Asher Hong rolls to US all-around gymnastics title ahead of Stoughton's Frederick Richard
Asher Hong is dialed in at nationals with an incredible performance on pommel horse. 💪
📺 CNBC & Peacock |
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics)
The real race was for second, where
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
Rather than don the stirrup pants that have long been the norm, Richard wore gray shorts with matching leggings underneath, a small sacrifice the 21-year-old says he's willing to make while competing at domestic elite meets in hopes of making the sport a little 'cooler' to potential fans.
Advertisement
Frederick Richard competed on the pommel horse in his nonconforming gear.
Gerald Herbert/Associated Press
Colt Walker was fourth in the final meet before the world championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, in October.
Two-time national champion Brody Malone, who skipped floor exercise and vault to put a little less stress on his surgically repaired right knee, placed first on parallel bars, second on rings, and third on pommel horse to put him in a strong position to return to worlds for the first time since 2022.
Advertisement
While Hong, Richard, Malone, and Nedoroscik are pressing on, the fifth member of the 2024 Olympic team — Paul Juda — announced his retirement Saturday night.
Related
:
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Timo Boll becomes BVB brand ambassador
'Boll is still Boll, the warm-hearted, down-to-earth superstar from the Odenwald. If there were an Olympic gold medal for being normal and decent, Boll would certainly win it. At a World Championship, he once had his victory annulled because the ball had touched the edge of the table unnoticed on match point. The point was repeated and Boll lost, but he had a clean conscience. (...) Whether it's Shanghai or Beijing, Boll can't go anywhere without being recognised. They've even closed down streets so he can cross them,' Süddeutsche Zeitung once said of Timo Boll. And it is on those very streets that the seven-time Olympian (and serial medal winner), eight-time Champions League winner and eight-time European singles champion, who was the first German to be ranked No. 1 in the world in table-tennis, will be representing Borussia Dortmund in the future. 'Combining the larger football with the smaller table tennis ball makes sense here because Timo Boll, as a long-time fan, has cheered on BVB in every match in the past despite all the stresses and strains of travelling and tournaments, and has always been very emotional in his fandom. Thanks to his enormous popularity and positivity in Asia, he can open relevant doors for us and authentically represent us as a brand ambassador. We look forward to many joint activities with Timo and to an intensive cooperation in the digital world as well,' said Borussia Dortmund's Managing Director Carsten Cramer. Boll, who retired as a player only a few months ago, will – at his own request – complete an internship at BVB lasting several weeks, among other things, so that he can get to know the club and its various fields of work in Germany and beyond even better during that time. He is now BVB's fifth brand ambassador – and the only one without a professional football background. In addition to Timo Boll, Dortmund icons Karl-Heinz Riedle, Jörg Heinrich, Roman Weidenfeller and Patrick Owomoyela regularly fly the Black & Yellow flag around the world. Timo Boll is looking forward to the task of representing BVB, particularly in China: 'It will certainly be exciting when I suddenly find myself on football pitches instead of in table tennis halls.' He went on to explain: 'There's a simple reason for the internship. I was once asked if I could imagine going into an office every morning at 9 o'clock. I replied that I didn't know because I've only ever been in training halls since I was a child. Now I want to see what I'll be doing for the next 20 years. With that in mind, BVB is a really exciting challenge for me.'
San Francisco Chronicle
5 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Frederick Richard is taking his fight to make gymnastics 'cool' to a new front: His uniform
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Frederick Richard is taking the fight to make men's gymnastics matter to a new front: his wardrobe. The charismatic 21-year-old Olympic bronze medalist switched out the stirrup pants that have long been a staple of the men's uniform for shorts with compression leggings at the U.S. Championships this weekend, firm in his belief that the three-tenths (0.3) deduction he receives every day of competition that he breaks the rules is worth it if it makes his sport more accessible. Even when those tenths add up. Richard edged Fuzzy Benas by less than a quarter of a point for second place behind two-time national champion Asher Hong. If Richard had worn the traditional uniform, his margin over Benas could have been a little more comfortable. Yet asked if the statement he is trying to make — that it's time for men's gymnastics to modernize its uniforms — is worth the risk to his potential placement during a given meet, he didn't hesitate. 'It's 1,000% worth it,' Richard said. 'If you look at these kids in the crowd, I'm thinking about them and I'm thinking about when I was younger.' Finding an alternative While Richard quickly fell in love with gymnastics as a kid growing up in the Boston area, the stirrup pants worn by the guys on pommel horse, still rings, parallel bars, and high bar were another matter. 'If I left the gym to go to the gas station, I didn't want anybody to see me in my pommel horse pants,' Richard said. 'Kids would say, 'Do you do gymnastics?' I'd say 'Yeah.' But I didn't want them to search 'gymnast' and see the uniform. I didn't feel like it was cool.' His solution was to design an alternative. With the help of the apparel company Turn, Richard debuted the look earlier this year and 'refined' it ahead of nationals. During the opening night of competition on Thursday, the rising Michigan junior wore maize-and-blue colored zebra-patterned leggings with (almost) matching blue shorts. On Saturday, Richard swapped the maize and blue for gray. Both times, there was a 'ND -0.3' next to Richard's score on the first event in which the traditional pants were required. Yet Richard wasn't as focused on the ribbon board where his score was posted, but on the young boys in the stands below them. '(I want them to) see this, and they're like, 'This is cool. I want to wear this. This kid is trying to make the sport cool, he looks cool,'' Richard said. 