Donnell Whittenburg

Donnell Whittenburg (born August 18, 1994) is an American artistic gymnast. He is the 2025 World Champion on rings and is a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team.

Early life and education Whittenburg was born on August 18, 1994, in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Edgewood High School and later a local community college and DeVry University. He was coached as a youth by Abdul Mammeri.

2014–2016 Whittenburg was the 2014 U.S. national champion on vault and silver medalist on rings. He won a bronze medal with the team at the 2014 World Championships.

Whittenburg competed at the 2015 Pan American Games where he won gold with the team. Individually he won silver on floor exericse, rings, and vault. The following month he competed at the 2015 National Championships where he won the national title on rings. At the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Whittenburg won his first individual World Championships medal, a bronze on vault, with an average combined score of 15.350 behind Ri Se Gwang of North Korea (15.450) and Marian Drăgulescu of Romania (15.400). He also qualified for the still rings final but finished eighth with a score of 15.300.

At the 2016 American Cup Whittenburg placed second behind Ryōhei Katō. He retained his national title on rings at the 2016 National Championships. At the 2016 Olympic trials he placed second on rings and vault and third on parallel bars and horizontal bar. Whittenburg was named as an alternate for the 2016 Olympic team.

2017–2021 Whittenburg won silver at the 2017 London World Cup behind Oleg Verniaiev. At the 2017 Koper World Challenge Cup he won gold on parallel bars and silver on floor exercise and vault. At the 2017 World Championships he placed sixth on floor exercise.

At the 2021 Pan American Championships Whittenburg won a silver medal with the team. He competed at the postponed 2020 Olympic trials but was ultimately not named to the Olympic team. Whittenburg competed at the 2021 World Championships but did not qualify to any event finals.

2022–2024 In 2022, Whittenburg placed second at the United States National Championships behind Brody Malone, scoring highest on rings and second highest on vault. He competed at the 2022 World Championships where he helped the United States finish fifth. Individually he finished eighth on rings.

Whittenburg competed at the 2023 Pan American Games where he helped the United States win team gold. Individually he won gold on rings and bronze in the all-around behind Félix Dolci and Diogo Soares.

In 2024, Whittenburg placed seventh in the all-around at the 2024 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships and 2024 United States Olympic trials and was named as a non-traveling replacement athlete for the 2024 Olympic team.

2025 Whittenburg changed gyms to EVO Gymnastics in 2025 and was a member of their delegation at the 2025 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships. There he won bronze on rings and parallel bars. After the competition, he was selected to compete at the 2025 World Championships alongside Brandon Dang, Asher Hong, Patrick Hoopes, Brody Malone, and Kameron Nelson.

At the World Championships, Whittenburg qualified for the rings and parallel bars finals. During the rings final, Whittenburg won gold ahead of 2022 World Champion Adem Asil and 2021 World Champion Lan Xingyu. In doing so, Whittenburg became the first American to win the World title on rings. At age 31 and 61 days, Whittenburg also became the oldest American man to win a World title, surpassing Kurt Thomas, who won two golds in 1979 at age 23 and 254 days, as well as the oldest American man to win a World Championships medal, surpassing Paul O'Neill (28 years and 354 days in 1994).

2026 On May 11, 2026, he was selected to represent the United States at the 2026 Pan American Championships as a traveling replacement athlete.

Eponymous skills Whittenburg has one named element on the rings. +Gymnastics elements named after Donnell Whittenburg Apparatus Name Description Difficulty Added to Code of Points Rings Whittenburg Triple salto backward pikedI, 0.9 2017 Koper World Challenge Cup

Competitive history +Competitive history of Donnell Whittenburg at the junior level YearEvent 2010 U.S. Championships (14–15) 10 11 20 6 12 5 2011 U.S. Championships (16–18) 6 11 17 4 6 4 2012 Winter Cup 21 9 35 13 25 32 28 U.S. Championships (16–18) 5 6 Mexican Open 6 +Competitive history of Donnell Whittenburg at the senior level YearEvent 2013 Winter Cup 11 17 30 7 6 16 25 National Qualifier 11 7 U.S. Championships 13 24 17 6 7 8 24 DTB Pokal Team Cup 5 2014 Winter Cup 6 20 4 7 10 Doha World Challenge Cup 4 National Qualifier 5 21 13 U.S. Championships 4 7 14 6 11 World Championships 17 7 Stuttgart World Cup 2015 Winter Cup 5 21 4 14 13 American Cup Pan American Games 4 U.S. Championships 8 9 26 World Championships 5 8 8 2016 Winter Cup 6 32 17 10 12 American Cup Pacific Rim Championships 6 U.S. Championships 5 11 25 4 5 12 Olympic Trials 4 8 14 12 2017 Winter Cup 4 4 14 13 5 7 London World Cup Koper World Challenge Cup 4 U.S. Championships 11 10 1 World Championships 6 2018 U.S. Championships 5 9 2019 National Qualifier 12 6 22 U.S. Championships 7 7 14 7 11 16 2021 Winter Cup 11 4 21 11 10 Pan American Championships Olympic Trials 14 World Championships 30 12 2022 U.S. Classic 20 13 23 U.S. Championships 5 14 10 8 Paris World Challenge Cup World Championships 5 8 2023 U.S. Classic 7 10 65 13 9 16 U.S. Championships 7 25 18 13 Pan American Games 6 2024 Winter Cup 5 4 19 6 16 U.S. Championships 7 7 13 4 8 22 Olympic Trials 7 5 15 11 12 2025 U.S. National Championships 8 World Championships 5 2026 Osijek World Cup 5