13.25 for his pommel horse set in the first rotation...roll to cross, planche. Front giant, great control! Double front pike, double front tuck to cross. He looks very comfortable up there. Press to handstand, double twisting double tuck with a hop forward. Excellent form throughout the routine. 14.2/5.8.
Hugh Smith, pbars: ...received a 16.1 for his vault, which is excellent. Former Canadian Olympian David Kikuchi, who like Hugh is from Nova Scotia, says that Hugh's mother is Mexican and his wife comes from Guadalajara, so he must be right at home here. Gets into a weird place after a cut and catch where his hands are on the rails and one of his legs is between his hands and the other is to the right of his right hand, and seems to think what to do for a sec, then carefully presses up to handstand. Double tuck with a pretty big step back. Hmm. Hugh is smiling as he comes down from the podium. 12.5/4.5.
Anderson Loran, vault: Rudi with a step forward. 15.3.
Sergio Sasaki, rings: Kip to Maltese. Double front pike, double front tuck to planche. Giant. Double double tuck, nearly stuck. 13.8.
Rotation three:
Adickxon Trejo, vault: Tsuk double full. Trejo seems to have attended college in the U.S., given that he competed at this year's NAIGC nationals as an alum. (NAIGC is a fancy way of saying that your men's gymnastics team isn't funded by the school's athletic department). Nice position on this vault.
Carlos Campana, vault: Rudi, very low landing, pretty big step forward. 14.85/6.2.
Tomas Gonzalez, vault: Stuck Yurchenko 2.5. Well well well...he's got a pretty big smile on as he waits for his score, which I think will be pretty high...15.45! That seems low...but there's an 0.5 penalty for something -- maybe he landed with both feet out of the alley?
Jorge Hugo Giraldo, vault: His scores on pommel and rings were both in the 14s, so he's doing quite well here...
The Chilean coach is giving the vault judges hell after Gonzalez was awarded 15.45 for a stuck Yurchenko 2.5. He was docked 0.5 as a neutral deduction for something, I can't tell what, and the Chilean head coach is FURIOUS. It's like baseball managers yelling at umpires...
Luis Rivera, high bar: hecht. Tak. Tak half, out of handstand. Tkatchev. Inverted giants. Full twisting double layout with a hop. 14.05/5.9.
Jorge Hugo Giraldo, vault: Tsuk double full, small hop. 15.5/6.2.
Brandon Wynn, vault: Thanks to Pan Ams registration, we know the middle names of every member of the U.S. team. Brandon Ross Wynn does a handspring double front and bounces to the side to land with both feet off the mat. Pretty amazing that he kept that on his feet as it is. 15.25.
Hugh Smith, high bar: Falls on Tkatchev early on in the routine...nice work for the rest of it, Endos and front stalders and a stuck full twisting double layout. He's still smiling as he comes off the podium. 12.35/5.0.
Petrix Barbosa, high bar: Tak half. Layout Tkatchev. Misses Tkatchev half and falls. That's one of the scarier looking releases to miss...repeats the skill and makes it fine. Rybalko. Misses hand on twisting front stalder and does a one arm giant and intermediate swing to recoup. Full twisting double layout, little shuffle. Not his day. 11.4/5.4.
Jossimar Calvo, pbars: Solid and very interesting routine from the young Colombian that ends with giant to full twisting double tuck at the end of the rails. Love it. 14.6.
Luis Rivera, high bar: German giant, stalders, stalder blaint, front stalders, full twisting double layout a little piked, small step back. 14.4 will keep him in the hunt.
Rotation four:
Federico Molinari, floor: This Argentinian was in the hunt before he received an 11.8 on high bar in the last rotation...Arabian double front, good landing. 1.5 to front tuck full, little hop. Double full to small hop. Strength move followed by the closest you can get to doing a Maltese on floor. Press handstand, rolls out. 2.5 with a step to the side. Not bad.
Luis Rivera, floor: Arabian double pike, stuck, to halfhearted scissone. Front double full to front layout. Tucked Thomas. Running front 1 3/4. 1.5 to front layout full. Good Russians. Press to planche handstand. 2.5 twist, tiny hop. Good routine! The thing that's most notable about Rivera's technique is how he does a tiny underarm swing before all his roundoffs. 14.9.
Jossimar Calvo, high bar: Tak full to hecht. Tak half. Layout Tkatchev. Tucked Kovacs, caught close and has to kip out. Stalder blind. Jam to hop. Jam to inverted giant. Beautiful double twisting double layout with a small hop. 14.15.
Tomas Gonzalez, pbars: Solid routine with great double tuck between the bars (he even has time to kick out of it!) and front straddle somie to his upper arms and stuck double pike dismount! Waves to the camera and indicates the Chilean emblem on his chest. 14.25.
Jorge Hugo Giraldo, pbars: Giant. Misses his hand on peach half? and has to walk a little bit but does not fall. Double pike with good landing. Celebrates the routine anyway. Will be interesting to see how much that hurts him. Tomas Gonzalez comes over to shake his hand. 14.25 puts him into the lead.
