Three U.S. gymnasts compete tomorrow in event finals of World Championships

STUTTGART, Germany, Sept. 8, 2007— 2007 world all-around champion Shawn Johnson of West Des Moines, Iowa; Nastia Liukin of Parker, Texas, the 2007 world uneven bars silver medalist; and Alicia Sacramone of Winchester, Mass., the 2007 world vault bronze medalist, will compete tomorrow, Sept. 9, on the second day of individual event finals at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Earlier in the event, the U.S. women won the world team title. Tomorrow’s competition, which is the final day of the World Championships, features women’s balance beam and floor exercise, and men’s vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar.

Johnson is competing in both the balance beam and floor exercise finals, while Liukin is competing on balance beam and Sacramone on floor. At the 2005 World Championships, Liukin and Sacramone won gold medals on balance beam and floor exercise, respectively.

The second day of individual event finals begins at 2 p.m., local Stuttgart time. The top eight gymnasts in each event from the qualification round, with a limit of two athletes per country, advanced to the individual event finals. Scores from the qualification round do not carry forward.

The U.S. women won the team world title earlier in the event and Johnson won the all-around title yesterday. In today’s individual event finals, Liukin won her second straight world silver medal on the uneven bars, and Sacramone claimed the bronze medal on vault. Liukin now has eight world medals to her credit, including three on the uneven bars. Sacramone has six career world medals, including three on vault. The USA qualified for both men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

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.