Jacob Peters, Devin Bidwell, Craig Hanson and Andrew Koff from the United States led Squad 2 with 2530 pinfall total, an average of 210.83, to overtake the lead in the Boys Team event at the 11th World Youth Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

The foursome, who swept the gold and silver medals in Doubles on Wednesday, started their 3-game block on short oil with the highest game of the day and never looked back. The U.S. Boys had games of 886, 862 and 782 to overtake Squad 1 leader Korea by 13 pins. Peters paced the team with a 658 series and was followed by Koff (642), Bidwell (632) and Hanson (598).

L-R Bidwell, Koff, Peters and Hanson

The Korean boys, Singles bronze medalist Park Jong-Woo, Doubles bronze medalists Kim Ju-Young, Shin Seung-Hyeon and Hong Hae-Sol, who earned the top seed in Singles and Doubles, totaled 2517 (209.75).

Seung-Hyeon led the team with the field-best 708 series including one of three 279 high games. Korea is the sole country that has medaled in each discipline, boys and girls, thus far. The sole gold medal came in Girls Singles from the No. 2 seeded position.

Trailing Junior Team USA by 57 pins were Alexandre Lepolard, Pierre Montagne, Remi Lenzi and Damien Sallas, France, who had there games between 835 and 812 to move into third place overall with 2473 (206.08).

Rounding out the top four after the first day of qualifying was Australia with Chris Watson, Ben Taylor, Kevin McRae and Singles silver medalist Sam Cooley.. The Aussies had there games between 844 and 805 to sit just two pins behind the French with 2471 (205.92).

Just outside the box looking in were Justin Lim Chun Liang, Benjamin Lim, Justin Lim Chia Loong and Basil Low, Singapore, with 2468 after finishing with a sub-par 772 after opening games of 870 and 826.

The 8th place team after this round, Sweden, is merely 90 pins away from first place, making Friday's final round on long oil before the cut to the top four promising to be an extra exciting round.

Korea's Park Jong-Woo used a 667 block today to overtake the lead in All Events after 15 of 17 games with 3360 pinfall total and an average of 224. Andrew Koff, United States, moved into second place with 3343, while previous leader Mats Maggi, Belgium, slipped to third place with 3332 behind a 584 series in one of the pacer teams.

The boys are done for today and will return on Friday afternoon for the second block of three games on long oil. The top 4 teams with the highest six-game total will advance to the semifinals on Saturday scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. CET (2 a.m. EDT ).

In addition, the Team event will determine the medals in All Events (combined results from Singles, Doubles and Team event). The top 16 players after 18 games advance to Masters match play on Saturday and Sunday.

The United States Bowling Congress is working in cooperation with the Finnish Bowling Federation to provide live video streaming of the semifinals and finals of each event. Lucas Wiseman will be doing the commentary in English and the coverage will be available on BOWL.com,

World Youth Championships - Upcoming Live Streaming Schedule
Saturday, July 31: Boys and Girls Team, 8 a.m. CET or 2 a.m. EDT
Saturday, July 31: Boys and Girls Masters, 1:00 p.m. CET or 7 a.m. EDT
Sunday, Aug. 1: Boys and Girls Masters, 8 a.m. CET or 2 a.m. EDT.