Petrix Barbosa, floor: Arabian double front, covers the step forward. Whip to layout Arabian 1 3/4. Running front 1 3/4. Press to handstand, roll out. Strength hold with legs in front of face. 1.5 to front tuck full. 2.5 with a hop forward. Not bad. Looks much happier than after high bar. 14.05/5.7.
CJ Maestas, vault: DTY with a pretty big step forward. A bit underrotated. 15.1.
Luis Vargas, floor: Mounts with side pass of running front 1 3/4, foot slips a little rolling out of it. 1.5 to front layout full. Gets all his bonus with a long and complicated flairs series. Press. Easy twisting side pass. Double full. 2.5 twist to end and runs so far forward out of it that he's completely off the floor and dangerously close to being off the podium. 12.8.
Rotation five:
Note: The audience is yelling what sounds like "Beef-cake! Beef-cake!" at someone.
Luis Rivera, pommel: Gets into big trouble on traveling Russians and somehow manages to stay on. Breaks form and simply keeps going. Impressive in itself. Weak dismount for this level, not in handstand.
Jossimar Calvo, floor: Whip to double Arabian, tiny hop. 3.5 twist! Whoa. 2.5 to front tuck full. Russians, quick. Seriously, keep an eye on this guy. Running Randi, a little underrotated. Front double full to front half tucked. Roundoff, triple full to end, with a step back. Serious hit routine. 15.0, and well deserved.
Jorge Hugo Giraldo, high bar: Gaylord II! Jam to hop a la Danell Leyva, but much lower than Leyva's hop. Full twisting double layout with a little hop! Giraldo is pumping his fists. That was very good, probably enough to keep him in the lead. 14.35.
CJ Maestas, pbars: Straddle cut and catch. Peach. Peach half. Uprise to fron straddle somie. Double tuck. Belle. Stutz, a little quick, handstand not held long enough. Double pike with a hop back. 13.85.
Tomas Gonzalez, high bar: Tkatchev. Stalder blind, fron stalder full, jam to inverts. Double double tuck with a tiny hop. 13.85. He looks very pleased with this routine.
Brandon Wynn, high bar: Tak half. Blind to Tak full to hecht. Jam to invert. Weiler. Hop full. Stuck full twisting double layout. Beautiful dismount especially. 14.1.
Luis Vargas, pommel: Very clean work. Russian on one pommel. Scissors. Handstand dismount. Very hit routine.
Federico Molinari, pommel: Hit routine. Handstand dismount. Pumps his fists.
Rotation six:
Notes: After five, the Colombians are in charge! Giraldo leads with 72.85, and Calvo's 15.0 for that fantastic floor routine moves him into second. Maestas retains third place.
Tomas Gonzalez has his eyes closed and appears to be taking deep breaths before floor.
Tomas Gonzalez, floor: Double double tuck, hop forward. Front double full to front tuck full. Hop. 2.5 to pikey front layout half. Press. Cartwheel to corner. Whip to tucked Thomas, very nice. Layout Thomas. Back extension roll half turn. Triple full with a step back. Not bad. He's done the routine better though. 15.05 -- nice score.
Jorge Hugo Giraldo, floor: Arabian double front, step forward, barely in bounds. Front double full to front tuck half. Double full side pass with small hop. Russians. Press to handstand. 1.5 to front layout full to front layout. 2.5 with two big steps forward and goes OOB with both feet! Oh man...that might cost him the gold right there. We'll see. Waves to the crowd, but not with the jubilance of some of the guys we've seen. Might have put a knee down on one of those large steps too...13.35 puts him second, and it's early in the rotation still...
Jossimar Calvo, pommel: Scissor to handstand, circles. Ooh -- Russians between the pommels! Traveling Russians. Double pirouetting dismount! That was just great. He's a little guy with a great body for gymnastics, and excellent technique. I think his coach is crying as he hugs him! 13.9 puts him first with 86.4...
CJ Maestas, high bar: Front stalder with full turn. Kolman, first we've seen today. Overbalances Tak half and has to swing the other way...Tkatchev half. Double double layout, tucks it down at the end for no reason, which gives him overrotation and he has to hop back twice to stay on his feet. CJ takes his camera time to say hi to his mom and dad and "everyone back in Illinois." 13.65 puts him fourth right now. So there's some shifting of the standings going on...
Luis Rivera, rings: Maltese, good. Roll to L-cross. Iron cross. Great toepoint, which always mkaes things so much better. Front double pike, front double tuck. Giant to full twisting double layout with two steps. Nice form. 14.5/6.1 puts him in fifth right now...wow.
And it looks like Calvo wins! Yes, he's got it! 1. Calvo 2. Giraldo 3. Gonzales. 4. Maestas 5. Rivera. The Colombians are together waving, and someone has draped them in the Colombian flag, which they're posing for photos with. How nice for this team.
Gold: Jossimar Calvo. Silver: Jorge Hugo Giraldo. Bronze: Tomas Gonzalez.
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