Sooners, Team USA Take Fourth at Worlds

NORMAN — Two University of Oklahoma alums, head coach Mark Williams and Team USA finished fourth in the men's team final at the 2019 World Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, this morning.

Behind a solid performance from 2019 OU graduate Yul Moldauer, the U.S. men secured their second consecutive fourth-place finish at the World Championships in the team competition. The U.S. put up a final tally of 254.578 in the three-up, three-count finals format to finish just outside of the podium, where Russia, China and Japan finished 1-2-3, respectively.

"(Today) definitely feels like a success because we had 18 routines and did 18 routines well enough to beat some very competitive teams that were ahead of us in prelims," said Williams, serving as Team USA's head coach. "Everybody had some struggles, but it was a good day."

Moldauer posted his best score on floor exercise, a 14.400 routine that contributed to Team USA's 43.332 team score on the event. The Arvada, Colo., native led the U.S. in their opening rotation on vault, putting up a 14.300 that was his second-best tally on the day.

"I'm just proud of all these guys. It was fun being out there like an NCAA team and bringing all the energy." - Yul Moldauer

The seven-time individual NCAA champion registered three scores of 14-plus on the five events he competed, including a 14.100 on parallel bars and near-14 score of 13.833 on still rings.

Moldauer, Williams and traveling alternate and 2017 OU alum Allan Bower will continue their time in Germany on Friday as Moldauer competes in the individual all-around final at 9 a.m. CT.

The all-around final will air live on the Olympic Channel Friday morning and will be available via livestream on the NBC Sports App. A reairing of Wednesday's team final will air on NBCSN this afternoon at 2 p.m. CT. A reairing of the all-around final will air Friday evening at 8:30 p.m. CT, also on NBCSN.

For updates and more information on Oklahoma men's gymnastics, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_MGymnastics) and like Oklahoma Men's Gymnastics on Facebook.

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Mark Williams, Team USA Head Coach

On the team's finals performance:
"It would've been difficult to move up onto the podium, but it definitely feels like a success because we had 18 routines and did 18 routines well enough to beat some very competitive teams that were ahead of us in prelims. Everybody had some struggles, but it was a good day. We still have some work if we're going to take on the best countries in the world. Definitely feels like everybody did their job and it was a success from the standpoint that, with the team we have, I don't know if we could've done a lot better."

On Yul Moldauer's performance and expectations heading into the all-around final:
"He did five events for the team and contributed a great deal and had some good routines. Vault and P-bars were very good, floor was great and he finished things off really well on rings. I'm very happy with how he's doing. We have a day of rest and then all-around finals on Friday so he's not done yet. We're excited to continue to do gymnastics at the World Championships because it's just an awesome opportunity to be against the best in the world and be right in the middle of things and for him to be right in the middle of things in the sport that he's done all of his life."

Yul Moldauer, Team USA

On the team's performance and his preparation for Friday's all-around final:
"I'm just proud of all these guys. We had a young team, only me, Sam (Mikulak) and Akash (Modi) have competed at Worlds. It was fun being out there like an NCAA team and bringing all the energy. I feel like I did okay, but I didn't do my best. If I look back, there was nothing I could've changed. We still hit everything, now it's just about the details. I'm going to rest my body, but also work on some skills that I'm going to add in for finals. It's all-around finals, so I just have to go out there and hit."