Four U.S. gymnasts compete in all-around finals of 2007 World Championships

Four U.S. gymnastics will compete tomorrow, Sept. 7, in the all-around finals of the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

September 7, 2007

STUTTGART, Germany, Sept. 6, 2007— David Durante of Garwood, N.J., Jonathan Horton of Houston, Shawn Johnson of West Des Moines, Iowa, and Nastia Liukin of Parker, Texas, will compete tomorrow, Sept. 7, in the all-around finals of the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. The men’s competition begins at 8 a.m. ET, while the women’s is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET. Fans can watch a live Web cast of the competition at www.wcsn.com.

Horton, the 2006-07 Tyson American Cup champion, advanced to the all-around finals after placing ninth in the qualification round on Tuesday, while Durante, the 2007 U.S. all-around champion, finished 27th. As the first reserve athlete, Durante replaces Bulgaria’s Jordan Jovtchev, who withdrew from the all-around finals. The U.S. men finished just shy of the bronze medal in fourth place in today’s team finals.

Liukin and Johnson finished second and third, respectively, in the women’s qualification round on Sunday. Shayla Worley of Orlando, Fla., finished seventh, but did not advance to finals because of the limit of two athletes per country. Johnson and Liukin will attempt to add more hardware to the team world gold medal they won on Wednesday.

The top 24 gymnasts from the qualification round, with a limit of two athletes per country, advanced to the all-around finals. Scores from the qualification round do not carry forward.

The individual event finals, which are split between Sept. 8 and 9, feature six U.S. gymnasts: Guillermo Alvarez of Denver, floor exercise; Alexander Artemev of Morrison, Colo., pommel horse; Johnson, balance beam and floor exercise; Liukin, uneven bars and balance beam; Alicia Sacramone of Winchester, Mass., vault and floor exercise; and Kevin Tan of Fremont, Calif., still rings.

Based in Indianapolis, USA Gymnastics, the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States, encourages participation and the pursuit of excellence in the sport. For more information, log on to www.usa-gymnastics.org.