Brazil’s Saraiva and Souza take all-around golds, U.S. wins three of four team titles at Pan American Championships

Two-time Brazilian Olympian Flavia Saraiva took the senior women’s all-around gold and led Brazil to senior team gold, Caio Souza of Brazil successfully defended his senior men’s all-around crown and the U.S. won three of the four team titles at the Pan American Championships held July 14-17 in Rio.

Saraiva, 22, bettered her bronze medal-winning performance from the 2018 championships to earn all-around gold over silver medalist Lexi Zeiss of the U.S. and bronze medalist Skye Blakely of the U.S.

Saraiva placed fifth on balance beam at the 2016 Olympic Games in her hometown of Rio, and seventh on balance beam at last summer’s Tokyo Games. She was eighth all-around at the 2018 World Championships in Doha and seventh all-around at the 2019 Worlds in Stuttgart.

The 16-year-old Zeiss, a native of Omaha, Nebraska, made her international debut in Rio. Earlier this year she finished 15th all-around at the Winter Cup, a qualifying competition for this summer’s U.S. Championships.

2021 world all-around bronze medalist Kayla DiCello of the U.S. had the  fifth-highest all-around score, but did not factor in the official all-around rankings because she was the third-ranked U.S. gymnast and only two gymnasts per country could factor.

Rebeca Andrade of Brazil competed on every apparatus except floor exercise, and won gold on uneven bars.

The other senior women’s apparatus champions were Karla Navas of Panama on vault, Saraiva on balance beam and DiCello on floor exercise.

Navas, 17, placed fourth on vault, sixth on balance beam and seventh all-around at last year’s Pan American Championships, which were also held in Rio.

In the senior team final on the last day of the competition, Saraiva again led her Brazil, which outscored the U.S. by 1.999 points to take gold. The U.S. won silver and Canada won bronze.

Brazil’s team members included Saraiva, 2020 Olympic all-around silver medalist Rebeca Andrade, Lorrane Oliveira, Carolyne Pedro and Julia Soares.

In the junior women’s division, all-around champion Dulcy Taylor led the U.S. to team gold over silver medalist Canada and bronze medalist Argentina.

Following Taylor in the junior women’s all-around rankings were U.S. teammate Tiana Sumanasekera (silver) and Isabella Ajalla of Argentina (bronze).

Sumanasekera went on to capture junior apparatus golds on vault, balance beam and floor exercise, and U.S. teammate Alicia Zhou won gold on uneven bars.

Souza successfully defended his 2021 senior men’s all-around title, outscoring U.S. gymnast Yul Moldauer (silver) and Canada’s Felix Dolci (bronze).

Moldauer, who competed at last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, earned a career-high world championships all-around finish of fourth place at last fall’s Worlds in Kitakyushu.

Senior men’s apparatus champions were Moldauer on floor exercise, pommel horse and parallel bars, Arthur Zanetti of Brazil on still rings, Souza on vault and Brody Malone of the U.S. on horizontal bar.

In the senior team final on the last day of the competition, Moldauer led the U.S. men to gold, over silver medalist Brazil and bronze medalist Canada. Moldauer’s victorious teammates were Malone, Riley Loos, Colt Walker and Shane Wiskus.

Fred Richard of the U.S. won the junior men’s all-around title, nearly six points ahead of silver medalist Angel Barajas Vivas of Colombia. Vivas’ Colombian teammate Camilo Vera took bronze.

Paced by Richard, the U.S. men claimed the junior team title over second-place Canada and third-place Brazil.

In the junior men’s apparatus finals, Taylor earned gold on floor exercise still rings and vault. Camilo Vera of Colombia placed first on pommel horse and parallel bars, and his Colombian teammate Angel Barajas won horizontal bar.

The competition served as a qualifying event for the World Championships taking place October 29-November 6 in Liverpool.

2022 Pan American Gymnastics Championships
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
July 14-17

Women:

Senior All-Around:

1. Flavia Saraiva BRA 55.399
2. Lexi Zeiss USA 54.199
3. Skye Blakely USA 52.933
4. Sydney Turner CAN 52.600
5. Rose Woo CAN 51.667
6. Brisa Carraro ARG 50.433
7. Paulina Martinez MEX 49.767
8. Meline Mesropian ARG 49.300

Senior Team:

1. Brazil 162.999
2. USA 161.000
3. Canada 155.534

Men:

Senior All-Around:

1. Caio Souza BRA 83.033
2. Yul Moldauer USA 81.767
3. Felix Dolci CAN 79.333
4. Lucas De Souza Bitencourt BRA 78.500
5. Andres Martinez Moreno COL 78.399
6. Shane Wiskus USA 77.833
7. Dilan Jimenez Giraldo COL 77.601
8. Kenji Tamane CAN 77.067

Senior Team:

1. USA 245.698
2. Brazil 244.234
3. Canada 240.034

International Gymnast Online’s recent coverage of 2022 Pan American Championships competitors includes:

Brazil:

Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade: ‘Again I gave 110% of me’

Canada:

Canada’s Felix Dolci: ‘I know what I want and how to get there’

Olsen on Tokyo Postponement: ‘Another Year To Get Better and Refocus’

Canada’s Denelle Pedrick: ‘I’ve gained confidence over the years and it shows’

Canada’s Rose Woo: ‘Staying consistent and elegant will help me keep my spot’

USA:

Kayla DiCello on Worlds: ‘Our turn to show the world what we can do’

New U.S. Champion Malone Sticks To The Plan For Tokyo: ‘It’s Worked Well So Far’

Moldauer Finds Silver Lining In ‘Final Push’ to Tokyo Olympics