Golden Finish for Britain, China, Ukraine, USA at The World Games

The first British gold medal in any sport at The World Games 2017 was delivered courtesy of four young acrobats whose show-stopping performance lit up Centennial Hall Wednesday night. As the British rejoiced, Ukraine and the USA savored their own golden moments, and a Chinese tumbling star who tied for gold four years ago at The World Games finally got to stand solo on the podium.

Acro Men's Groups: The league of champions

During the past several years, members of Great Britain's Acrobatic Men's Groups have often stood on major podiums looking upwards at the Chinese, the gold standard in in this category of Acrobatic Gymnastics since 2012. However, Conor Sawenko, Charlie Tate, Lewis Watts and Adam Upcott got their moment Wednesday, as their crowd-pleasing final routine -- featuring flier Upcott mimicking answering a cell phone atop a human pyramid -- brought the house down.

The medal was decided on the strength of superior Execution and Artistry scores by the British, despite an extraordinary display of Difficulty shown by Chinese world champions Li Zheng, Rui Liuming, Zhang Teng and Zhou Jiahuai, who took silver. Israel's Lidar Dana, Yannay Kalfa, Efi Sach and Daniel Uralevitch, the reigning World silver medallists, settled for bronze after two small slips marred an otherwise smooth routine.

Women's Synchro: Ukraine rises, China falls

After finishing seventh in the qualification round, Ukraine's Nataliia Moskvina and Svitlana Malkova were not expected to take gold, especially with the likes of reigning World champions Li Dan and Zhong Xingping of China in the final. But a crisp, clean performance by the Ukrainians, coupled with an unexpected fall by Li that took China out of contention, gave Ukraine the title. Li and Zhong, The World Games champions from 2013, also finished seventh in qualification four years ago before coming back to win gold in Cali, Colombia.

With a well-polished routine, Azerbaijan's Sviatlana Makshtarova and Veronika Zemlianaia bounded to silver, providing a memorable birthday for Makshtarova, who turned 23 Wednesday. What the Netherlands's Tara Fokke and Carlijn Blekkink lacked in Difficulty, they made up for with the top score of all pairs for Synchronicity, bypassing Russia and Japan for bronze.

American history in Double Mini

Just 18 and in her second major international competition, Paige Howard made history for the USA - and a name for herself - as she earned her country's first ever World Games gold in Double Mini-trampoline. A stuck landing on her final pass punctuated Howard's elegant, concentrated effort, giving the Americans their first and only gold in Gymnastics at the Games.

A member of the Canadian team that won World Double Mini gold two years ago, Tamara O'Brien had never finished higher than eighth individually in senior World competition, but with the silver medal, she too distinguished herself as one to watch. Sweden's Lina Sjoeberg, meanwhile, added a bronze to her growing collection, matching the color she took home from the 2015 Worlds.

A gold all his own

While each gymnast in the Men's Tumbling final seemed capable of launching himself into Centennial Hall's rafters, the all-important landing proved more of a challenge. The man who rose above it all was the experienced Zhang Luo of China. The novelty for Zhang, who tied Ukraine's Viktor Kyforenko for World Games gold four years ago, was that this time, the top step of the podium was his alone. With silver, American Austin Nacey constituted his own air force in what may be his last major competition, while Russia's Maxim Shlyakin eked out bronze despite a fall on his uber-difficult final pass.

For more information, please contact:

FIG Media & Communications Department

Email: mediafig@fig-gymnastics.org

Tel: +41 21 321 55 10

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics iswww.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only