University of Minnesota Athletics
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Team USA, Wiskus Finish Fourth in World Team Final
10/9/2019 10:35:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Shane Wiskus capped off an impressive first World Championships appearance on Wednesday as Team USA took on the team final in Germany and placed fourth with a final score of 254.578.
The U.S. only came behind the three teams already qualified for Tokyo 2020 prior to Worlds: powerhouses Russia (261.726), China (260.729) and Japan (258.159). The Russian team took first place for its first-ever Worlds team gold.
The United States had a much better day than in the qualifying round. The team hit all 18 routines and scored 4.2 points higher than on Monday (250.359). Wiskus competed high bar and floor on Wednesday and hit both events to go 6/6 in his rookie outing at Worlds.
The U.S. men started the day on vault and scored 42.700. They then headed to parallel bars, where a big score of 43.566 pushed them into third place after two rotations.
Shane's first event of the day was high bar, in which he finished in the top 15 during qualifiers. As the second man up, Wiskus scored a stuck 13.533 to help push the United States to a score of 42.215 on the apparatus.
The red, white and blue rotated to floor next. Wiskus earned a big 14.266, besting his 13.466 qualifying score. The team scored a 43.332 on the event to solidly stick in fourth place after four rotations.
The United States kept consistent and scored 40.799 on pommel horse and 41.966 on rings to maintain their position on the leader board and close out the team portion of the Worlds schedule.
The U.S. continue on in Germany with Yul Moldauer (University of Oklahoma) and Sam Mikulak (University of Michigan/USOPTC) set to compete in Friday's all-around final, as well as Mikulak representing Team USA in Sunday's high bar final.
Next up for Wiskus is his junior season at Minnesota, where he will serve as a captain. He is the reigning parallel bar national champion, a two-time Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, and a six-time All-American. There are still a few more boxes that he would need to check in order to qualify for the 2020 team, but with the United States securing a berth in Stuttgart, Wiskus is one step closer to his Olympic dream.