© Allison Cheng

MERSIN, Turkey (October 9, 2022) – Penn State’s Joshua Karnes (Erie, Pa.) earned a top-five finish on parallel bars at this weekend’s FIG World Challenge Cup at the Mersin Cimnastik Salonu in Turkey, where he also competed in the pommel horse and horizontal bar finals.

Karnes – a first-year senior, who was named to the U.S. Men’s Senior Development Team in August – posted the third-highest qualifying scores on parallel bars (14.250) and pommel horse (14.050) Friday and qualified eighth on high bar Saturday with a 13.100. During Sunday’s medal round, the sophomore gymnast’s 14.050 on parallel bars slotted in fifith – his highest showing of the day. Karnes landed sixth on horizontal bar with a 12.400 and was eighth on pommel horse with an 11.100.

Fellow Nittany Lion and Senior Development Team member Matt Cormier (Milton, Mass.) was also in action. Cormier was 15th on horizontal bar (12.050), 16th on parallel bars (12.700) and 18th on floor exercise (12.900).

Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Patanin captured the gold medal on floor with a 14.550. Shiao Yu-Jan of Chinese Taipei delivered a 15.050 to claim top honors on pommel horse. Reigning Olympic parallel bars bronze medalist Ferhat Arican of host-nation Turkey led the way on the apparatus with a 14.800, while countryman Adem Asil was golden on still rings with a 15.000. Romania’s Gabriel Burtanete notched the high score on vault (14.725), and 2020 European horizontal bar champion Robert Tvorogal of Lithuania garnered event-high marks of 14.350.