DOHA, QATAR - Stanford was recently well represented at the 2018 World Championships. Team captain and fifth-year graduate student Ryan Sheppard and volunteer assistant coach Akash Modi successfully competed in their first world championships competition.
Sheppard competed on all six events for Hungary, hitting every routine and leading Hungary to 20th place overall and a spot in next year's event. This was Sheppard's first world championships and a tremendous experience, as only the Olympic Games is regarded as a higher level of competition. The top 12 teams from the 2019 World Championships will qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.
Modi competed on five events – pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar – for the USA in the preliminaries. Team USA was one of the top eight countries to qualify for the team finals, finishing just off the podium for fourth place.
Of its five team members, only two-time Olympian Sam Mikulak had been to a team world championships. The young inexperienced team did well finishing in fourth with room to improve.