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With a trip to Paris next summer now settled thanks to Saturday’s world championships qualifying, the American men must clean up some issues as they look to capture an elusive medal.
ANTWERP, Belgium — The U.S. men’s gymnastics team still needed to qualify for the Paris Olympics, and in three days, the Americans will try to end their medal drought in the team competition. Here at world championships, the group of five gymnasts responsible for attaining those milestones includes three athletes who had never performed at an event of this stature.
But when the United States began its competition Saturday with the qualifying round, newcomers Khoi Young and Fred Richard earned the team’s best scores of the opening rotation. Paul Juda, the other first-timer, made his debut on the next apparatus, and “being able to watch the guys kick butt on pommel horse kind of just got me fired up,” he said. And then, he hit his routine, too.For most of the competition at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, these solid routines continued. Despite struggles on high bar, the Americans finished with a 254.628 team total, enough to clinch a spot at next summer’s Paris Olympics. The Americans’ score stood as the second-best mark of the first day of qualifying, behind only Japan . To earn a spot in Paris, the United States needed to finish this round with a top-nine score, excluding the three countries that have already qualified for the Olympics . With eight more teams competing Sunday, and Japan the only country with a score better than the United States, the Americans are certain to land among the qualifiers — and probably much higher than required. Of the teams still to compete, just two reached the world championships final last year. The U.S. team mostly just needed to avoid a complete meltdown to earn a spot at the Olympics. Perhaps most notably from the qualifying round, the Americans finished ahead of China and Britain, a pair of teams that medaled at the 2022 world championships but suffered errors Saturday. China, a men’s gymnastics power, had a rough showing and is in fifth, more than 10 points behind Japan.The top eight teams advance to the final, and China should still make it. These scores don’t carry over to the medal events, so beyond the need to qualify, Saturday’s performances will not affect the final results.The U.S. team had its own issues it hopes to resolve before then. Only one American made it through his high bar routine without a fall or a major error. High bar is this team’s weakest event, but the United States still performed far below its potential. “What happens when you try not to make a mistake? You end up making a mistake,” U.S. high performance director Brett McClure said when asked about the trouble on that apparatus. “But that’s okay. They need something to focus on, something to keep you humble and grateful and excited about the next time you go out because there’s a little bit to prove.”McClure said the coaches will “need to make some decisions” regarding the lineups for Tuesday’s competition. In the qualifying round, four gymnasts can compete on each apparatus and only three scores count, but in the final, three athletes perform and all scores factor into the team total.Richard said he believes the U.S. team is “in great shape to contend for that podium spot.” Apart from high bar, the U.S. men performed well. Other teams’ struggles allowed them to still finish in a strong position, and all five gymnasts are in contention to advance to at least one individual final. After the remaining qualifying sessions Sunday, the top eight gymnasts on each apparatus and the top 24 in the all-around will advance, limited to two gymnasts per country. Richard and Asher Hong are both in the top 10 in the all-around standings and poised to reach the final.Young, a 20-year-old from Bowie, Md., earned the second-best pommel horse score of the day with a 15.066. Richard, the national champion on high bar, fell on that apparatus, but he should advance to the floor final after finishing Saturday in second place with a 14.600. Yul Moldauer, competing at his fourth world championships, is the only veteran on this team, and he has the No. 4 mark on parallel bars so far. Hong is just behind him in sixth. As a team, the United States earned the best vault score of Saturday’s sessions. Juda, Young and Hong had two-vault averages that ranked fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively. Juda does the same
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