Sloan falls from balance beam, then rallies to win national title

Bridget Sloan put her name up there with the stars of American gymnastics by winning a national championship in a come-from-behind effort that was as much about her unrelenting tenacity as her surprising grace.

Sloan, 17, a member of last year's Olympic silver-medal team, opened the meet in a hole after falling off the balance beam on her first routine Thursday, but overcame Ivana Hong and Rebecca Bross with seven straight solid routines.

Sloan finished with 117.55 points to beat Hong by 0.3 and Bross by 0.95 of a point. And while she still has a lot to prove, Sloan will no longer be overlooked.

"In 2007, I was the kid nobody knew about, the up-and-comer," she said. "After the Olympics, everyone knew me and that was really cool. This year, I feel like a completely new person."

The top three all closed the night on vault with the exact same jump — a laid-out flip with two twists — and though Bross' and Hong's were better, they weren't enough to overcome the 0.55 of a point lead Sloan had built through the floor exercise.

It was quite a startling comeback after the fall on beam netted a score of 13.95 and dropped her way behind.

"I really didn't know what I was going to do after I fell," she said. "I didn't think about winning whatsoever."

Before Sloan capped her comeback, Olympic champion Nastia Liukin reprised her beam routine from Thursday night with a better result, eliminating some wobbles and tentativeness to score a 14.7, 0.25 better than in her debut. She is rounding into shape after taking most of the year off.

Liukin and Sloan are both favorites to be on the four-woman team that heads to London for the world championships in October. Liukin is seeking her 10th worlds medal to surpass Shannon Miller as the most decorated American gymnast in history.

"She has some things that aren't where they usually are," national team coordinator Martha Karolyi said. "But with two more months, she should be able to accomplish it."

Other choices won't be as easy, though Hong and Bross are squarely in the mix. Both train with Liukin at World Olympic Gymnastics Academy near Dallas, the gym that has produced the last two Olympic champions — Liukin and Carly Patterson.

Sloan said she's never shied from the underdog role that naturally came while competing on a team with Liukin, Shawn Johnson and Alicia Sacramone.

"To come back from the Olympics and win nationals, that's not easy," Liukin said. "I'm proud of her. She shined in everything she did."

She also has a fan in Karolyi.

"I've always loved Bridget," Karolyi said. "In 2007, she was a little timid and would get nervous. But this is a different Bridget."