On the official live video stream of the 2023 World Championships, a "Go Gators" could be clearly heard from the crowd as the arena reset for the team medals presentation.
As they say, the Gator Nation is everywhere and it was certainly present at the women's FIG World Championships team final.
Three Gators joined the U.S. in stepping to the top of the 2023 World Gymnastics Championships awards podium Wednesday at the Antwerp Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium.
The three with Gator ties -
Skye Blakely, Kayla DiCello and
Leanne Wong – joined Simone Biles, Shilese Jones and Joscelyn Roberson on the awards stand top spot.
It was the U.S. seventh consecutive World Gymnastics Championships team gold. The string of World team golds started in 2011 and continued in the 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022 and now 2023 events.
This is the second consecutive World Championships team gold for Blakely and Wong, who were both part of the U.S. 2022 team. Wong also won World Championships' all-around silver in 2021 and DiCello won bronze as the Worlds following an Olympics is traditionally an individual only event.
Wednesday's Results
Blakely and Wong both competed in Wednesday's team final with Blakely competing on uneven bars. Wong was slated to compete only balance beam Wednesday, but Roberson suffered an injury during warm-up. Wong added vault and floor exercise to her Worlds competition slate.
The World Championships team final consisted of three competitors on each apparatus, with all scores counting toward the total.
Hear from Leanne Wong:
On the moment she realized she had to get ready to fill in for Joscelyn Roberson:
"First I was like, 'oh no what happened, is she okay?' and then I was like, start kicking off your stuff. So I started running and going crazy, I had to get up there and beat it."
U.S. World Championships Team Final Scores
Oct. 4, 2023 |
| Event |
Simone Biles |
Skye Blakely |
Shilese Jones |
Leanne Wong |
Team |
| Vault* |
14.800 |
|
14.100 |
14.066 |
42.966 |
| Bars |
14.466 |
14.166 |
14.633 |
|
43.265 |
| Beam |
14.300 |
|
13.600 |
11.700 |
39.600 |
| Floor |
15.166 |
|
13.566 |
13.166 |
41.898 |
| Total |
|
|
|
|
167.729 |
Team Medals
- U.S. 167.729
- Brazil 165.530
- France 164.064
Four with Gator ties were at the 2023 FIG World Championships as freshman
Anya Pilgrim represented Barbados. Of the Gators currently enrolled at UF, Wong and Pilgrim join two others to compete at a World Championships.
Morgan Hurd (2017 & 2018) and
Riley McCusker (2018) also represented the U.S. in World Championships action. McCusker and Hurd won team gold in 2018. Hurd won the 2017 World Championships' all-around title.
Kayla DiCello, who announced following her 2023 freshman season that she would take a gap year to pursue a spot on the 2024 Olympic team, joined Wong at the 2021 World Championships and won all-around bronze.
Blakely signed a national letter intent with Florida in November of 2022 and
announced she'll defer enrollment at UF until fall 2024 to pursue a berth on the 2024 U.S. Olympic team. She joined Wong on the U.S. 2022 gold medal team at the World Championships.
2023 World Championships Team Final Results
World Championships' schedule (broadcast)
Oct. 6 Women's All-Around Final – 1:30 p.m. ET (Peacock)
Oct. 7 Women's Vault & Uneven Bars Final – 8 a.m. ET (Peacock)
Oct. 8 Women's Balance Beam & Floor Exercise Final – 8 a.m. ET (Peacock)
