US regain world women's gymnastics title

The United States regained the women's team title at the world gymnastics championships on Tuesday, as its newcomers worked together to make up for the absence of more experienced teammates. They edged defending champions Russia, who came without injured all-around title holder Aliya Mustafina, while Olympic champions China finished in third spot. The United States, the 2007 world champions, collected 179.411 points, with Russia second at 175.329. China scored 172.820, leaving them in the same position as last year. "For sure, it's amazing. It's one of the greatest feelings I've ever had," 16-year-old US national champion Jordyn Wieber said after seeing the star-spangled banner rise at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. "We're really united and we're really cheering for each other. We have really come together," she said. "We tried not only to do well as a team but also have fun. I think it really helped us." Wieber led the US squad, competing in all four events as the team was without world multiple-medallist Rebecca Bross and 2009 all-around champion Bridget Sloan through injury. The team were further depleted when Beijing Olympic captain Alicia Sacramone, 24, the 2010 world vault champion, went home for surgery on an Achilles tendon she tore in training last week. "I think we've sent a message that we are really strong as a country even losing one of our top members and we're still able to pull through and win," said Wieber, one of the four first-year seniors in the squad. The Russian defeat could be partly attributed to errors by 2010 Youth Olympic all-around champion Viktoria Komova, 16, who played the key role for Russia in the absence of Mustafina. McKayla Maroney, 16, scored 16.033 points as the United States led Russia in their first event, vault, by more than two points at 46.816-44.479. Komova helped narrow the gap to 1.5 points in the next apparatus, uneven bars, with an error-free performance for 15.566 points. But Komova fell from balance beam after triple backflips in rotation three and the gap with the Americans widened to more than three points. In the final floor exercise, Komova stumbled back when she landed after tumbling forward to the tune of Swan Lake early in her routine. She could pick up only 13.800 points. The US women held their nerves as Maroney, Weiber and Alexandra Raisman, 17, the only holdover from the 2010 world squad, put in solid performances on the floor. "I'm still satisfied with the result," Russian women's coach Alexander Alexandrov said, adding that Komova had still not fully recovered from a knee injury she sustained in January. He said that another key gymnast, European all-around champion Anna Dementyeva, had a high fever a few days ago and competed in just two events. "She was really in bad condition. That's why she couldn't do what she could usually do", he said.