MINNEAPOLIS − Frederick Richard let out a big smile as he left the floor Thursday night, pumping his fists.
Richard, the reigning world bronze medalist, had plenty to celebrate. His marvelous floor routine had just put him atop the all-around leaderboard after the first night of the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials with a score of 85.600, narrowly ahead of three-time national champ Brody Malone.
"Wasn't the best meet I've ever had, but I got through everything," Malone, a Tokyo Olympian, said afterward. "A little rough, little shaky, some nerves out there. I think everyone was a little bit like that. I'm glad to have it under my belt and I'm looking forward to day two."
Both Richard and Malone were near-locks for the men's team at the 2024 Paris Olympics next month, so it was no surprise to see the top of the leaderboard. It was far more interesting to see how the rest of the field came together behind them.
Khoi Young, another presumptive member of the Olympic team, had a disastrous night − falling twice on pommel horse, which is one of his best events, and failing to complete an element on high bar. It was such a shaky performance that he left himself with some work to do on the second day of trials, which is Saturday.
"I've never seen him do that. Honestly, like never in practice," Thom Glielmi, Young's coach at Stanford, said of Young's pommel horse routine. "So this was just an anomaly. We'll have to come back and do better Saturday."
Shane Wiskus, who grew up not far from Target Center, is sitting in third place after Thursday night's competition, followed by Paul Juda and Asher Hong. Of the three, Juda might actually have put himself in the best position for Saturday's team selection with outstanding performances on floor and pommel horse — an event where the U.S. desperately needs help.
Here's everything else you missed on Night No. 1 in Minneapolis.
Brody Malone has already been to an Olympics. That doesn't make trials any easier.
"For a lot of us, it's the biggest competition of our lives. All the guys out there that haven't made the Olympics before, this is their ticket to go. So of course the nerves are going to be going crazy," Malone said. "Even us that have been to the Olympics before, we want to go again. The nerves are still there, for sure."
Malone is competing 15-plus months after shredding his knee in a gruesome injury on a high bar dismount. He needed three surgeries to repair the damage, and is still wearing a brace on most events.
But he shed it for vault, saying it was hurting his shin. It seemed to be the smart choice, as Malone stuck the landing of his vault and scored a 14.6, the second-highest score on vault of the night.
"I've been training without it and it's a felt lot better. My run feels way smoother," Malone said. "And sticking it was just the cherry on top."
MINNEAPOLIS −Khoi Young was thought to be a lock for this Olympic team, the U.S. men's best non-specialist on pommel horse and a rare American medalist on the event at the world championships.
But he's now come off horse twice over three nights of competition at the U.S. championships and Olympic trials. His 11..65 on Thursday night, after coming off twice during his routine, was the worst score of the meet on the event.
Young, the reigning NCAA champion, also had issues on high bar and still rings, and is down in 12th place. The one event in which he did well was vault, where he is the reigning world silver medalist. His 14.95 was the highest score on the event Thursday night. −Nancy Armour
MINNEAPOLIS − Pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik had a slim path to Paris, and it might have evaporated Thursday night.
The 2021 world champion on this event appeared to leave at least one of his usual elements out of his routine, which knocked at least half a point off his potential score. The result was a score of 14.450 that will not be nearly good enough to justify his specialist spot, despite it being the best score in the event so far. (He scored nearly a full point higher in his first routine at nationals.)
Elsewhere, Fred Richard hit a terrific high bar routine to jump into a tie atop the all-around leaderboard with Asher Hong, while Brody Malone slipped into second after a clunky showing on pommel horse. Yul Moldauer has also put himself in a strong position with scores on parallel bars, vault and rings that all rank in the top three of the night with just one rotation to go.
MINNEAPOLIS − Brody Malone still leads in the all-around standings through Rotation #4. But after that is where it's getting interesting, with four men all separated by less than half of a point: Shane Wiskus, Yul Moldauer, Fred Richard and Asher Hong.
Of the four, only Richard is believed to be safely on the team for Paris.
The fourth rotation also saw Khoi Young, another near-lock for the Games, fall way behind due to a slip-up on high bar, which caused him to not even receive credit for one of the skills in his routine. It likely won't alter his Olympic future, but it could hurt his overall finish at trials. −Tom Schad
MINNEAPOLIS − It's not a surprise Brody Malone is leading the all-around standings midway through. After all, he won his third U.S. title last month.
But to lock his spot on the Olympic team, Malone would also need to be in the top three on three or more events. And the 14.3 he just got on high bar is key. High bar is one of the U.S. men's weaker events right now, and Malone is guaranteed to put up a big score and do it consistently. (He won a world title on high bar in 2022.)
Malone also has the second-highest score on vault and third-highest on parallel bars. −Nancy Armour
MINNEAPOLIS − Everyone on the bubble will be hoping to prove that they can bring consistency and a few more tenths in their best events. That made the second rotation a tough one for Asher Hong and Donnell Whittenburg, who both needed to put up big scores on vault and failed to do so.
