LONDON, Jan. 10, 2012 – Steven Legendre of Norman, Okla./Team Hilton HHonors (University of Oklahoma), advanced to vault finals at the 2012 Visa International Gymnastics event. Alex Buscaglia of Stanford, Calif./Stanford University, also participated in the competition, which is part of the London Prepares series leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, at the North Greenwich Arena today.
Artistic gymnastics competition for Team USA concludes on Friday, Jan. 13, with the second day of apparatus finals, featuring men’s vault.
The American duo began on the vault, where Buscaglia performed a Yurchenko half-on, front double full and received a 15.566. Meanwhile, Legendre earned a 15.900 for his handspring double front vault. Legendre opted to perform a second vault, a Kasamatsu half, earning a 15.500 two-vault average and a place in the apparatus finals.
In the second rotation, Buscaglia and Legendre moved to the parallel bars earning 13.700 and 14.000, respectively. On the horizontal bar in rotation three, Buscaglia received a 14.400 for his routine, which includes a Liukin to Gienger, while Legendre posted a 13.933, performing tucked and piked Kovacs releases.
On the floor exercise, Buscaglia mounted with a piked Arabian double front and scored 13.566. Legendre followed, earning a 14.566 for his routine, which included his trademark two-and-a-half twisting double back.
Legendre finished 13th place in the all-around with total of 86.298, after earning 13.766 on pommel horse and a 14.133 on the still rings. In the final two rotations, Buscaglia posted a 10.566 (pommel horse) and 12.933 (still rings) to complete his 80.731 total.