Hamm vaults to forefront

Greg Boeck
USA TODAY

CLEVELAND -- U.S. men spent last week measuring themselves against each other in the U.S. Gymnastics Championships. Up next is the ultimate measuring stick: an Aug. 19 dual meet against the Olympic champion Chinese team.

A U.S. contingent of six gymnasts leaves Wednesday for Beijing. Heading the group will be five-time national champion and two-time Olympian Blaine Wilson , 2000 Olympian and 2001 parallel bars world champion Sean Townsend and the newest champion on the block, Paul Hamm.

Hamm won the all-around senior men's title Friday in Gund Arena, denying Wilson an unprecedented sixth championship and sinking Townsend's bid to repeat. A 19-year-old from Waukesha, Wis., Hamm won the 2002 Senior Pacific Alliance All-Around gold medal, was part of the 2001 world championship silver medal-winning team and was a 2000 Olympian. But this was his biggest feat as a member of the national team.

''This is definitely a coming out for him,'' says his coach, Stacy Maloney.

Hamm's victory represents a subtle shifting on the men's team. Wilson, at 28, remains the leader with his experience and competitive drive. Competing in his first major meet since injuring his right shoulder 14 months ago, he battled a hyperextended knee and an ankle twist but placed second. And despite a disappointing fifth-place finish, Townsend, 22, is a solid talent.

But Hamm stamped himself as the brightest rising star on a team of emerging young talent that's positioning itself for a run at a medal in next year's world championships in Anaheim, Calif.

''I'm not one of the young guys anymore,'' he says. ''I'm a guy with experience who can challenge.'' A stiff challenge awaits in China.

Also on the team are Brett McClure (eighth), Guard Young (third) and Morgan Hamm ( news - web sites) (fourth), Paul's twin brother.

''It'll be tough,'' Paul Hamm says. ''We could beat them with the team we are bringing. We'll know where we need to be one year from now.''

The USA will compete in the Individual World Championships on Nov. 20-24 in Hungary, but its focus is Anaheim, where the coveted team and all-around championships will be on the line a year from the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Hamm is becoming one of the few all-around gymnasts in the world with no weak event. He finished seventh in the 2001 world championships, the best men's all-around finish for the USA. He was a runaway winner at Gund, posting the highest scores in pommel horse and vault, the second-best marks in floor exercise, high bar and parallel bars and the third-best mark in still rings.

Hamm is excited about the future. Stick-outs at the U.S. championships who'll be challenging for world championship berths in 2003 were Sho Nakamori, 16, D.J. Bucher, 18, and Alex Artemeu, 16.

''The young guys are talented and hungry,'' Hamm says.

Repeat: Tasha Schwikert won her second women's senior national title and immediately set her sights on the individual world championships in November -- and her birthday. She turns 18 on Nov. 21 during the competition. ''I want to go there and make it on the floor and high bars,'' she says. ''I definitely want to medal.''

Candidates for the world team will be selected in October at the Karolyi ranch near Houston. The senior men's team will be selected Oct. 11 at a camp in Colorado Springs. Wilson will bypass worlds to have surgery on his left shoulder.