​WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2024
Welcome back, Team USA
Four planes landed last week, in Reno, Newark, Miami Beach, and Chicago. Off of them came the members of Team USA, going home, laden with their stories and accomplishments. Aidan Lish, a Junior Boy from Chicago, got off of the plane with a bronze medal in Vault in his suitcase. Cyrus Luciano also arrived home with a bronze medal: his was in Men’s Cyr Wheel.
The team had spent the beginning of August in Almere, The Netherlands, competing at the Wheel Gymnastics World Championships.
Almere is a city outside of Amsterdam, coated in trees, bordering the Markermeer lake. During the week of the World Championships, it was something closer to a city of dreams for the athletes, who came from thirteen countries to compete and actualize their love of Wheel Gymnastics.
Inside the Topsportcentrum, home of the 2024 Wheel Gymnastics World Championships
“Worlds” takes place over the course of six days, the first two of which are for training, warmup, and the Opening Ceremony. Team USA performed beautifully across all five days that they were on the floor.
The audience at the Opening Ceremony was global. Delegations brought friends and family, and locals came to see what sport had taken over their town. So, spectators from around the world got to see, among all the vibrancy, 12-year-old Coco Luciano from the USA, glittering in a Cyr Wheel. Although she was too young to compete, she was asked to present twice during the show.
The Topsportcentrum is entirely quiet before a competition. On Wednesday morning, the Senior Men prepared for the All-Around Semi-Finals, the first competition of this World Championships, surrounded by the total stillness of anticipation and a still-asleep Almere. That day, Casey Crowe from the USA would earn himself a spot in the Spiral Individual Finals with his dynamic routine, filled-up with four E elements. E’s are the highest difficulty element in Wheel Gymnastics.
Later that day, during the Senior Women’s All-Around Semi-Finals, Karly O’Brien from Team USA performed a dream-like Spiral routine. The elegance with which she moved and the facility with which she controlled the wheel were seen from all directions. When she stepped off of the floor, USA Head Coach Wolfgang Bientzle announced that he had just seen the best Spiral routine performed by an American woman.
On Thursday morning, the sun, along with the Junior Girls, rose at 6:13. One and a half hours later, they were on a bus headed for the Topsportcentrum. During the Junior Girl’s All-Around Semi-Final competition, Ava Glenski from the USA achieved the best results of any American female ever, with a Vault that left her 0.2 away from making Individual Finals.
That afternoon, during the Junior Boy’s All-Around Semi-Final, Aidan Lish from Team USA began to fly, not only off of the wheel during his unbelievably high Vault, but also into both the Vault and Spiral Individual Finals.
Meanwhile, Cyrus Luciano achieved the first medal of the year for Team USA, in the Men’s Cyr Wheel Finals. He earned bronze for his confident, energetic routines, and stood smiling on the podium.
On Friday, the focused atmosphere of the World Championships was festively smashed, and then rolled over by Cyr Wheels, as competition paused for the Cyr Wheel Battle, a kind of dance battle and total celebration. There, among Team USA, Coco Luciano appeared again, advancing one round.
That evening, Team USA cheered on their international friends in the All-Around Final.
On Saturday afternoon, the Individual Finals began. Aidan Lish, who this “Worlds” was acting more like a projectile than a man, threw yet another Gainer Vault, launching himself feet from the wheel in an element where a few inches of distance is impressive. With that Vault, he achieved a bronze medal.
So, during the Wheel Gymnastics World Championships 2024, the United States flag was seen twice over the podium, and two bronze medalists traveled home on Sunday. Two USA athletes made it into semi-finals, and it is obvious from not only the value of the performances themselves, but also from the delight of the athletes, that Team USA came back full of pride in their accomplishments.
Inside the Topsportcentrum was a world of motion and energy. While this note focuses on our Team USA, it is notable that success came from all sides, from all countries. To watch the Wheel Gymnastics World Championships is an experience so full of wonder that one does not know where to look or for whom to cheer next.