After several appearances at the world championships, American gymnast Donnell Whittenburg finally brought home a gold medal.

Whittenburg’s long wait ended at Indonesia Arena on Friday (Oct. 24) after he won gold in the rings event.

The 31-year-old gymnast scored 14.700 points, ahead of Turkiye’s Adem Asil with 14.566 and China’s Xingyu Lan with 14.500.

Whittenburg said he was very happy with the result, calling it, “This is going to give me more confidence.”

“I couldn’t be more than happy to have this happened [gold medal],” said Whittenburg.

In the qualification, Whittenburg ranked second —behind Xingyu Lan, with a total of 14.700 points.

Since joining the world championships, the Baltimore-born gymnast’s best record had only been bronze.

Whittenburg earned them at the 2014 world championships with Team USA and in vault at the 2015 edition.

When asked if this gold secured his place among the world’s best gymnasts, Whittenburg replied, “Yeah, absolutely!”

“Throughout the years I know where I stand among the best in the world and I feel like I just needed my moment to really show everybody what I was capable of.”

He also hoped the gold medal at the 53rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships would lead to more success in future major tournaments.

“My goal is [olympic] 2028,” he said.

“I am going to keep pushing as hard as I can to make that dream happen… Anything is possible as long as you don’t stop trying.”

Like Whittenburg, silver medalist Adem Asil was also happy with his result.

In the qualification, Asil ranked fourth, behind Xingyu Lan, Donnel Whittenburg, and Zhang Boheng —finishing in fourth place during the final.

When asked about the key to winning silver at this world championships, Asil said, “I just work it so hard.”

“This time, I am so much ready that [world championships] Liverpool,” he said.

Meanwhile, bronze medalist Xingyu Lan admitted he was disappointed, as he had been in first place during qualification.

“Today, I was a bit nervous. I am not very satisfied with my performance,” Lan said.

“I was expecting a gold medal, there were high expectations, so there was a lot of pressure for that.”