MINNEAPOLIS - Olympic dreams were realized following the U.S. Olympic Team Trials on Saturday afternoon, as sophomore Asher Hong and alum Brody Malone each earned bids to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Hong and Malone join Fred Richard, Paul Juda, and Stephen Nedoroscik on the five-man team. Junior Khoi Young will also head to Paris as a traveling alternate for Team USA alongside Shane Wiskus.
For Malone, it is his second trip to the Olympic Games after placing fifth with Team USA in the team final in the Tokyo Olympics. After winning the all-around crown at the U.S. Championships just four weeks ago, Malone followed it up with another stellar performance, finishing second in the all-around with a 170.300, just 0.200 points behind winner Fred Richard.
Malone finished in the top-6 in all six events on the weekend, inlcuding third-place finishes on vault (29.300) and high bar (27.450), and a fourth-place finish on still rings (28.550).
Hong, a native of Tomball, Texas, qualifies for his first Olympic team after finishing fifth in the all-around race. Entering the weekend with a chip on his shoulder after an uncharacteristic 10th-place finish at the U.S. Championships, Hong paced the field with a 29.150 weekend score on still rings, as well as a second-place finish on vault that included a 15.250 routine on Sunday to help secure his place on the Olympic squad.
An underwhelming night one for Young caused him to just miss out on his first Olympic bid, but a bounce-back performance on Sunday helped land him a spot as a traveling alternate for Team USA. Young improved on his night one scores in each of his five events on Sunday (he scratched from still rings), and finished as the weekend's top vault performer with a 30.050.
Curran Phillips was the best gymnast on parallel bars at the Trials with a 31.250 score on the weekend, while Colt Walker finished third on the event (29.650) and 10th in the all-around with a 163.200.
Jeremy Bischoff, Kai Uemura, and Kiran Mandava finished 11th, 12th, and 13th in the all-around race, respectively.
Artistic Gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games will be held July 27-August 5, as the United States men’s team will look to secure its first Olympic medal since 2008.