On the day of the Team Finals at the 2023 World Gymnastics Championship, the US Women’s Team stumbled upon an unfortunate event. The team’s vault and floor performer for the day, Jocelyn Roberson suffered an injury prior to the competitions. The 16-year-old fell prey to a left lower leg injury during the warm-ups ahead of the contention for the vaults. The incident had the gymnast sit out the rest of the competition. The situation called for a worthy replacement, thus bringing in Leanne Wong.

The 20-year-old budding gymnast is often recognized for contesting at the 2021 and 2022 Worlds. Given her experience at the international event, Wong slid in as a near-perfect replacement for Jocelyn competing at the 2 apparatuses. The persisting condition obliged Wong to replace Jocelyn once again in the vaults at the apparatus finals. Going in, Wong couldn’t help but work her charm further yielding a response from the fans online.

Wong’s vault performance at the 2023 Worlds Gymnastics Championship

On the 7th of October, the 2023 World Gymnastics Championship hosted the final leg of the event; the apparatus finals. Replacing Jocelyn on the first apparatus for the day, Wong took the ground to vault against and alongside Simone Biles. The three-time Worlds team gold medalist, stepped in gracefully to fill the position. Opening her act, Leanne performed a Yurchenko double that earned her a score of 14.100 and a 12.833 in the second round. The combined score of the two placed her on top early on in the competition with 13.466 though it slipped her to a 7 later.

Regardless of the position, the fans stood to marvel at the 20-year-old’s performance. However, as they admired the scenario they couldn’t help but notice the point degradation during one of her performances. The fans furious of the same, took to Twitter looking for justification.

Fans express concern and love over Wong’s performance

According to the spectators online, Wong’s performance was reduced in execution and demanded justification. The user raised a concern saying that her Lopez was downgraded to a pike during the performance. “Nice Yurchenko duoble full for Leanne Wong, but it looks like they downgraded her Lopez to a pike, which…I don’t think I agree with?…” the user posted on X.

Following up, the users showed up to agree with the unjust downgrade. Replying to the post, the fans commented, “Yeah wth…I don’t think that should’ve been given a pike!!” while another said, “Yea, I have a side view on vault and I’d say it was a layout not a pike.” 

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Even after the raised speculation, the conclusion for the results remained unclear. While the fans fought for an explanation, there were some, just happy about Wong’s performance. “Two great vaults from Leanne Wong! She is the not so secret weapon for Team USA! Her ability to step into any event under any circumstances and deliver time and again is money!” a user wrote sharing a video of the gymnast marveling. Another one of the fans, proud of the gymnasts’ presence in the field, commented saying, “ceo leanne wong is so iconic.”

While one admired, the other hoped for a top stop. The fan wishful for the same, commented, “Leanne Wong vault world medalist I see the vision (my stream is behind don’t ruin my dreams).”  Unfortunately, Wong placed 7th on the table. But nonetheless, the 2023 Worlds is just the beginning for the 20-year-old.

Watch this story: With Simone Biles at the Helm, US Women Record Unprecedented Triumph at the World Gymnastics Championships