MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Fred Richards and Brody Malone are almost certain to travel to Paris next month.
An old friend may be making a pretty compelling case for you to join them.
As expected, Richard and Malone came out on top at the USA Gymnastics Olympic Trials, with the charismatic 20-year-old Richard leading the way with an 85.600 and three-time national champion Malone at 85.100. Meanwhile, Shane Wiskas, buoyed by the support of performing in front of a virtual hometown crowd, may have given the selection committee something to think about with a promising third-place finish.
Wiskas, a member of the 2020 Olympic team, said the trials would be her final competition of her career if she is not selected for the five-man Olympic team to be announced Saturday night.
The 25-year-old, who has been plagued by injuries and inconsistent play since Tokyo, was shaken after being confirmed. The native of Waconia, Minnesota, about 30 miles west of Target Center, played six solid rotations fueled by adrenaline. Whatever happens next, this will be etched in his memory forever.
“I let it energize me,” Wiskas said. “In other situations in the past, I've felt like it weighed on me and added to the pressure, but you know, tonight I felt nothing but love and I got goosebumps the whole event.”
If those goosebumps and consistency — especially her 14.350 on floor exercise, her third-best score of the night — are on display again over the weekend, and the others behind Richard and Malone continue to struggle, Wiskas' run may not be over yet.
“If the way I do it, just go out there and get the ball rolling, stay consistent and do my job for Team USA, (I think I have a chance),” Wiskus said.
For pretty much everyone except Wiskas, Richard and Malone, it will be a nerve-wracking 48 hours.
The athlete currently in first place overall as of Saturday night could automatically earn a spot on the five-a-side team if he or she finishes in the top three in three different events.
While that seems unlikely (it's a testament to the depth of the U.S. athlete), Richards seems poised to make his Olympic debut, while Malone is all but guaranteed a trip to Paris in three years' time after finishing 10th in the all-around in Tokyo.
Richard overcame a slow start with impressive performances on both the parallel bars and horizontal bar to win bronze in the individual all-around at the 2023 World Championships. The charismatic 20-year-old, who posed during introductions and interacted with the crowd after nearly every competition, seems to be on a roll after finishing two points behind Malone at the U.S. Championships earlier this month.
Malone wasn't as sharp as his sometimes impressive performances in Fort Worth, but the three-time U.S. champion still has a passport ready for France — a dream destination for an athlete whose career was put in jeopardy after suffering a “catastrophic” knee injury at the 2023 World Cup in Germany in March.
The 24-year-old Malone seems to be getting stronger as he moves away from injury. He began his second Olympic Trials without the bulky brace that protected his surgically repaired knee on the vault. The knee held up just fine as Malone made the landing, and his score of 14.6 was the second-best of the night.
“[The brace]was really hurting my shin,” Malone said, “so I've been training without the brace on at all and it's a lot easier. I'm running a lot smoother. And I definitely feel great just having the brace on.”
Malone watched from home last fall as the U.S. men won the bronze medal at the world championships, the nation's first medal at a major international tournament since 2011.
Richard became an overnight star after winning the bronze medal in the all-around, and now he's back home, he's spent most of his sophomore season at Michigan preparing for this moment, and he seems ready for it.
The rest of the guys who competed with him at the world championships in Antwerp, Belgium — Koi Young, Yul Moldauer, Asher Hong and Paul Judah — may have some work to do on Saturday night.
Judah may be in his best form right now, sitting in fourth place after the first day and finishing in the top seven in five of the six events.
Hong came off the pommel horse and had lackluster results on the horizontal bar, not putting up her best performance after finishing 10th at nationals. Moldauer, a 2020 Olympian, placed sixth but also performed poorly on the horizontal bar and pommel horse.
Young, who will win silver medals on vault and pommel horse at the 2023 World Championships, performed well on vault but struggled elsewhere, dismounting from horse, arguably his strongest event, and finishing ninth or worse in five of his six events.
The U.S. team is hoping to reach the Olympic podium for the first time since 2008, but it still has a lot of hurdles to overcome with the men's qualifying rounds in Paris just a month away.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-Paris-Olympics
