American Brody Malone soars to gold on the high bar at world gymnastics championships

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Brody Malone capped an impressive meet by the U.S. at the world gymnastics championships, earning the second gold medal on high bar of his career during event finals on Saturday.

The 25-year-old American put together a thrilling set on the high-risk, high-reward apparatus, throwing a series of releases that propelled him to a 14.933, just ahead of world all-around champion Daiki Hashimoto of Japan at 14.733. Joe Fraser of Britain was third at 14.700.

Malone's gold, which bookended the one he captured in the same event at worlds in 2022, came a day after longtime U.S. teammate Donnell Whittenburg earned the first gold of his career on Friday in still rings. Malone and Whittenburg train together at EVO Gymnastics in Florida.

“Donnell is an awesome teammate," Malone told Olympics.com. "After I saw him yesterday, the first thing he said to me was, ‘It’s your turn tomorrow.’ That was really motivating. It’s pretty cool that we get to go home to the same club gym with two gold medals.”

Malone's triumph in his signature event came 2 1/2 years after he shredded his right knee during a fluke accident on the high bar in early 2023. He recovered in time to win a third national all-around title in 2024 before helping the American men claim a cathartic bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.

The recently married Malone considered retirement in the aftermath but has chosen to press on, at least for now. He was rewarded with a gold that finished off a solid meet for the U.S. men's program. The Americans won three medals in all during the meet, including a bronze for Patrick Hoopes on pommel horse.

Carlos Yulo of the Philippines added another gold on vault to go with the one he captured on the same event at the 2024 Olympics, his score of 14.866 just enough to top Artur Davtyan of Armenia at 14.833. Nazar Chepurnyi of Ukraine earned bronze.

Zou Jingyuan of China continued his mastery of parallel bars, winning his fourth gold on the event at worlds. Jingyuan, a two-time Olympic champion on the apparatus that requires a combination of strength and precision, posted a 15.3, the highest score of the men's meet in any event outside of the 15.466 he put up during qualifying. Tomoharu Tsunogai of Japan claimed silver, while Daniel Marinov, a Russian competing as a neutral athlete, won the bronze.

Aiko Sugihara of Japan won a pair of medals on Saturday. The 26-year-old earned gold in the women's floor exercise at 13.833. Ruby Evans and Abigail Martin, both of Britain, took silver and bronze.

Sugihara also earned bronze on balance beam behind gold medalist Zhang Qingying of China and silver medalist Kaylia Nemour of Algeria, who added another medal to go with the gold on uneven bars she won on Friday.

The 2026 world championships will be held in the Netherlands next October.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games