LJUBJANA, Slovenia, April 26, 2013 – Both 2012 Olympic alternate Alex Naddour of Gilbert, Ariz./USA Youth Fitness, and Paul Ruggeri of Manlius, N.Y./U.S. Gymnastics Development Center II, have advanced to the finals at the Ljubjana World Cup in Ljubjana, Slovenia. The men’s finals begin tomorrow with finals in the floor exercise, pommel horse and still rings, with the remaining men’s events on Sunday.
Naddour qualified to all three of the events he competed: floor exercise, pommel horse and still rings. He earned scores of 14.800, floor; 14.650, pommel horse; and 14.200, still rings; to advance in fifth, sixth and eight place, respectively.
Ruggeri will compete in the finals for floor exercise, vault and horizontal bar. He posted the qualifying round’s top score for the high bar at 14.950. Ruggeri had the second best vault score at 14.725, just 0.050 behind Poland’s Marek Lyszczarz’s 14.775. He advanced to the floor final in third position with a score of 15.100 – just .050 shy of Slovenia’s Rok Klavora and Canada’s Scott Morgan, who shared the top spot with a 15.150. Ruggeri did not make the finals for the parallel bars, where he earned a 14.400 in the qualifying round.