'And that's the stuff that gets kids into the sport, that's stuff that keeps kids in the sport.' Even if it's a largely American conversation. Fighting for relevance While the popularity of men's gymnastics in the U.S. has declined for decades (though there is optimism that the bronze medal Richard and his teammates captured at the 2024 Olympics could help stem the tide), there are no such issues overseas. They're not talking about stirrup pants in China. Or Japan. Or Russia. Places with dominant programs whose stars become champions and national heroes in the process. The challenges men's gymnastics faces in the U.S. are many. The number of Division I programs that offer it as a scholarship sport is a fraction of what it was decades ago. And the impact of the recent House settlement could make opportunities at a level that has long served as a feeder system to the U.S. national team even scarcer. At the Olympic level, the men have long competed in the shadow of the star-studded (and highly successful) women's program. Richard has long understood this. He's seen the attrition firsthand. While the uniform didn't stop him from pressing on, he believes he might be the exception, not the rule. Countless young boys dabble in multiple sports growing up, gymnastics included. Richard thinks tweaking the uniform requirements into something he considers more modern could remove what he thinks might be a roadblock to sticking with it for some. 'It does add to what makes a 12-year-old boy decide, 'Do I want to keep doing this sport? Or should I play football or soccer, because my friends think I'm cool when I play with them?' he said. The rules do allow for a little latitude. Some German female gymnasts opted for full-body unitards at each of the last two Olympics, though the design does not run afoul of FIG regulations. What Richard is doing does. Pushing the limits And while he stressed he would never wear his outlawed uniform in a team competition — he wore regulation pants while helping lead Michigan to the NCAA championship this spring — that might not be the case the next time he competes internationally. 'We'll see about the world stage,' Richard said. 'We'll have to talk and see what they allow, but I want to keep pushing it. I'm having fun. I feel more free.' He'll have some time to think about it. When the six-man roster for the 2025 World Championships was announced late Saturday night, Richard's name wasn't on it. The decision had nothing to do with Richard's uniform but the uniqueness of this year's world meet, which does not include a team event and is largely designed for event specialists. At his best, Richard is one of the top all-arounders on the planet. Yet even he admitted he was at about '80%' at nationals following a whirlwind stretch that included traveling to places like Uganda. Richard is partnering with the African nation to open a facility for boys there interested in acrobatics. The joy he felt during the trip was palpable. So has the criticism he's received back home for his uniform choice, with some telling him if he wants to look like a basketball player, maybe he should go play basketball. While Richard's modified look wouldn't look out of place on the court, pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik — who won a pair of bronze medals in Paris and became a breakout star in the process (all while wearing stirrup pants) last summer — agrees with his Olympic teammate that there 'should be a certain level of flexibility' when it comes to uniforms, though he also pointed out that having everyone wear identical outfits is designed to help the judges do their jobs. 'So like, you can't wear like super baggy clothes, obviously,' Nedoroscik said. 'But I do like there should be maybe a little bit of wiggle room.' That's all Richard says he is asking for, though it seems highly unlikely the FIG would eliminate the deduction for a uniform violation anytime soon. That is not going to stop Richard from pressing on. 'I'll wear it for the next 10 years if I have to,' he said. 'So eventually, if I keep succeeding and winning, and eventually on the international stage do the same thing and keep winning, (the FIG) will see how people like it (and) the younger kids will start wearing it ... and the trend is going to grow.'
9 hours ago
Megha Ganne rallies to reach US Women's Amateur final against Brooke Biermann
BANDON, Ore. -- Megha Ganne rallied from 4 down with seven holes left to win in 19 holes Saturday and reached the championship match in the U.S. Women's Amateur against Brooke Biermann, who narrowly avoided another stunning comeback. Biermann was 3 up with three holes to play when Kansas junior Lyla Louderbaugh won the final three holes with a 10-foot birdie on the 17th and a 30-foot birdie on the 18th. But on the first extra hole at the par-4 10th, Louderbaugh hit wedge well over the green, chipped across the green into the fairway and still had 5 feet for bogey when she conceded the match to Biermann. Ganne, the highest-ranked player remaining at No. 11 in the women's amateur ranking, was on the ropes when Ella Scaysbrook of Australia holed a 40-foot birdie putt from just off the green at No. 11 to go 4 up. But the Aussie gave away two holes, chipping into a bunker on the par-3 12th and three-putting for par on the 13th. Ganne holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 15th to get within one, and Scaysbrook hit into the bushes and lost the 17th to a par. On the par-5 closing hole at Bandon Dunes, both were in bad spots off the tee, couldn't reach the green in three shots into the wind and halved the hole with bogeys. The 19th hole was nearly a repeat to the previous match. Scaysbrook went over the back of the green at No. 10. Ganne stuffed her wedge into 6 feet and never had to putt. The Aussie took two chips before conceding the birdie. Ganne, a senior-to-be at Stanford, will get a crack at her first USGA title. She reached the semifinals in the 2019 U.S. Women's Amateur, and the New Jersey native nearly stole the show at Olympic Club in 2021 by contending on the weekend before claiming low amateur honors. Biermann just finished her college career at Michigan State and plans to turn pro after the U.S. Women's Amateur. The winner is exempt into the U.S. Women's Open next year at Riviera. Even though she lost a late lead, Biermann relied on experience. This was her third match since Wednesday that went extra holes. She had to go 22 holes in the second round to advance, and in the round of 16, Biermann missed a short putt on the 18th hole to go overtime and calmed herself to win in 19 holes. ___
