By WILL GRAVES
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Stanford’s Asher Hong cruised to his second nationwide title in males’s gymnastics on Saturday, pulling away from the sector for a straightforward victory on the U.S. Championships.
The 21-year-old Hong, a part of the five-man crew that earned bronze on the Paris Olympics final summer time, posted a two-day whole of 170.020 to win simply regardless of a uncommon miscue on the excessive bar in the course of the first rotation on Saturday.
Not that it mattered. Hong grew to become the thirteenth man to win a number of nationwide titles with ease. The 2023 champion entered with an enormous lead of over 4 factors thanks to 6 regular routines Thursday.
Hong completed with the highest scores on flooring train, vault and nonetheless rings, occasions the place the rising Stanford senior’s energy simply interprets.
The true race was for second, the place Frederick Richard ‘s two-day whole of 162.555 was simply sufficient to slide by Fuzzy Benas at 162.310. Richard managed to complete runner-up regardless of voluntarily taking 0.6 factors in deductions for carrying a nonconforming uniform on parallel bars, excessive bar, pommel horse and rings.
Fairly than don the stirrup pants which have lengthy been the norm, Richard wore grey shorts with matching leggings beneath, a small sacrifice the 21-year-old says he’s keen to make whereas competing at home elite meets in hopes of creating the game a bit “cooler” to potential followers.
Colt Walker was fourth within the ultimate meet earlier than the world championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, in October.
Two-time nationwide champion Brody Malone of Stanford, who skipped flooring train and vault to place rather less stress on his surgically repaired proper knee, positioned first on parallel bars, second on rings and third on pommel horse to place him in a robust place to return to worlds for the primary time since 2022.
Stephen Nedoroscik, the pommel horse specialist who grew to become a viral sensation whereas successful two bronze medals in Paris, was fifth in his return to competitors following a prolonged post-Olympic break that included a stint on “Dancing With the Stars.”
Whereas Hong, Richard, Malone and Nedoroscik are urgent on, the fifth member of the 2024 Olympic crew — Paul Juda — introduced his retirement Saturday evening.
Initially Printed: August 9, 2025 at 6:47 PM PDT
