American Paul Juda competes on the horizontal bar during men’s gymnastics qualifications Saturday.
(Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)
PARIS — Paul Juda landed his last tumbling pass with a small hop, stood up straight and tipped his head back. He dramatically extended both arms above his head in a V shape, soaking in a personal victory.
The 23-year-old surged to the second-best all-around U.S. score during qualifications Saturday at Bercy Arenaand qualified for the all-around final in 13th place while helping the United States advance in fifth. Juda was not expected to compete for the individual final considering he was the fourth all-around finisher at the U.S. trials, but when he heard he finished fourth in the first qualifying subdivision, he realized that with Monday’s team final, stacking Wednesday’s all-around final would make for a long week.
He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m really excited because I’ve been preaching this to all of my friends back home: Working hard is a privilege, having pressure is a privilege,” Juda said. “Going to this competition, everybody would die for it.”
The United States (253.229) finished second in the qualifying group after Great Britain (256.561) and fifth overall of the eight teams that will compete in Monday’s final that begins at 8:30 a.m. PDT. China dominated the qualification with a team score of 263.028, 2.434 points more than second-place Japan.
Juda’s breakout performance (82.865) came as three-time U.S. champion Brody Malone faltered on pommel horse and high bar to fall out of all-around contention. The top 24 gymnasts qualify for the all-around final, but each country is allowed only two finalists. After falling on pommel horse and coming off the high bar twice, Malone finished a distant third among Americans in all-around, with Frederick Richard leading the delegation at 83.498 points and qualifying 10th.
Juda said Malone, the only member of the five-athlete team returning for a second Olympics, apologized to teammates for his performance. His teammates assured him there was nothing to be sorry for.
Less than two years after relearning how to walk after a gruesome knee injury, Malone established himself as an Olympic contender by winning the U.S. championship and finishing second in the U.S. trials. But “the world kind of takes [Malone’s performances] for granted,” Richard said.
“When I watched him mess up today, I wasn’t worried, because I know he’s the type of person that learns from his mistakes,” the reigning world all-around bronze medalist said. “He’s the type of person who’s never going to be out of it and he’s going to come back even stronger in two days. … You’re looking at the full picture today. Today’s not the day we needed him.”
Malone’s opening-rotation fall on pommel horse put additional pressure on event specialist Stephen Nedoroscik. The 25-year-old earned his spot on the Olympic team solely for his expertise in the trickiest event in men’s gymnastics. With Malone falling right before him, Nedoroscik needed to avoid a fall counting toward the final team score.
The 2021 world pommel horse champion understood the assignment.
Nedoroscik’s 15.200 was tied for the highest score on the event during qualification and put him into the event final on Aug. 3. He even edged out two-time defending pommel horse champion Max Whitlock of Britain. Nedoroscik is hoping to become the first U.S. Olympic medalist on pommel horse since Alex Naddour took bronze in 2016.
With Russia not competing at the Games, this is a critical opportunity for the United States to win its first Olympic team medal since 2008. While the scores reset for the team final, finishing more than three points behind Britain prompted some hand-wringing about the United States’ podium chances behind favorites Japan and China. The Americans aren’t panicking.
“This wasn’t exactly the best performance USA’s ever had,” Nedoroscik said. “But it was enough for preliminaries and we have finals coming up. … I still think we have a fantastic chance to medal.”
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