Legendre Wins Silver Medal

NORMAN, Okla. -- Steven Legendre ended the World Championships with a bang early Sunday, winning the silver medal on vault in Antwerp, Belgium.

An NCAA champion at OU now with the USA Senior National Team, Legendre performed two vaults – a handspring, double front with a half twist, a Dragulescu, for a 15.266, and a Tsukahara double pike, for a 15.233 – to earn a 15.249 average and the silver. South Korea's Yang Hak Seon won the vault title, with Kristian Thomas of Great Britain rounding out the top three.

The medal is the first in an Worlds individual event for Legendre, who won a team bronze in 2011. The silver is the first World Championships medal on vault for a Team USA since another OU great, Bart Conner, earned silver in 1979.

“I am ecstatic,” said Legendre, who also finished fifth on floor on Saturday. “It has been an elusive medal, to say the least. This is my fourth World Championships and I've been in the finals every year. This is the first medal I have gotten and it feels great. Neither of my vaults were perfect, but I put my feet down pretty well and that turned out to be enough.”

The medal is the second for a former OU gymnast, coming a day after Jake Dalton won silver on floor.

All told, the USA men's and women's teams won 12 medals, including three gold, six silver and three bronze, a record for the United States at a single World Championships.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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