2024 U.S. Olympic Trials | Men’s Day 2 Live Blog

Welcome to the live blog for the second day of the men’s competition at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Please refresh your browser every few minutes to see the most recent updates, which will appear at the top of the page.

5:51 pm. The U.S. men’s Olympic team is…

Asher Hong
Paul Juda
Brody Malone
Stephen Nedoroscik
Fred Richard

The reserve athletes are Shane Wiskus and Khoi Young!

5:19 pm. Final Standings

1. Fred Richard 170.500
2. Brody Malone 170.300
3. Shane Wiskus 169.650
4. Paul Juda 168.850
5. Asher Hong 167.650
6. Fuzzy Benas 166.000
7. Donnell Whittenburg 165.700
8. Cameron Bock 165.600
9. Yul Moldauer 165.300
10. Colt Walker 163.200
11. Jeremy Bischoff 160.450
12. Kai Uemura 157.200
13. Kiran Mandava 156.750
14. Tate Costa 152.750

We should hear back in about a half hour regarding the naming of the team!

5:15 pm. Colt Walker SR: This was a good set, just had a bit of a wild bounce back ont he double double at the end. 13.700

Curran Phillips PB: Wasn’t typing for this but I saw pretty much all excellent stuff, double front half dismount came up a bit short, chest at his knees and a hop. 15.650

5:12 pm. Shane Wiskus PB: Beginning went well, the tuck half to handstand was so fluid, the pirouette after was so clean, big straddle salto, Tippelt was gorgeous, hop forward on the double front dismount. INCREDIBLE DAY. 14.500

Kai Uemura SR: I missed this! 12.950

5:09 pm. Donnell Whittenburg SR: Maltese rolls through to iron cross, salots to maltese was gorgeous and so controlled, great planche, back giant to handstand got really wonky and he had to fight for it but he came back strong for the dismount. 14.600

Fred Richard VT: I missed the entry, Kas 1.5 I assume? Hop forward on the landing, tons of power! 14.200

Kiran Mandava PB: Hit routine! 13.800

5:08 pm. Asher Hong SR: I missed the beginning, maltese to inverted hang, saltos to maltese, leg angle could maybe be a bit tighter, to iron cross, inverted hang to front giant to handstand, double twisting double layout, absorbs the landing and is thrilled! 14.700

Paul Juda VT: Great landing on the Kas 1.5, but celebrates before he really holds onto the stick and kind of steps out. Did he even salute? He was just so excited! Excellent vault though. 14.700

Brody Malone PB: Wasn’t typing or paying close attention but looked good from what I saw! 14.750

5:07 pm. Cameron Bock VT: Looked like he didn’t get the block he needed, ended up tucking his knees considerably on the Kas 1.5 before sitting it sadly. 12.950

5:04 pm. Jeremy Bischoff SR: Iron cross, inverted hang to iron cross, back giant to handstand, clean, front saltos to straddle sit, front giant to handstand, double double dismount with a hop. 13.300

Fuzzy Benas PB: Had one moment where he had a significant struggle to make it to handstand, but everything else I saw went pretty well, dismount was maybe a little short but stuck. 13.850

Yul Moldauer VT: Kas 1.5 with a step forward. 14.100

5:03 pm. Tate Costa VT: Kas full, a bit weak coming off the table, gets it around and lands a bit short, nothing huge, but good work to get through it. 13.500

5:02 pm. Just got the news that Shilese Jones is not going to compete tomorrow after being medically evaluated. I’m devastated.

5:00 pm. Touch for the final rotation! REALLY did not have Shane Wiskus four tenths back from second place and only 1.15 points back from first! Massive.

4:58 pm. Rotation 11 Standings

1. Fred Richard 156.300
2. Brody Malone 155.550
3. Shane Wiskus 155.150
4. Paul Juda 154.150
5. Asher Hong 152.950
6. Cameron Bock 152.650
7. Fuzzy Benas 152.150
8. Khoi Young 151.200
9. Yul Moldauer 151.200
10. Donnell Whittenburg 151.100

4:56 pm. Kai Uemura PH: Wasn’t typing but this was a solid set! Some great work throughout.

4:55 pm. Donnell Whittenburg PH: Muscles up to the handstand at the start but figures it out, slow and steady in the circles, minor leg form at a couple of moments, but overall this is a hit and he looks thrilled to be through with it. 13.050

4:52 pm. Asher Hong PH: Scissors to handstand down to circles, I looked away for a half sec just as he came crashing down, ughhh. Back on for flair work, legs come apart in a circle element but he fights through it, the rest goes pretty well. 11.750

4:51 pm. Paul Juda SR: Maltese, front giant to handstand was gorg, saltos to straddle sit, press out to planche, clean and controlled, then to pike sit, presses to handstand, he is moving SO fluidly! Love. Back giant to handstand was a bit swayed but fights through and gets the full-twisting double layout dismount with a hop. 13.850

4:49 pm. Khoi Young PH: Scissors to handstand down to scissors into circles, moves well into his flair work, back to circles, minor hip form, single handle work goes well, travels in Russians and then circles and then Russians again, a little muscled into the dismount but overall good set! 14.250

4:48 pm. Cameron Bock SR: Straddle planche to planche, nice. Back giant to handstand, a little shaky but gets it under control, front giant to handstand, saltos to straddle sit, double double dismount with a hop, good routine! 13.700

4:46 pm. Shane Wiskus VT: Kas 1.5, stuck, oh my GOD. Gorgeous. 14.500

Jeremy Bischoff PH: I missed this! 13.400

4:45 pm. Yul Moldauer SR: Maltese, planche, rolls out of it to a salto to handstand, almost doesn’t make it but fights like hell, rolls through to iron cross, inverted hang to saltos to iron cross, that was nice, double double dismount with a shuffle back. 13.800

Kiran Mandava VT: Yurchenko double full, a little short, chest down and a hop back. 13.900

4:44 pm. Patrick Hoopes PH: Circles, Russians on the single handle, looks clean and fluid, one-arm swing, good work on the single handle circles, travels in Russians, Russians at the end of the horse are quick and clean, presses up to the dismount with just minor form, this was lovely! 15.000

4:43 pm. Tate Costa SR: Pike sit, inverted pike, saltos to straddle sit, presses to handstand, a little short but ultimately gets to a solid enough position, arches over a bit on the back giant to handstand, piked double front dismount, good! 12.600

Brody Malone VT: Kas 1.5, nearly stuck! Fabulous landing. 14.700

4:42 pm. Fuzzy Benas VT: Kas 1.5, step back to control it. 13.900

4:41 pm. Colt Walker PH: Wasn’t typing but this was a hit! Had some leg form moments but think overall he’ll be happy with how this went. 13.900

Fred Richard SR: Hit everything at the beginning, saltos to straddle sit, presses out to planche, swinging a bit, back giant to handstand, front giant to handstand, minor movement, double double dismount, tiniest bounce. 13.850

4:40 pm. Curran Phillips VT: Sits the Shewfelt, oof. 13.100

4:37 pm. Touch warmups are underway for the penultimate rotation!

4:34 pm. Rotation 10 Standings

1. Fred Richard 142.450
2. Asher Hong 141.200
3. Brody Malone 140.850
4. Shane Wiskus 140.650
5. Paul Juda 140.300
6. Cameron Bock 138.950
7. Fuzzy Benas 138.250
8. Donnell Whittenburg 138.050
9. Yul Moldauer 137.400
10. Khoi Young 136.950

4:31 pm. Donnell Whittenburg FX: Front double full to double front, stuck! Double twisting double layout, decent on that landing! Front full to piked double front, hop forward. 2.5 to front layout, good landing. Double double, little bounce there. Think his last pass was a full-in, another solid landing, wow! 14.850

4:29 pm. Cameron Bock PH: Scissors to circles, clean. Presses up to the Busnari, takes him a second to get through it but he finds it in the end, rest of the routine goes pretty well, just minor form but overall a nice hit! 13.900

4:27 pm. Asher Hong FX: Had something to a double front and then a front full to a piked double front, full-twisting double layout, hop back into the corner, don’t think he went OOB? 2.5 to front layout, small hop forward. Triple full, stuck! 14.150

4:26 pm. Yul Moldauer PH: Kind of arched over on a handstand while holding onto one handle but fought through it, nothing severe. Moved well into his flair work, really powerful throughout, transition to the circles was good, dismount went awry though, doesn’t quite do what he was attempting and it took him a minute to get there, rough ending. 12.900

Kiran Mandava SR: Hit routine! Just a bit iffy on the dismount landing. 12.950

4:23 pm. Tate Costa PH: Flairs at the start are so great, actually all the way throughout, he looks fab. Extension is lovely, just kind of got stuck while transitioning from the horse to the handles and it threw off his rhythm, ends up falling. UGHHH. Think he fell a second time right before the dismount. 10.200

Alex Diab SR: Inverse planche to maltese is great, saltos to planche, legs are a little low. Also had saltos to maltese, legs looked better here. Iron cross. Hit the dismount. 14.450

Khoi Young FX: Front full to double front, stuck! Hit the second pass, and the third, and the double full, and the triple full! 2.5 at the end landed on his toes with a wobble. 14.450

4:20 pm. Joshua Karnes PH: Scissors to circles, Russians looked nice, some leg form going into the flairs but he’s super aggressive here and looks great, back to circles, some hip form, some leg form going into the dismount. 12.950

Brody Malone SR: Looked strong at the beginning. Straddle sit out to planche was nice. Lunge back on the double double dismount. 14.300

Jeremy Bischoff FX: Front full to double front. Arabian double front half-out. Double full down the side is clean. 2.5 was a bit deep, hop back to control it. 13.650

4:19 pm. Fred Richard PH: Another hit routine! Sorry, I had to fix one of the streams so haven’t been typing. 13.600

Colt Walker FX: I caught this from the double full down the side. 2.5 with a tiny hop at the end. 13.850

Fuzzy Benas SR: Hit routine! 13.650

4:16 pm. Kai Uemura FX: I missed the first half of this set but think he got everything from what I did see? Had a small hop on the last pass. 12.950

Paul Juda PH: Hit routine! 14.250

Shane Wiskus SR: Good routine, stuck double double dismount! 14.150

4:14 pm. Should be kicking off the next rotation any second now!

4:09 pm. Rotation 9 Standings

1. Fred Richard 128.750
2. Asher Hong 127.050
3. Brody Malone 126.550
4. Shane Wiskus 126.500
5. Paul Juda 126.050
6. Cameron Bock 125.050
7. Fuzzy Benas 124.600
8. Yul Moldauer 124.500

4:06 pm. Yul Moldauer FX: Solid landing on the full-twisting double layout, big stumble on the randi, front double full to front full I believe, double full down the side was clean, 2.5 to front layout also very clean, and a triple full, maybe a little low in the set but he gets it around with a hop back. 13.700

Asher Hong HB: Zou Li Min, big Kolman, just some leg form, layout Tkachev, stalder, hit the dismount! 13.200

4:04 pm. Khoi Young HB: Massive Yamawaki! Endo, Tak full, a little iffy but not bad or super late, Tak half, nice, layout Tkachev nearly grazed the bar with his feet but he gets it over, straddle Tkachev, stalder, and a double twisting double layout, a bit wild on the landing with a big hop back to stabilize. 13.250

4:03 pm. Brody Malone PH: Scissor work into circles, moving pretty fluidly until the Russians across the horse, legs come apart and cause a little blip there but he fights through it and actually comes back nicely all the way to the dismount. Not ideal but nothing terrible! 13.950

Tate Costa FX: Randi to start was nice. Hop on the double double. Hit the third pass as well. 2.5 to front full, and then finished with a front double full. 13.600

4:01 pm. Fuzzy Benas PH: Wasn’t typing but this was a hit! 13.700

Jeremy Bischoff HB: Hit everything at the beginning, Kolman was a little low maybe but he didn’t have any problems catching and it looked pretty clean, solid layout Tkachev, straddle Tkachev, ugh, misses his hands there. Back on and does the straddle Tkachev again, getting it this time, stalder, and double twisting double layout, good landing, just a wobble. 12.100

3:57 pm. Stephen Nedoroscik PH: Scissor work at the beginning looked clean, wasn’t typing for the rest but he made this look lovely and easy. 14.850

Colt Walker HB: Off on the Kolman. Back on for a second try and gets it, also got the next release and a layout Tkachev, straddle Tkachev, one-arm giant, double twisting double layout with a hop. 12.150

Fred Richard FX: Hit the first pass and then a front double full to front layout with a hop. Also hit the third pass, sorry, was watching HB and kept missing the entries! Double full down the side had a stumble back. 2.5 to front full, small hop there. Arabian double front half-out to finish was solid. 13.900

3:55 pm. Kai Uemura HB: Zou Li Min, Tak full, had a release that was WILD but stayed on, straddle Tkachev was better. Hop back on the dismount. 13.150

Paul Juda FX: Double double, slight hop back. Hit the second and third passes and then a double full down the side. 2.5 to front full with a little hop back. Full-in to finish, hop back. 14.250

3:54 pm. Shane Wiskus PH: Looked crisp throughout the beginning, just hip form that could be tighter. Lost some leg form about halfway through but didn’t cause any problems. Good push into the dismount, massive hit for him tbh. 13.700

3:52 pm. Donnell Whittenburg HB: Tak half, minor leg form, layout Tkachev with some knee bends, Endo, Zou Li Min, got everythign else I saw, including a stuck double twisting double layout! 13.150

Cameron Bock FX: Clean piked double front. Front double full to front layout. Wasn’t typing during the rest but he hit everything! 13.650

Kiran Mandava PH: Had a few moments throughout where we saw leg separations but he fought through all of them well! Hit routine. 13.050

3:51 pm. Touch wrapping up for the next rotation!

3:47 pm. Rotation 8 Standings

1. Fred Richard 114.850
2. Asher Hong 113.850
3. Shane Wiskus 112.800
4. Brody Malone 112.600
5. Paul Juda 111.800
6. Cameron Bock 111.400
7. Fuzzy Benas 110.900
8. Yul Moldauer 110.800

3:44 pm. Tate Costa HB: Stalder Tkachev, Kolman was a bit wonky and the catch looked a little off but didn’t cause major problems, Kovacs was better, inbar stalder, Tak, L grip giants, a bit piked in the dismount and has to take a step back. 13.600

3:43 pm. Khoi Young PB: Walked a bit out of the 1.5 pirouette, had to muscle the Makuts after, a little short on a subsequent pirouette, Bhavsar could be a little tighter. Tippelt and a double pike dismount, a bit short with a hop. 14.550

3:42 pm. Joshua Karnes HB: Zou Li Min, Tak half was nice, floaty layout Tkachev, straddle to piked Tkachevs, also nice! Tak, some L grip front giants, turns around for a stalder, and then a full-twisting double layout dismount, some form in the air and a hop on the landing. 13.550

3:41 pm. Jeremy Bischoff PB: Again wasn’t typing but this was a solid set, landed the dismount on his toes and had to wobble a bit to fight through not moving. 14.100

Fuzzy Benas FX: Front full to double front, whipped that around to get the landing. Double double, chest forward but good landing. Front double full to front layout, tiny hop. 2.5 to front tuck full. Triple full to finish. Strong work! 14.100

3:37 pm. Colt Walker PB: Wasn’t typing but this was a great set! 14.800

Curran Phillips FX: Front double full, hit the next couple of passes. Front tuck full to front layout down the side. 2.5 was a bit low. 13.550

Fred Richard HB: Big Cassina, Kolman looked strong, Liukin, bent arms after catching and on the swing around, straddle to piked Tkachevs, one-arm giant, blind change to front giants, Tak full was REALLY late, finished basically under the bar, Tak half, double twisting double layout with a good landing. 14.450

3:35 pm. Kai Uemura PB: Straddle salto was good, Bhavsar as well, press to handstand was clean, controlled on the Tippelt and pirouette out, double pike dismount, a little short but nothing bad! 13.750

Shane Wiskus FX: Piked double front, good landing. Also great on the double double landing! Double full down the side. 2.5 to front full. Triple full, tiny bounce. Great! 14.600

Paul Juda HB: Yamawaki, bent arms after. Kovacs was good. Layout Tkachev, straddle Tkachev, had some front giant work and then a stalder before the full-twisting double layout dismount, nice absorbing on that landing! 13.800

3:34 pm. Cameron Bock HB: Lovely form on the Kovacs. German giants to stalder, Tak, Tak half, double twisting double layout with a step back. 13.750

3:32 pm. Donnell Whittenburg PB: Got a little wild in spots, nothing was like suuuuper controlled, but really huge on the straddle salto and the double front half was great!

Kiran Mandava FX: Had a bit of a stumble on one pass early on. Just a layout down the side. 1.5 to front full with a little bounce. 2.5 with a hop forward to finish. 13.150

3:31 pm. Yul Moldauer HB: Endo to Zou Li Min, Tak full was a bit wonky, Tak half, Kolman went a bit low and long but he still caught, Quast, one-arm giant, double twisting double layout, hop back. 13.000

3:29 pm. Brody Malone FX: Piked double front, slightly deep but nothing serious. Double double, also not quiiiite there but no big problems. Front double full to front layout I believe after that, and then a double full down the side. 2.5 to front full is nice. Triple full, good! Little bounce. 14.350

Asher Hong PB: Looked really fluid and clean on everything I saw, Tippelt and Makuts were both nice, double front half came up a bit short but looked pretty stuck, just with his chest down. 14.900

3:24 pm. Rotation 7 Standings

1. Fred Richard 100.400
2. Asher Hong 98.950
3. Brody Malone 98.250
4. Shane Wiskus 98.200
5. Paul Juda 98.000
6. Yul Moldauer 97.800
7. Cameron Bock 97.650
8. Fuzzy Benas 96.800

3:22 pm. Joshua Karnes PB: A little stuck in the Makuts but gets through it and everything else looked pretty good, Bhavsar finish was maybe not quite where it needed to be but again nothing major, Tippelt good, double front dismount, rushed into it a bit but got it around and had a solid landing. 14.400

3:17 pm. Curran Phillips HB: Legs went a bit wild on the Cassina, Kolman also not super clean but better, layout Tkachev, bent arms after catching, straddle to piked Tkachevs, stalder, Quast, double twisting double layout dismount, small hop. 14.100

Fred Richard PB: Again wasn’t typing SORRY PB but everything I saw went really well, double front dismount had a tiny hop. 14.800

3:16 pm. Shane Wiskus HB: Kolman, Kovacs, some leg form there, layout Tkachev, straddle Tkachev to piked Tkachev, a bit late on the Tak full, Tak half is better, one-arm giant, chest down on the dismount, hop forward, but nice hit! 13.900

Paul Juda PB: Wasn’t typing but everything I saw looked good! 13.850

3:15 pm. Jeremy Bischoff VT: Kas full, looked pretty well stuck! Solid run. 14.000

3:14 pm. Colt Walker VT: Kas 1.5, looked good, solid landing, just a step! 14.200

3:13 pm. Kai Uemura VT: I missed this but saw that he hit. Kas full maybe? 13.750

Cameron Bock PB: Great hit routine but came up short on the dismount and had a big lunge forward, good save from falling.14.200

Kiran Mandava HB: Saw that he caught his Tkachev and had a few nice stalder elements, full twisting double layout dismount went well. 13.100

3:09 pm. Yul Moldauer PB: Lovely start, looked fluid on mostly everything, had one kind of wonky transition between the bars but got through it and then had to muscle the Makuts a bit but nothing severe, had a salto element in there that looked good, believe he dismounted with a double front half, good landing. 14.100

Brody Malone HB: Zou Li Min, Tak half, off on the Liukin! Omg. Got the Kolman once he was back on, along with connected Tkachevs, muscled through the Tak full and came out of it the wrong way, did it again, oof, almost stuck the double twisting double layout. Rough set but won’t affect his standing on the team. 13.150

Donnell Whittenburg VT: Tsuk full-in double back, looked a little short on the landing. 14.900

3:08 pm. Asher Hong VT: Tsuk full-in double back, super strong and kind of a great landing! Love the person with the KER-POW sign in the background, I’m dead. 15.250

3:07 pm. Tate Costa PB: Had a kind of messy attempt at a pirouette in the early half of the routine but fought through it and the rest looked pretty good from what I saw! 13.150

Fuzzy Benas HB: Yakawaki to Endo half, Cassina went well, Kolman also around, Zou Li Min, stalder, and a double twisting double layout dismount. 13.700

3:05 pm. Khoi Young VT: Handspring randi with a small hop back, lovely in the air! 15.100

3:01 pm. Vault and p-bars feeds are live! Just waiting for high bar to figure out its life. Oh, speak of the devil! We are ready to go. Touch warmups underway!

2:58 pm. Start lists and live scores.

2:55 pm. Men will be starting today with one group on vault, one on parallel bars, and one on high bar. I have all three Peacock streams open so going to try to catch everything!

Action should be starting just around 3 pm ET.

13 thoughts on “2024 U.S. Olympic Trials | Men’s Day 2 Live Blog

  1. I don’t watch men’s nearly as much as women’s so this might be a dumb question but did they say that there are only 5 on the men’s team, just like the women? I don’t know why but it seemed to me like there should be at least 1 or 2 more since they have more apparatus.

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    • Yes, but that would be too much like right. Gymnastics pride’s itself on always striving to overcomplicate in hopes of finally, officially doing away w logic, altogether.

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  2. Automatic/algorithm/AI selection is the worst idea ever!

    #JusticeforKhoiandShane

    I can’t belive a team w as flaky a MAG TF history as the US is taking a 1 event athlete on a 5 man team. It would be 1 thing if the MAG resume was tried and true tested, but a team w this fragile a history being selected around that is insane.

    I love how they keep trying to push ‘numbers’, (as if whole humans aren’t the ones deciding these numbers) and then want to skip discussion and rationale (THE HUMAN PART) when it comes to selecting the team.

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    • Getting a team medal for the guys is the main focus for USA Gymnastics. If Young had hit PH every routine at Nationals and Trials, then going without a PH specialist would be rational, but as it is, going without one is handicapping the team’s chances. They were so keen on the team medal goal that they were even willing to consider team rosters that would not be able to put up 4 athletes on all 6 events in qualifying (e.g., replacing Hong or Juda on the selected team with Curran Phillips, which would have left only 3 guys to do SR in qualifying), as long as the team selected would have a projected score at least 1/2 point higher than a 4-available-for-each-event team. At least they didn’t feel compelled to do that, which would be truly “fragile.”

      Guys like Moldauer, Bock, or Whittenburg needed to hit consistently on all 4 days of Nationals and Trials to stay in the conversation. Young is probably breathing a sigh of relief that he recovered enough after Thursday’s disastrous competition to at least be an alternate, and Wiskus has the bad luck to be a fine all-arounder who had a fluky miss at Nationals Day 1 on an event (SR) that might have otherwise been a stronger reason to consider him for the team.

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    • And this 1-event gymnast has a history of hit (2021 EF) and miss (2022 TF) at Worlds. Last year the men won a Team bronze without Nedoroscik. You’d think the results from the last two Worlds would tell the story to the Selection Committee.

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    • I bet they change selection procedures next time. I don’t want to drag anyone, but it just doesn’t make sense when you consider what the program assumes these athletes will be going up on a 3 up situation and other athletes that typically would score significantly higher on those very same events internationally.

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  3. Exactly the team, including traveling alternates that I (or at least my simulation program) would have chosen :-). Assuming the two core all-arounders (Malone and Richard) and Nedoroscik as givens, Young and Wiskus are collectively good backups for Hong and Juda, with some ability for PH if need be. The best team with only all-arounders would swap in Bock for Nedoroscik, but would be on target to score about 2/3 of a point lower in team finals.

    Happy for Juda and especially Nedoroscik, who was primed to snag a nominative spot in the last Olympics a la Jade Carey before he had to bail from a World Cup competition due to the COVID shutdown. And bummed for the guys who were in the mix before today, especially Moldauer (but at least if he won’t always have Paris, he’ll at least always have Tokyo).

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  4. On one hand, I understand that they had to follow through on their selection procedures, and it was in the hands of athletes to hit the routines they knew they’d need at least 3 out of 4 times during nationals and trials. But, I bet NO ONE who knows the capabilities and past performances of these athletes would have selected this team.

    I guess, like the commentators, I’m nearly speechless. It was a splattfest over 4 days of nationals and trials, but the team is kind of crazy in a three up situation. Stephen is even riskier than Asher, which says a lot, especially when you consider no one on the team hit a 14 PH routine at world’s in the team final and won bronze. I bet the UK, Ukraine, and Italy teams sighed with relief after seeing the naming of this team. It’s wild.

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  5. If it’s all about the numbers then I’m confused about Shane Witkus. 5th at Nationals and 3rd at Trials but he’s an alternate. As I said before, I’m not all that informed about men’s gymnastics compared to women’s but they kept saying it’s all about the scores but that doesn’t look like ‘all about the scores’ to me.

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    • It is all about scores, but the priority for Team USA was selecting the highest-scoring team. I am gutted for Khoi and Shane, who both lost out because of pommels. If Khoi had replicated his day 2 championship performance on both days of trials, the 3 out of 4-day average would have put him in the mix.

      Brody and Fred were the most likely locks, so the remaining 3 needed to complement them. Their lowest-scoring events were rings and pommels, which is how Asher and Stephen + Paul factor into the highest-scoring permutation.

