(Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press)
Brody Malone is peaking at the right time after a gruesome knee injury threatened to end his gymnastics career. The 2022 high bar world champion needed three surgeries to repair a tibial plateau fracture, cartilage damage and multiple torn ligaments sustained when he peeled off the high bar at a meet in Germany in 2023. He did not compete for more than a year and made a triumphant return to all-around competition at the U.S. championships, where he won his third national title.
The United States is hoping to build on a bronze medal at the 2023 world championships, the team’s first world medal since 2014. The result was a coming out party for a young team that featured four of five athletes who were still competing in college. The 27-year-old Yul Moldauer, who hopes to return for his second Olympic Games, was the oldest competitor on the team, leading Michigan stars Paul Juda, 22, and Fred Richard, 20, as well as Stanford’s Asher Hong, 20, and Khoi Young, 21.
“We’re going to be very deadly,” Richard told reporters after the U.S. championships, where he finished second in the all-around. “This is going to be a fun Olympics. … We are fully loaded, stronger than I’ve ever seen the U.S. in years so I think we can look for medals.”