Brodie Malone didn't smile as he removed the bulky knee brace from his right leg and hurried off the mat at Target Center on Thursday after a shutout opening match on vault in one of the biggest competitions of his life.
Malone's mission isn't over yet.
The U.S. champion, in second place after the first day of Olympic Trials, earned an 85.100 in the all-around and is well positioned to qualify for his second Olympic team spot. 2023 World All-around bronze medalist Frederic Richard took the lead with his final two rotations to finish with an 85.600 for second place.
The overall winner will earn a coveted Olympic berth in a five-person team that will be announced Saturday (2 p.m. PDT, Channel 4). Malone, third-place finisher Shane Wiskas (84.300 points) and Yul Moldauer, who tied for fifth (83.700), will compete for a second Olympic berth.
Brody Malone talks about his performance, including how he overcame nerves at the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials. (Thuc Nhi Nguyen/Los Angeles Times)
For Malone, who found himself on the operating table in Germany in March 2023, another Olympic performance seemed impossible.
Malone was competing in the individual final of the DTB Pokal Team Challenge when he slipped off the bar while dismounting and injured his right knee. He underwent emergency surgery, one of three procedures needed to repair torn ligaments, damaged cartilage and a fractured tibial plateau. Brett McClure, USA Gymnastics' men's high performance director, was on the arena floor and thought he would never see Malone perform again.
And the former Stanford University star won his third all-around U.S. championship this month, his first in 17 months.
“It's just unbelievable,” McClure told reporters Wednesday. “It's shocking. From my position as a high performance director, I just want to see him get through Olympic qualifying. It's not enough for him. He wants to go out and win.”
Malone won the vault in his first rotation and followed his routine while competing for the first time without a knee brace. The brace is designed to reduce pain by pushing the joint inward while sitting on the floor or vaulting, but it was compressing his shin and affecting his running. Competing without the brace marked another major milestone in his return.
“Patching it up was the best thing that could have happened, for sure,” Malone said with a smile at the end.
Malone's only mistake came on the pommel horse, when he nearly slipped off the apparatus, but he powered through the transition element and stayed on the apparatus as the crowd gasped. The mistake put Richard and Asher Hong into a temporary tie for first place with Malone, edging out the veteran by just half a point after the quad.
Brody Malone will compete in the still rings at the U.S. Olympic Trials on Thursday.
(Abby Parr/The Associated Press)
Hong, who won the national championship in the individual all-around in 2023 in Malone's absence, finished the day tied with 2023 World Championships teammate Moldauer in fifth place (83.700) after finishing 10th at U.S. Championships. Moldauer fell off the pommel horse in her opening routine but then recovered to post the second-best score of the night with a 15.150 on the parallel bars.
Stanford University star Koi Young, who won silver on vault and pommel horse at the world championships — a breakthrough event for the U.S. men, who won bronze in the team event — struggled on the horizontal bar and pommel horse, dropping to 12th place.
Young is the first American man to win medals in multiple events at the world championships since 1979, but the mistake was uncharacteristic of the 21-year-old. Stanford coach Tom Guglielmi said he's never seen Young make such an error in practice, let alone in competition.
But this is no ordinary test.
“For many of us, this is the biggest tournament of our lives,” Malone said. “For those of us who have never been to the Olympics before, this is our ticket to compete, so of course it's nerve-wracking. Even for those of us who have been to the Olympics, we want to compete again, so it's definitely nerve-wracking.”
Wiskas used his hometown advantage to channel his nerves into energy; the Spring Park, Minnesota, native was competing just 20 miles from his hometown. After moving from fourth to second on the floor exercise, Wiskas cupped one hand over his ear as fans cheered him on. After finishing his final routine with a quick jump off the ring, Wiskas kicked up chalk dust, pumped his fist into the crowd and pounded his chest.
The normally mild-mannered Midwesterner doesn't often stir up crowds, and Wiskas said the atmosphere may have fazed him when he was younger, but hearing the crowd cheer as he was introduced helped him relax.
“I allowed myself to have a bit of fun, knowing that this could be the last tournament of my career,” said the 25-year-old.
Another strong performance on Saturday could see Wiskas extend his career all the way to Paris.
