KITAKYUSHU, Japan, October 22, 2021 – Yul Moldauer of Wellington, Colo., overcame a rocky start on still rings to earn the United States its highest men’s all-around finish at a World Championships in more than a decade Friday in Kitakyushu, Japan. Moldauer, who spent the evening steadily climbing in the standings, delivered a 14.866 on pommel horse in the final rotation at the 2021 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships to secure fourth place – the best U.S. showing since Jonathan Horton took bronze in 2010.
Moldauer finished with an 84.365, just over half a point behind Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun who claimed bronze with an 84.899. China’s Zhang Boheng (87.981) edged reigning Olympic all-around champion Hashimoto Daiki of Japan (87.964) for the top spot.
Two days of individual event finals kick off Saturday at 4:10 p.m. local time (3:10 a.m. ET). Stephen Nedoroscik of Worcester, Mass., and Alec Yoder of Indianapolis, Ind., will represent the U.S. in the pommel horse final after qualifying in the second and third positions.
A 2017 World individual bronze medalist, Moldauer will look to work his way onto the podium in Sunday’s parallel bars final after notching a 14.900 on the apparatus during Friday’s all-around competition. Brody Malone of Belfast, Tenn., will also compete Sunday, having secured a spot in the horizontal bar final. On the women’s side, 2021 World all-around silver and bronze medalists Leanne Wong of Overland Park, Kan., and Kayla DiCello of Boyds, Md., have the opportunity to add more hardware to their collections in Sunday’s balance beam and floor exercise finals.
Individual apparatus finals will air live on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA.