Brody Malone primed for Tokyo, specialists shine on day 1 of 2021 US Gymnastics Championships

By Patricia Duffy | June 3, 2021
Brody Malone primed for Tokyo, specialists shine on day 1 of 2021 US Gymnastics Championships
Brody Malone performs on parallel bars during day one of competition at the 2021 U.S. Gymnastics Championships. (© Jessica Frankl)

Brody Malone is about to become a household name.

The two-time NCAA all-around champion from Stanford holds a significant lead – 2.65 points, to be exact – after day one of competition in the senior men’s division at the 2021 US Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, and is three strong all-around performance, if that, from making the U.S. men’s team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

While seasoned pros like Sam Mikulak and Yul Moldauer looked rusty at times on Thursday night in Dickies Arena, Malone didn’t seem to show a weak event on his way to a 86.250 night one all-around total.

“NCAAs was definitely a big confidence booster,” Malone said after the meet, talking about his most recent meet in late April. “I think I was definitely more nervous going into that competition than I was this one just because there’s so much on the line for the team.”

The 21-year-old Cardinal senior’s team-focused mindset might be what sets him apart from the rest of the men’s team contenders as the final three days of competition between now and the Olympic Team announcement play out.

Yes, the NCAA is a feeder system for the U.S. men’s elite program, and yes, most of these athletes know what it’s like to compete as part of a team, but Malone has succeeded at giving his individual performance a selfless purpose despite this meet and the upcoming Olympic Trials being “eat or be eaten” situations.

“My coach, Syque [Caesar], told me before I got back on campus [this year] that NCAAs is the only competition besides the Olympic Games where you’re trying to hit for a team – it’s not just individual – so doing well there definitely gave me the confidence booster that I can do well under that kind of pressure,” Malone said.

As he rotated with his Stanford teammates, Malone racked up impressive scores across all six apparatus, with his only score below a 14.000 coming on floor (13.950). Currently, his scores on pommel horse (14.150), rings (14.600), vault (14.700), parallel bars (14.400), and high bar (14.450) have positioned him for event medals on night two.

Malone – who is also the reigning NCAA high bar champion two years running – posted the highest start value (16.500) on that event Thursday, even topping 2018 World high bar bronze medalist Mikulak on difficulty, but despite Mikulak struggling in his first competition since the 2020 American Cup, he did beat Malone (14.450) on this particular event.

Sam Mikulak – U.S.O.P.T.C.

Currently sitting in seventh place in the all-around (82.450), Mikulak’s only podium-contention placement (or top 10 placement, for that matter) for the meet came on high bar, where he earned a 14.750 (6.1/8.65).

The six-time U.S. all-around champion’s night one score is reflective of mistakes made on nearly every event, including an atypically low execution on floor (13.350), not hitting handstand and, subsequently, not getting to count his dismount on pommels (13.000), and suffering a nasty fall on parallel bars (13.550) that kept him down for a brief, but scary, second.

So, who’s to blame for Team USA’s golden boy having a less than golden performance? Time.

Time off. Time away from the competition floor. Time spent cooped up in quarantine (thanks, COVID).

After not competing in close to 15 months, Mikulak couldn’t seem to shake the nerves in his return, specifically citing his diet as the reason for a crash toward the end of the meet, but also being transparent about his confidence struggles.

“For me, confidence comes in feeling.”

Sam Mikulak after night one of competition at the 2021 U.S. Gymnastics Championships.

“There’s a feeling you get before you do your routine where you’re like, ‘I am ready to go hit this set,” Mikulak said. I had that on high bar and vault, obviously… [On] p-bars, I could feel that shakiness a little bit, but then it was like after that was when I was like, I didn’t think I was going to be able to get through my routines because I didn’t feel physically ready for it.”

Mikulak’s bid for a third Olympics is far from over, though, as the Olympic Team selection procedures have changed to only formally count results from Olympic Trials, and either way, Mikulak is notorious for bumpy day one performances just to come out and dominate on day two.

His bid for a historic seventh U.S. all-around title? That might be a harder ask.

Acknowledging that his body was in flight, not fight, mode on Thursday, Mikulak is now in an uphill battle that will require six hit routines on Saturday to potentially defend his title.

Yul Moldauer – 5280 Gymnastics (© Jessica Frankl)

“We’re definitely gonna hash this one out for a good little bit and get some new positive vibes,” Mikulak reflected. “One thing I guess I got going right now is the bar is set real low, and I should be able to improve a lot from this day going into Saturday.”

Moldauer and Malone’s Stanford teammate Brandon Briones are tied for second after night one, with the two athletes posting very different 83.600 all-around totals.

Moldauer hit 5-of-6 of his routines, calling his fall on pommel horse “unacceptable” and saying he feels like his meet is often decided by that event, specifically. Other areas for improvement on night two include parallel bars – where he was “confused” by the execution score he was awarded – and cleaning up his high bar.

Brandon Briones – Stanford University (© Jessica Frankl)

“He had a couple of mistakes, so obviously some room for improvement but always exciting to watch him compete. [He] stuck every pass, almost, on floor exercise. At least, the first four passes, which was same old Yul. He’s kicking butt there,” U.S. men’s High Performance Director Brett McClure said of the 2017 World floor bronze medalist.

Briones hit 6-for-6 and looked outstanding across the board, impressing McClure in the process.

“It was just hit after hit after hit after hit,” McClure said about Briones’ performance. “It was awesome to see.”

Shane Wiskus went out of bounds on his “doozy” of a vault, incurring a -0.300 deduction in the process and putting himself in fourth place heading into day two.

“Definitely took some extra effort to put [vault] behind me and then go into p-bars and high bar, which are two very important event,” Wiskus said.

Specialists go big for Olympic spot on night one

Besides Malone’s all-around dominance, arguably the most impressive performances on night one came from the various specialists who are trying to prove why they are worth of the +1 Olympic berth that the U.S. men’s Pan Ams team will try to earn on Friday.

Mikulak and Illinois’ Alex Diab secured automatic National Team berths thanks to their World class performances on high bar and still rings, respectively, that would have put them on the podium at 2019 World Championships.

“That’s fantastic for Diab,” McClure said. “Huge, huge routine. He’s got big aspirations beyond Olympic potential, and that’s World Championships and beyond.”

Alex Diab – University of Illinois (© Jessica Frankl)

Meanwhile, the battle between pommel horse specialists Stephen Nedoroscik and Alec Yoder continued in glorious fashion, with both athletes putting up 6.5 D-scores and hitting their challenging sets to score a 15.100 and 15.000, respectively.

“Alec Yoder [and] Stephen Nedoroscik going head-to-head on one of the most difficult events,” McClure said. “To hit under pressure, that was so awesome to watch.”

The floor-vault specialists were also on their A-game.

2021 NCAA vault and floor champion Gage Dyer stuck both of his vaults – a Kas double (triple twist) and a front handspring double front – and currently sits in first on the event with a 14.700. His powerful floor set, which includes his signature Tong Fei (butterfly with a full twist), was good enough for the second-best score of the night with a 14.550.

The top floor performer was U.S.O.P.T.C.’s Eddie Penev, who scored a 14.750 thanks to big difficulty, clean landings, and exceptional execution, particularly on skills like his triple twist dismount. His 14.450 on vault tied for third on the event.

Seemingly flying under the radar was 2013 World still rings bronze medalist Brandon Wynn’s comeback performance after emerging from retirement to train in 2020.

The Ohio State gymnast posted the highest D-score of the meet on rings with a 6.200, even topping Diab, but was docked some major execution points when he stumbled and put his hand down on his double-double dismount. Undoubtedly battling some comeback nerves, the 32-year-old will almost certainly improve on his 13.500 on day two.

Vahe Petrosyan leads juniors after Asher Hong’s last-minute withdrawal

Earlier in the day, 2021 Winter Cup junior all-around bronze medalist Vahe Petrosyan shined in the absence of 2021 Winter Cup champion Asher Hong – who withdrew from the junior meet at the last minute.

Vahe Petrosyan – Gymnastics Olympica USA (© Jessica Frankl)

Petrosyan earned the highest junior total with a 77.000 across all six apparatus. He leads the 15-16 division after day one, with Cole Partridge (76.950) and 2021 Winter Cup silver medalist Kai Uemura (76.250) right behind him in the standings.

Massachusetts Elite Gymnastics Academy’s Fred Richard posted the high score of the 17-18 division with a 76.600. He leads Toby Liang (76.250) and Vishal Mandava (75.850), respectively.

You can relive day one of the 2021 U.S. Championships by reading our live blogs: Junior Men’s session and Senior men’s sessionClick here for full results.

All of the junior men’s routines from the 2021 U.S. Championships can be watched on-demand at FloGymnastics.com. All of the senior men’s routines can be watched on USA Gymnastics’ YouTube Channel.

Junior and senior men’s competition at the 2021 U.S. Championships continues Saturday. National titles will be awarded and national teams will be named. The junior men will be back in action on FloGymnastics at 2:30 p.m. ET. The senior men’s competition will conclude on NBCSN at 8 p.m. ET with a re-air of the senior men’s day two session on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. Click here for the full schedule, how to watch, and more.


Enjoyed this story? Share it with your friends, and don’t forget to follow us on social!