Penn State men’s gymnastics alum Stephen Nedoroscik became Team USA’s first-ever world champion on the pommel horse this weekend in Kitakyushu, Japan.

Nedoroscik, a 2020 grad, scored a 15.266 in the world championship final for pommel horse after securing his spot by scoring a 15.366 in the second round of competition. He beat out silver medalists Weng Hao of China and Kaya Kazuma of Japan by more than three-tenths of a point.

STEPHEN NEDOROSCIK, WORLD CHAMPION!

For the first time ever, the ?? boasts a World champion in Pommel Horse! Way to go, Stephen!! ? pic.twitter.com/OZUf8kZSMH

— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) October 23, 2021

“We’re so excited for Stephen and the Penn State family on bringing home the world title in Kitakyushu, Japan,” Penn State head coach Randy Jepson said in a release. “It was a great effort. He had really terrible preparation in terms of illness and travel but qualified second on the first day and then climbed the ladder to get the gold. We are really thrilled for him.”

This was Nedoroscik’s first time competing at the world championships, but he almost didn’t get the opportunity to compete.

“It was a really rough journey getting here. They lost our passports, and I was sick as a dog,” Nedoroscik said in a release. “It’s the sickest I’ve ever been. I left four days after everyone else did and missed podium training. Despite all those odds, I was able to hit both routines.”

In addition to his world title, Nedoroscik has a U.S. championship title along with two collegiate national titles he earned while competing for Penn State from 2017 to 2020.