2020 American Cup men’s recap: Mikulak tops Verniaiev for gold
It was a battle, but Sam Mikulak came out on top at the 2020 American Cup, topping the likes of Olympic all-around silver medalist Oleg Verniaiev and talented Brit James Hall.
The United States’ Shane Wiskus, a college junior, had a solid day to finish just off the podium in fourth.
Like the ladies of Team USA, the U.S. men will start off at the top of the FIG All-Around World Cup series rankings, with three more meets to go in the series.
Verniaiev led the first three rotations but faltered on parallel bars and floor exercise to open the door for Mikulak. Hall had an exceptional day up until a fall on high bar in the last rotation. Without the fall, Hall would’ve passed Verniaiev for the silver.
The rest of the international field struggled much of the day, with almost every athlete behind Wiskus suffering major mistakes in at least one routine.
The overall competition was rusty. Gold medalist Mikulak made mistakes as well. It certainly wasn’t anyone’s best day.
Continue reading for full results, notes, video, and photos from Milwaukee!
Senior MAG All-Around Final
| Floor | Pommel | Rings | Vault | P Bars | H Bar | AA | ||
| 1. | Sam Mikulak (USA) | 14.333 (1) | 13.800 (4) | 14.100 (3) | 14.400 (2) | 14.666 (1) | 14.033 (3) | 85.332 |
| 2. | Oleg Verniaiev (UKR) | 12.766 (11) | 14.533 (1) | 14.133 (2) | 14.800 (1) | 13.966 (4) | 12.866 (9) | 83.064 |
| 3. | James Hall (GBR) | 13.966 (3) | 14.000 (2) | 14.133 (1) | 14.300 (4) | 14.200 (2) | 12.400 (10) | 82.999 |
| 4. | Shane Wiskus (USA) | 14.033 (2) | 13.433 (5) | 13.866 (5) | 14.366 (3) | 13.366 (10) | 13.733 (6) | 82.797 |
| 5. | Daiki Hashimoto (JPN) | 13.666 (6) | 13.400 (6) | 13.900 (4) | 13.500 (10) | 14.066 (3) | 14.225 (1) | 82.757 |
| 6. | Pablo Braegger (CHE) | 13.966 (4) | 12.933 (9) | 13.566 (9) | 13.933 (7) | 13.900 (6) | 14.141 (2) | 82.439 |
| 7. | Diogo Soares (BRA) | 13.633 (7) | 13.100 (8) | 13.233 (10) | 13.966 (6) | 13.766 (7) | 13.600 (7) | 81.298 |
| 8. | Lee Chih Kai (TPE) | 13.166 (10) | 13.941 (3) | 13.066 (12) | 13.200 (11) | 13.900 (5) | 13.333 (8) | 80.606 |
| 9. | Nestor Abad (ESP) | 13.366 (9) | 12.700 (10) | 13.766 (6) | 13.883 (8) | 13.033 (11) | 13.833 (5) | 80.581 |
| 10. | Rene Cournoyer (CAN) | 13.633 (8) | 11.733 (12) | 13.200 (11) | 14.033 (5) | 13.466 (9) | 12.233 (11) | 78.298 |
| 11. | Hu Xuwei (CHN) | 13.700 (5) | 12.066 (11) | 13.733 (7) | 12.300 (12) | 11.900 (12) | 14.000 (4) | 77.699 |
| 12. | Andreas Toba (DEU) | 11.766 (12) | 13.266 (7) | 13.633 (8) | 13.766 (9) | 13.566 (8) | 11.133 (12) | 77.130 |
(Source: myusagym.com)
Notes: Mikulak started on pommel horse–an event that can be a hit or miss for the U.S. all-around champion. It was an overall good routine, but he clipped his hip trying to get up to an handstand prior to the dismount. He struggled through and ended up dismounting on the wrong side of the horse. Over on rings, Mikulak hit solid strength positions and struggled with his iron cross just slightly, but he finished with a stuck double-double dismount. His go-to Kas 1.5 was clean, with slightly bent legs and a small hop on the landing. On parallel bars, Mikulak muscled through his hit or miss peach half. Towards the end of the routine, he clipped the bar slightly on his Bhavsar, but he finished strong with a stuck double front half. That routine has seen better days, but he is so clean on the event, he still finished with the best score of the day by far. It was a great day for Mikulak on high bar despite bending his arms on the giant out of his Tkatchev half. Floor is last for the talented tumbler, and he doesn’t disappoint. Mikulak opened with a big double front half out, stuck his 2.5 twist to double front, had a beautiful flairs sequence, and stayed on his feet when his triple full went slightly awry.
Verniaiev jumped ahead early after hitting three strong routines on pommel horse, rings, and vault. He finished first, second, and first on those events, respectively. The highlight of his performance came on vault where he performed a huge Dragulescu to score a 14.800. That was 0.400 ahead of Mikulak’s second-place score. Things fell apart for Verniaiev on parallel bars. The reigning Olympic champ on the event, Verniaiev nearly came off on his one-arm handstand before he collapsed on his Stutz. Lower difficulty hurt him on high bar. On floor, Verniaiev was putting together a strong final routine before he came up short on his 2.5 twist through to front full, putting his hand down and counting a fall in the process. Overall, we saw glimpses of his potential greatness today, but he certainly isn’t hitting peak just yet.
Hall was automatic across events all day. Clean lines, powerful skills, and solid difficulty propelled him to the podium. The fall on his Kovacs was unfortunate, but he’ll probably go throw that again and again in practice until it doesn’t happen again. Hall will be one to watch in Tokyo–for his team and individually.
Wiskus’ best routines of the day came on vault, where he was the 2019 U.S. silver medalist, and on floor. He came close to surpassing Hall, but even without a medal, Wiskus should be proud about his performance.
