© John Cheng

CAIRO, Egypt, March 17, 2022 – Paul Juda (Deerfield, Ill./University of Michigan) and Ian Lasic-Ellis (Dover, Mass./Stanford University) qualified one-two to the floor exercise final Thursday at the 2022 FIG Apparatus World Cup in Cairo, Egypt, while teammate Alex Diab (Glen Ellyn, Ill./U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center) is through to the still rings final.

Juda delivered a 14.533 to claim the top spot on floor during Day 1 of qualifications. Lasic-Ellis, the 2022 Winter Cup floor exercise champion, advanced in the second position with a 14.166 followed by Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat (14.066) who was third.

Diab qualified to the still rings final in the seventh position with a 14.200. Turkey’s Ibrahim Colak posted the day’s high score with a 14.766. Armenia’s Vahagn Davtyan (14.733) and Italy’s Salvatore Maresca (14.600) were second and third. Lasic-Ellis finished 12th with a 13.800.

Juda and Lasic-Ellis also competed on pommel horse, finishing 11th and 21st, respectively. Juda’s 13.666 placed him just outside the cutoff for a reserve position for Saturday’s apparatus final. Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan led the way with a 15.066. Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan (14.633) and Harutyan Merdinyan of Armenia (14.533) rounded out the top three.

Qualifications at the Cairo International Stadium continue tomorrow with men’s vault, parallel bars and high bar, beginning at 10 a.m. ET. The men’s floor exercise final is slated for Saturday at 7 a.m. ET followed by the still rings final at 9:15 a.m. ET.