The U.S. males’s gymnastics staff for the 2024 Paris Olympics has been set.
After 4 periods of competitors throughout the nationwide championships in Texas final month and the Olympic trials in Minnesota this week, 5 athletes distinguished themselves to the choice committee − and scoring algorithm − because the group with the most effective likelihood of incomes an Olympic medal a couple of month from now. The U.S. final reached the rostrum on the Summer time Video games in 2008, when it received bronze.
Right here is the total staff, as unveiled by USA Gymnastics shortly after the top of trials Saturday afternoon.
Brody Malone
Age: 24
Top: 5′ 5″
Hometown: Summerville, Georgia
Greatest occasion(s): Excessive bar, parallel bars
Malone was all however a lock after his sterling efficiency at nationals, the place he received his third U.S. title in 4 years. The Stanford College product completed fourth on the 2022 world championships and might be the People’ most polished all-around gymnast, able to placing up world-class scores on excessive bar (he received the world championship within the occasion in 2022) and being stable to above-average on each different equipment. The one actual query mark for Malone was whether or not he can be wholesome sufficient for Paris after struggling a ugly knee damage a little bit greater than a yr in the past. However his performances over the previous month have silenced these doubts, and he’ll enter his second Olympics with a really realstic shot of incomes a person medal.
Frederick Richard
Age: 20
Hometown: Stoughton, Massachusetts
Greatest occasion(s): Ground train, vault
A rising junior on the College of Michigan, Richard mechanically locked his spot on the staff by profitable the Olympic trials and inserting inside the highest three in three totally different occasions. He’s certainly one of Workforce USA’s most proficient gymnasts and arguably its brightest younger star. At 19, he grew to become the youngest American man to win a medal on the world championships, and his all-around bronze was solely the fourth in that occasion by a U.S. man. Like Malone, Richard does not have many holes in his sport, which makes him invaluable in a staff setting. However he’s significantly dynamic on ground train, the place he’s among the many greatest on the planet.
Asher Hong
Age: 20
Top: 5′ 1″
Hometown: Tomball, Texas
Greatest occasion(s): Nonetheless rings, vault
Hong was the 2023 nationwide champion and a member of the staff that received bronze on the world championships that yr, however a tough exhibiting at nationals left him on the skin of the Olympic image wanting in. That every one modified this week in Minneapolis. The rising junior at Stanford put up the most effective rating of trials on nonetheless rings and proved that he can add a ton of worth on vault, squeezing himself again onto the staff with an amazing efficiency Saturday afternoon.
Paul Juda
Age: 22
Top: 5′ 4″
Hometown: Deerfield, Illinois
Greatest occasion(s): Ground train, pommel horse
Juda, who competed alongside Richard at Michigan, was certainly one of a number of gymnasts who had been on the Olympic fringes coming into trials. He earned his spot on this staff not due to his all-around scores, which had been good however not nice, however as a substitute by offering worth in key occasions − particularly ground train and pommel horse. For the U.S. to medal in Paris, it must shore up a few of its weaknesses, and Juda’s capability to attain in these two occasions ought to assist do exactly that. A member of final yr’s world championship staff, he’s additionally well-rounded sufficient that he may fill in on different apparatuses in a pinch, in case of damage or sickness.
Stephen Nedoroscik
Age: 25
Top: 5′ 5″
Hometown: Worcester, Massachusetts
Greatest occasion(s): Pommel horse
Nedoroscik solely competes in a single occasion: Pommel horse. However he has received a world title and 4 nationwide championships on that equipment, and it simply so occurs to be the People’ biggest weak spot − and that is why he is on this staff. The U.S. staff choice procedures are extra systematic than the ladies’s, calculating the highest staff utilizing scores from nationals and Olympic trials. It is a math equation, principally. And since Nedoroscik thrives in an space the place so many different gymnasts struggled, he’ll quickly be off to Paris.
Alternates
- Khoi Younger (Bowie, Maryland / Stanford College)
- Shane Wiskus (Spring Park, Minnesota / EVO Gymnastics)