A total of 96 gymnasts competed in six events in the men’s gymnastics qualification round on day one of the Paris Olympics. The U.S. team, which was part of the first subdivision, experienced some unexpected surprises.
The results of the qualification round will determine the lineup for the rest of the competition. The top eight teams, based on the sum of their three highest scores, will advance to the team final. The top 24 individual scorers, with a maximum of two gymnasts from each country, will compete in the all-around event. Additionally, the eight athletes with the highest scores in each event from the qualification round will compete in the individual event finals.
For the U.S., the leaderboard saw an unexpected shift. Frederick Richard, the world all-around bronze medalist, achieved the highest scores on the U.S. team, followed by Paul Juda, his training partner at the University of Michigan. Brody Malone, the only returning Olympian on the squad, who was anticipated to be a contender for the all-around event, had the lowest scores on three out of the six events. Only gymnasts ranked within the top 24 overall scores from all three subdivisions will be eligible to compete in the all-around final. After just one subdivision, it is likely that Richard and Juda will be the representatives for the US.
“It was a great day,” Juda said. “To hopefully make an all-around final, that’s the cooler thing.”
“It means a lot,” Richard said about the possibility of making the all-around final alongside Juda. “To have my closest teammate next to me is just exciting.”
Juda’s mother, Ewa Bacher, was unaware of her son’s strong chance of competing in the Olympic all-around final. “Really?” she said after the U.S. men finished. “I don’t know much about gymnastics; we don’t talk about gymnastics that much. I am just so happy for this kid. He has achieved so much but he’s still my kid, just my kid.”
The U.S. men started on one of their weaker events, the pommel horse. It was a rough start for Brody Malone, the only returning Olympian on the squad, who fell off the horse and had to restart his routine. Malone is the U.S. national champion and was expected to make the all-around final in Paris. Malone quickly recovered from the mistake on the next event, rings, with the second-highest score among the American men behind teammate Asher Hong. However, he continued to struggle throughout the session, falling off the high bars twice – the event in which he won the world championship in 2022 – and stumbling in his floor routine. The two-time national champion sustained a devastating knee injury during a competition in March 2023 and has only recently recovered enough to start training for a spot on the Olympic team.
The team also had weak landings on vault, with three out of the four members competing on that event receiving deductions for stepping out of bounds; only Juda managed to stay within the bounds.
The British team, considered the U.S.’s closest competitor in the team event for a medal, finished the qualification just ahead of the U.S. by more than two points. The other medal favorites, China and Japan, competed in the qualification round later in the day.