      Brody and Fred are up on high bar. The extra tenths Shane has over Paul on average, is lower than what Paul contributes on pommels.
      For P.Bars, Brody, Fred and Asher all finished higher, so it doesn’t matter that Shane can outscore Paul by half a point.
      For vault and floor, the other team members score high enough that the difference in picking Shane/Khoi is lower than the team score with Stephen on pommels.

      I am also sad for Curran who is left out despite having an EF/medal contention P. Bars routine, because the core members of the team are much better at P.Bars than they are on pommels.

      I think this selection criteria made it easier for the committee, as I imagine discussion/discretion can be more challenging. But pommels is such a flaky event like beam. I appreciate Khoi was not consistent across the 4 days, but he can match and outscore Stephen on a good day. I would’ve at least discussed prior competitions and taken Khoi over Stephen. I just don’t like the concept of a one-event specialist on a 5 person team, unless the athlete is an individual medal contender. If an injury happens sometime in the competition when you can’t bring in an alternate, I’d rather have a built-in backup on the team.

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  6. It’s not just about the AA numbers, it’s about the numbers on each apparatus. I don’t know exactly how the Selection Committee was crunching the numbers in making close decisions, but here’s one way of looking at it that may shed some light.

    https://myusagym.com/meets/live/90017/results/256770/

    The numbers here are from the two days of Trials. I’m assuming that the rest of the team is Hong, Malone, Nedoroscik, and Richard, and the committee is deciding between Wiskus or Juda as the 5th team member. Here are their totals on the 5 events either athlete would likely go up on in finals, based on their rank in that event in trials relative to the other 4 athletes on the team:

    FX: Up in finals: Wiskus 28.95; Juda 28.85

    PH: Up in finals: Wiskus 27.25; Juda 28.30

    SR: Up in finals: Wiskus 28.10; Juda 27.65

    V: Up in finals: Wiskus 28.90; Juda 28.90

    PB: Not up in finals (Richard, Malone and Hong all finished higher at Trials)

    HB: Up in finals: Wiskus 27.45; Juda 27.25

    Totals: Wiskus: 140.65; Juda 140.95 across two days of trials.

    So on average, you would expect Wiskus to contribute 70.325 (half of 140.65) in team finals, and Juda to contribute 70.475, a difference of 0.15 in Juda’s favor based on Trials scores.

    0.15 points isn’t a lot, but you’ll notice that big difference in Juda’s favor on PH, which would translate into a 1/2 point on average toward the team score on PH. That may have factored in as well, and outweighed Wiskus’ superiority on SR, particularly given his fluke miss at Nationals. And the fact that Wiskus beat Juda by over a point on PB certainly helped him beat Juda in the AA at Trials, but it wouldn’t factor into the team roster decision, because he’d be 4th best on the team in that event.

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    • The selection committee did nothing. The program decided, automatically. They simply told them that “according to the selection procedures since the highest scoring team in a 3 up situation is the same whether they count all 4 scores or the top 3 of 4 days scores, this is the team.” The selection committee had no say except who the alternates would be. They did not choose Paul over Shane, the software did based on 2 days of trials and 2 days of nationals score inputs.

      According to the software, Paul would go up on FX/PH/HB. He scored better than Shane on those 3 events (and everyone else not named to the team), combined from nationals and trials.

      In fact, it was Yul that would have been on the team instead of Asher if he’d scored 0.05 more in one of the highest team total scenarios; at that time it would have gone to committee to decide who would be on the team and I guarantee it would not be the team they named. Though with the inconsistency of almost all the best routines, there really was no “right choice”.

      I feel like Fred and Brody made strong cases. Fred, Brody, Yul, Khoi and Paul all have regularly gone 14+ on PH during this quad, so the fact that a PH specialist got a spot is very unexpected. I feel so much for the guys that are retiring right now that had a couple of bad nights or just didn’t fill the gaps needed to make the team. Team USA really has made a lot of progress this quad.

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    • I do get this but the commentators made it sound like for the men it was going to be all about the scoring … like they were going to draw a line and that’s all that mattered. I may have misinterpreted what they said. Listening to Tim Daggett makes me long for the peaceful sound of nails on a chalkboard so it’s quite likely I just blocked out some of what he was saying for my own sanity.

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