After the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in late May, the five gymnasts set to represent the men’s team in Paris seem more clear than before. However, all five spots are up for grabs heading into the Olympic trials. 

In the team final at the Olympics, you must put three gymnasts at each event and all scores will count. In the qualification round, four gymnasts will compete in each event and three scores will count. The team will be made up of five gymnasts that have different strengths on the different apparatuses. 

The lock 

Tokyo Olympian Brody Malone returned to gymnastics competition during the National Championships after fracturing his right leg and tearing multiple ligaments in his knee. He returned with a more difficult high bar set than before his injury and scored a 14.900 on day one. He excelled at high bar, parallel bars, pommel horse and rings, pacing in the top five on each event at the National Championships. 

The rising stars 

At the World Championships in 2023, Frederick Richard took home bronze, becoming the first American man to win a medal in the all-around since 2010. Richard followed that with a strong performance at the National Championships, finishing second in the all-around behind Malone. He also won the floor exercise and finished second on high bar. He earned scores over 14 on rings, vault and parallel bars and can benefit the team on those events. 

Three-time World Championship medalist Khoi Young finished third in the all-around at the National Championships. A big part of the total score came from a 15.000 on pommel horse and a second-place finish on parallel bars. Besides those events, he also offers vault, where he is the reigning world silver medalist as well as floor and high bar where he finished in the top six at the National Championships. 

The veterans

Tokyo Olympian Yul Moldauer won parallel bars with a 15.400 both days of competition at the National Championships. He also finished second on floor with a 14.600 day one routine and a 14.700 on day two. Moldauer finished with a top-ten rings routine and a stuck vault that scored a 14.550 on day two. A big area of improvement for Moldauer heading into Olympic trials will be his pommel horse routine, in which he finished outside the top ten.

The battle for the fifth spot

Should the four gymnasts named above make the team, that leaves one final spot for numerous candidates. 

2023 U.S. National all-around champion Asher Hong dropped to tenth place at this year’s National Championships. Hong finished third on rings and fourth on parallel bars during the competition. Hong will look to improve his vault and floor score for trials. He earned a 14.550 on vault on day two of the National Championships, but only a 14.000 on day one. On floor he earned a 13.900 on day one and a 13.500 on day two.

Donnell Whittenburg, an Olympic alternate from 2016, greatly helped his chances heading into Olympic trials. On day two of the National Championships he earned a 14.600 on rings and vault. He also earned a 14.300 on floor and a 14.500 on parallel bars. 

The all-arounder 

Another route for the fifth spot is a solid all-around athlete such as world medalist Paul Juda or Tokyo Olympian Shane Wiskus. Wiskus finished fifth in the all-around at the National Championships and Juda finished sixth. Both gymnasts add scores in the high 13s and 14s across the six events.

The specialist

The last major gymnast in contention for a trip to Paris is world champion Stephen Nedoroscik. At the National Championships he won the title on pommel horse with a day one score of 15.400. Nedoroscik only competes in pommel horse, but his high scores make him a unique talent. 

The U.S. men’s gymnastics team will compete at the Olympic trials on June 27 and 29. The team will be announced directly following the second day of competition. 

Edited by Dylan Heinrich | dheinrich@themaneater.com

Edited by Hannah Taylor | htaylor@themaneater.com

Edited by Annie Goodykoontz | agoodykoontz@themaneater.com