Jamaica’s Michael Reid competes on pommel horse during the 2023 Pan American Artistic Gymnastics Championships. (© Amy Sanderson/UPAG)
The men’s and women’s U.S. national teams had a busy weekend at the 2023 Pan American Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Medellin, Colombia.
Both teams won gold, the men brought home 10 medals, and the women brought home eight. Beyond the sweep, the U.S. wasn’t the only nation whose athletes made their mark. Here are some of the most noteworthy moments from this past weekend’s continental championships.
Read our full recap and see who qualified to worlds and Pan Am Games here.
1. Michael Reid gets his name in the Code of Points
This former University of Oklahoma athlete and current assistant coach at Navy made a splash in Medellin. . While representing Jamaica, Michael Reid introduced a brand new skill on pommel horse that will now be named after him.
While Reid said on Instagram that the overall performance was not what he wanted, he’s happy to finally have “The Reid” in the Code of Points. The skill is “a traveling backward hop over both pommels, in either flair or circles,” Reid explained to Gym Now. It received an “F” valuation. Needless to say, it is wild and is an awesome addition to the Code of Points.
2. Denver alum Lynnzee Brown qualifies for worlds
After six years competing for the University of Denver, Lynnzee Brown is now representing Haiti. She had her international debut at Pan Ams, and she made a statement!
The NCAA gymnast made tweaks and upgrades to her collegiate routines that fans may be familiar with. For example, Brown added a side somi, upgraded her leap combination, and added in a new flight series on beam.She also competed an altered three pass routine from her NCAA career, which she has not competed since 2019 due to an injury. Finally, Brown competed a nearly stuck Yurchenko 1.5 on vault to earn a solid score of 13.067.She ended the competition with the same bar routine she competed during this past NCAA season.
Despite some minor errors, like a small hop on her dismount on bars and an out of bounds on floor, the gymnast earned 15th place with an all-around score of 48.100. After removing the already-qualified athletes, she was within the top 11 gymnasts of the competition and earned a nominative berth to the world championships in September. It’s another step closer to realizing her Olympic dreams after an incredible NCAA career.
3. Tiana Sumanasekera brings the heat in her senior Pan Am debut
First-year senior Tiana Sumanasekera absolutely blew Pan Ams out of the water, earning gold in the all-around and on beam. She also tacked on silver on floor exercise. Sumanasekera, who is coming off of a decorated junior career, in general, has proven exceptional at Pan Ams. In 2022, she brought home four gold medals and one silver at junior Pan Ams.
The gymnast earned a 53.900 to take home the All-Around title, with three scores of 13.567 or higher. Her performance placed her several tenths ahead of silver medalist Natalia Escalera (MEX). An extraordinary weekend indeed!
