David Durante finally lived up to years of potential, edging Guillermo Alvarez by .2 points to win his first national title. Former junior champion Sho Nakamori finished third, despite training for all of, oh, four months after shoulder surgery last November.
"It wasn't so much about peaking here, but peaking at Stuttgart," Durante said. "We're going to make sure the U.S. ends up where it's supposed to be and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that happens."
The U.S. men need to finish in the top 12 at next month's world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, to secure a spot in the Beijing Olympics. Now most years, that wouldn't seem to be a problem. But the Americans were 13th at last year's worlds, and after the mighty struggles in Wednesday night's prelims, optimism wasn't high that results this year would be much better.
The six-man team is expected to be announced Saturday.
"Zero," Durante said when asked if he had any doubts the team would qualify, repeating it for emphasis. "Zero. If you have any questions, you shouldn't be on the team."
Oh, there are questions all right. Like who's going to be on the team for starters.
Durante and Alvarez would seem to be locks, as would Sasha Artemev, who dropped from a tie for first to fourth after falling on both floor exercise and vault. But the team also needs guys who can put up big scores on specific events where the U.S. team as a whole is weak, like still rings and pommel horse.
That could put one of the Hamms in the mix. Nationals was the brothers' first competition since the Athens Olympics, where Paul won the all-around gold, and he and Morgan led the United States to its first team medal since 1984.
It's clear the two haven't lost any of their considerable talent. Paul won the floor title Friday night with a routine that was the class of the field. His tumbling passes are higher, his landings cleaner, his skills more polished.
After struggling through their pommel horse routines Wednesday night, both of the Hamms were much improved Friday. They swung around the horse with much more confidence, and when Paul did his scissors kicks, swinging his legs in front and back of the apparatus, he looked like a plane propeller as it readies for takeoff.
Paul scored 15.5 on pommel horse Friday, finishing fourth. Morgan scored a 14.85, and skipped the floor exercise after tweaking his ankle Wednesday.
Just imagine how much better they'll be after a few more months in the gym.
