“I Guess That Means I’m Old” Donnell Whittenburg Becomes First U.S. Man To Compete At Six World Championships

It was a star-studded day for Donnell Whittenburg of Team USA during Qualifications at the 2025 World Championships. Whittenburg competed on high bar, rings, and parallel bars. He took a fall on high bar in the first rotation, but quickly made fans forget about the mistake. He soared through his rings routine earning a 14.700 and finishing second after qualification. He then moved to parallel bars where he executed a picture perfect routine that earned a 14.300 and qualified to yet another final. 

“I’ve been training my butt off to get to this moment, and I’m just, I’m just glad I was able to really show exactly what I was capable of.” Whittenburg told Inside Gymnastics following competition. With his appearance in Jakarta, he became the first U.S. man to compete at six World Championships (2014, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2025). While a significant feat, for Whittenburg, he just feels it’s showing his age. 

“That just means I’m old,” he said with a laugh. “You know, as long as you have a dream, you shouldn’t stop trying to chase it. And I feel like this is just a stepping stone of my ultimate goal.” 

That ultimate goal? The Olympics in 2028, of course. “Absolutely” he says when asked about targeting LA and competing in an Olympic Games on home turf.

 A major factor to his success has been the switch to training at EVO Gymnastics. The gym is home to Olympic coaches Sam Mikulak and Syque Caesar, and has helped multiple athletes excel in their gymnastics at later points in their careers. 

“For me, it mostly helped with just getting me in a better routine,” Whittenburg said. “We do a lot of reps there, the conditioning is way more than what I used to do before I moved to Evo. And I mean, it was tough at first, it took me almost a month to get used to, but I feel like it was all worth it, because it got me to this position.”

Previously, Whittenburg has won two World Championship bronze medals, one with the team in 2014, and one on vault in 2015. Now he’s in prime position to add another medal to his case, specifically on still rings where he has the highest difficulty score amongst the competitors in Jakarta. A major factor to that difficulty score is his own “Whittenburg” dismount or the triple pike on rings. Prior to the World Championships, the FIG announced that the bonus received for that dismount will no longer be in effect beginning in 2026, a frustrating change for Whittenburg. 

“I feel as though the World Championships would be a great place to show people that hey, there’s guys out here doing the triple backs and triple pikes, and they’re doing them safely, and, well, prepared to do them, but you can’t change the rules. You just gotta do what you can. And I guess I have to do more strength!”

Despite the change, Whittenburg is still planning on performing the difficult dismount in 2026 for the wow factor. 

Whittenburg will now shift his focus to both days of event finals. Catch him in the still rings final on October 24 and the parallel bars final on October 25! Competition is scheduled to stream LIVE on Eurovision Sport and Peacock.

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