Whittenburg was so over-rotated on his vault that he rolled off the mat, resulting in a significant deduction, while Hong took two steps sideways upon his landing. Whittenburg's score of 13.700 could be especially problematic for his Olympic hopes, as it was well below his scores at nationals.
Curran Phillips, meanwhile, turned in what could very well prove to be the single best event score of the night: A 15.600 on his signature event, parallel bars. Phillips did not compete on the second day of nationals, giving each of his routines this week a bit more weight. −Tom Schad
MINNEAPOLIS − After a lackluster performance at nationals, Asher Hong has a lot of work to do this week if he's going to get back in the Olympic picture. But his showing on rings in the first rotation certainly didn't hurt.
Hong, the 2023 all-around national champion, posted the highest score of the first rotation outside of Malone's vault − a 14.450, with an 8.450 execution score. Importantly, it was right around what he showed on rings at nationals, where he was at or around 14.500.
Among the other athletes on the bubble, Minnesota native Shane Wiskus (14.400 on vault) and Paul Juda (14.050 on pommel horse) also turned in solid scores to start their nights. Yul Moldauer, meanwhile, will be disappointed with his pommel horse showing. He is usually fairly reliable in the event but fell off in the second half of his routine, leading to a 13.100 score. −Tom Schad
MINNEAPOLIS − What Brody Malone didn't have on vault was almost as notable as what he did.
Malone, who shattered his knee on a high bar dismount in March 2023 and needed three surgeries to repair it, did vault without the bulky brace he wore at the national championships last month. He told Gymnastics News earlier this week that the braces were causing him shin splits, a problem on an event that requires him to sprint down a runway.
Malone did just fine, sticking the dismount on his Kas 1.5 vault. He scored a 14.6, better than he did on either night at nationals. −Nancy Armour
The U.S. gymnastics trials are at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Mike Tirico will host NBC's coverage, and Terry Gannon (play-by-play) will be joined by analysts Tim Daggett, Samantha Peszek and John Roethlisberger on the call.
There are five spots up for grabs on both the U.S. men’s and women’s gymnastics teams at the Olympic trials.
There are different selection procedures for each of the teams — the jigsaw puzzle is a little more complicated for the men because they have six events and the women have four — but consistency and the ability to post high scores will be key for both.
Like the women, the men’s scores from the two days of competition at trials will be combined. But unlike the women, the winner is guaranteed a spot on the Paris team only if he also finishes within the top three on three events.
The U.S. men have a real shot at their first Olympic team medal since 2008, and the selection committee will be trying to find the right combination that can produce the highest score in team finals. Having an all-arounder who is spectacular on at least three events goes a long way toward that. It’s about finding guys who can add big scores, or at least be consistently decent, on the events where the Americans have holes to fill.
Brody Malone, who is vying to make his second Olympic team, is a three-time all-around U.S. champion and the 2022 world champion on high bar. At this year’s nationals, Malone put up a remarkably consistent and commanding performance to win handily, posting an overall score of 172.300 that left a significant gap between him and the rest of the field.
Simone Biles is likely to compete her first rotation (uneven bars) shortly after 7:45 p.m. ET on Friday, then move in the order of events that is in place for Olympic competition − to balance beam, then floor exercise, then vault. On Sunday night, Biles will start on vault, with her first attempt around 8:20 p.m. ET. She will then go to uneven bars and balance beam before concluding on floor.
The senior men will compete Thursday night and Saturday night, with the women in action Friday and Sunday.
The first session of men's competition Thursday will be televised on USA Network, while the next three nights − including the decisive Saturday and Sunday sessions − will be on NBC. The network will also show every minute of all four nights on its streaming service, Peacock, where it will offer both a general stream and apparatus-specific streams for viewers who are hoping to monitor a specific athlete.
If Brody Malone has a similar showing at trials that he had at the U.S. championships in early June, he’s on his way to Paris. Ditto for Fred Richard and Khoi Young, who were second and third at nationals and top five in two other events. Richard was first on floor exercise and second on high bar while Young was second on parallel bars and fourth on high bar. Young also had the second-highest score of the meet the second night on pommel horse, where he’s the reigning world silver medalist.
The contenders are Tokyo Olympians Yul Moldauer and Shane Wiskus; Paul Juda, a member of last year’s world team; and Donnell Whittenburg, a two-time medalist at the world championships and 2016 alternate. Also keep your eye on Cameron Bock, Colt Walker and Asher Hong.
If the selection committee decides it is solid enough elsewhere but needs a big score on pommel horse, it could go with Stephen Nedoroscik, the 2021 world champion on the event; or Patrick Hoopes. Read Nancy Armour's full piece on who might make the U.S. men's team.
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