Junior men Kai Uemura (Chicago, Ill./Lakeshore Academy of Art Gymnastics) and David Shamah (Rock Hill, N.Y./ EVO Gymnastics) moved onto all-around finals after Day 1 of the 2023 Junior Artistic World Championships on Wednesday in Antalya, Turkey, as the U.S. men placed sixth in team competition.
Uemura and Shamah finished 13th (78.432) and 16th (77.831), respectively, to advance to Friday’s all-around finals as two of the top 24 scoring athletes in qualifications. Colombia’s Angel Barajas led the qualifying field with an 81.464, ahead of Japan’s Tomoharu Tsunogai in second with an 81.366, and China’s Chunjie Yang in third with a 79.965. Kiran Mandava (Cypress, Texas/Cypress Academy of Gymnastics) was 29th with a 75.765. Uemura also qualified seventh on still rings with a 13.200 to advance to Saturday’s apparatus final.
In team competition, the U.S. placed sixth with a score of 157.530. Japan landed atop the team podium with a 164.831, while China took silver with a 161.229 and Italy bronze with a 159.598. Armenia was fourth with a 159.161 and France rounded out the top five with a 157.696.
Top U.S. performers on each apparatus were Uemura on rings and horizontal bar where he ranked ninth (13.000) and will be the first reserve athlete heading into event finals. Shamah was 11th on both floor exercise (13.200) and parallel bars (13.366), while Mandava was 11th on rings (13.133). Shamah will be first reserve on parallel bars and second reserve on floor.
The championships continue Thursday with women’s team competition and individual qualifications at 3 a.m. ET.