LONDON — Bridget Sloan wore gold, Rebecca Bross wore silver.
The big winner? The United States.

In shades of the Beijing Olympics, Sloan edged her younger teammate for the world gymnastics championships Friday night. And it couldn’t have been closer, coming down to the very last skill of the night, with Bross falling on her final tumbling pass to drop to second place and give Sloan the title.
“We’re very happy to be able to show the level of gymnastics the USA is practicing,” said Martha Karolyi, coordinator of the women’s national team. “There was no doubt in my mind they were the strongest girls in the field.”
Regardless of the final order.
Sloan, the lone holdover from the U.S. team that won the silver medal in Beijing, finished with 57.825 points. Bross, competing at her first world championships after turning 16 in July, scored 57.775 points. Koko Tsurumi gave Japan a rare medal in the women’s all-around, winning the bronze.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said Sloan, fingering her oversized gold medal. “I imagine as time goes by, I think I’ll be like, ’Yeah, this is pretty cool.”’
Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson went to the Beijing Olympics as favorites for the gold medal, and they lived up to the billing, with Liukin beating Johnson. With both taking breaks from gymnastics, Bross and Sloan came to London with similar expectations.
Sloan is the U.S. champion, making the transition from supporting player to star with ease and confidence. Bross is the phenom, so talented she finished second at the Pan American Games two years ago — just days after her 14th birthday.
Somewhere, something had to give. (Yes, Beijing bronze medalist Yang Yilin was here, but she’s not nearly what she was last year after missing several months with a back injury.)
Bross, a dynamo whose every routine is jam-packed with tough tricks, had built up a sizable lead after the first three rotations. Sloan was up first on floor, and she was gorgeous. She had great height on her tumbling passes and landed all of them as if she were coming down in a vat of superglue.
But what really set her apart was her artistry. Gymnastics officials have changed the rules since Beijing, limiting the number of tumbling runs in hopes of making the event more elegant. For most girls, all that means is they wave their hands around a few times and call it choreography. Sloan actually uses her music, landing her jumps on the beat and striking sultry poses that were the perfect complement to her Bollywood-style music.
Her score of 14.2 was by far the highest of the night on floor, and only one person topped her execution mark of 8.5.
It would, coach Marvin Sharp, thought, guarantee the Americans a 1-2 finish at The O2 Arena, where gymnastics will be held in 2012 — but with Sloan taking the silver.
“We were happy with that,” Sharp said. “Bridget was screaming her head off for Rebecca, I was screaming for Rebecca.”
Bross needed only a 12.925 to win. Considering her lowest score to that point was the 13.95 she’d scored on floor in qualifying, the gold medal seemed like a gimme.
Bross had little bobbles here and there, but they weren’t major. Certainly not anything that would cost her the gold.
But on her very last trick, trying to punch forward from the landing of one flip into another one, her legs gave out. She barely got off the ground, not getting anywhere close to the height she needed and nearly came down on her head. The crowd — Sloan included — gasped.
“Emotions started going in and out of my head,” Sloan said. “Yes, it’s an individual competition, but she’s still part of the USA team. I was like, ’Oh, no!”’
Bross picked herself up and climbed off the podium. After some encouragement from coach Valeri Liukin, she walked quickly to the end of the arena.
“I had a little mishap at end of my routine. It happened. There’s nothing I can do to change it now,” Bross said.
Sharp, meanwhile, told Sloan to check out the scoreboard.
“He said, ’Look.’ I was like, ’Did that just happen?”’ Sloan said. “I did not realize it was so close, so I’m very happy for today and how well both of us did.”
So was Bross. The two walked out of the arena together, chatting and laughing. When Sloan was introduced as the world champion, Bross gave her such a big hug she practically lifted her older — and much taller — teammate off the ground and onto the podium.
“I’m very happy,” Bross said, emphasizing the “very.” “It’s my first worlds out here. Even though I had a mistake, I’m still very proud and very happy to be out there and showing what I can do.”
Besides, just being at worlds is something of a triumph for Bross, who missed all of last season and part of this year with injuries. If it’s any comfort, she can always check out the standings from the 2005 world championships.
The United States went 1-2 there, too, with Nastia Liukin finishing a close second to Chellsie Memmel. Three years later, of course, Liukin took home the ultimate prize, the Olympic gold medal.
“It’s a good trend. We want to keep that trend going,” Sharp said of the U.S. dominance. “We’ll come back and see what we can do in London in a few years.”