Results

INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 28, 2017 – Earlier this month, the U.S. men finished seventh in the team competition at the 2017 World University Games in Taipei, Taiwan. The World University Games are held every other year and are organized by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The event is a multi-sport competition open to men and women who are between the ages of 17 and 24, and are, or have been within the past year, a student at a college or university.

The five members of the U.S. Men’s Team are: Levi Anderson of Houston/University of Oklahoma; Alex Diab of Glen Ellyn, Ill./University of Illinois; Tristan Duran of Franklin Lakes, N.J./University of Minnesota; Vitali Kan of West Allis, Wis./University of Minnesota; and Robert Neff of Brookfield, Wis./Stanford University.

In the team competition, the Americans placed seventh with a 242.325, highlighted by the third-best horizontal bar total (41.100). Team USA’s other event scores were 40.025, floor exercise; 37.600, pommel horse; 40.950, still rings; 42.150, vault; and 40.500, parallel bars. Japan won the team gold with a 260.225 total, followed by Ukraine at 257.900. Russia’s 253.150 earned the bronze.

In the all-around final, Neff posted a 80.700 to finish 12th. Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev claimed the title at 88.300. Japan’s Shogo Nonomura earned the silver medal (86.050), followed by his teammate Wataru Tanigawa in third (85.700).

For the individual event finals, Diab was the third reserve for still rings, and Neff was the first reserve for the horizontal bar. The men’s event champions were: floor exercise, Russia’s Kirill Prokopev; pommel horse, Chinese Taipei’s Lee Chih-Kai; still rings, Armenia’s Artur Tovmasyan; vault, Dominican Republic’s Audrys Nin Reyes; parallel bars, Nonomura; and horizontal bar, France’s Axel Louis Augis.