Brody Malone wins first title at U.S. Gymnastics Championships

For the first time in more than 30 years, the U.S. men's gymnastics champion won in his first appearance as a senior with Stanford University rising senior Brody Malone dethroning six-time U.S. champion Sam Mikulak. Malone posted a two-day all-around score of 170.700 Saturday (5 June) on the second day of men's competition at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Ft. Worth, Texas.

2017 U.S. champion Yul Moldauer won this third-straight U.S. all-around silver with a score of 167.950. Mikulak took bronze at 164.400.

Things looked like they could get interesting in the first rotation when Mikulak, who is no stranger to big comebacks at the U.S. championships, improved his score on the floor exercise by 1.250 from day one. Moments later, Malone slipped off the parallel bars on a Diamidov, scoring just 12.700. Mikulak climbed from fourth to seventh.

But a fall off the pommel horse in rotation two ended Mikulak's hopes of a seventh U.S. title.

Instead, Malone rebounded with a spectacular effort on the horizontal bar where he earned a 15.050. He went on to add scores of 13.900, floor exercise; 13.950, pommel horse; 14.550, still rings; and 14.300, vault.

"My goals coming in to this meet were just to hit all six routines both days and, then, just let the scores fall where they fall," Malone told media afterwards. "So, I was pretty happy with the outcome."

Like Malone, Mikulak shook of his mistake in the subsequent rotations. He ended his day having bettered his scores from day one on five of six apparatus.

The highlight came in his final routine on the horizontal bar, where he is the 2018 world bronze medallist. He was nearly flawless, catching two big double-flipping release moves before sticking his double-twisting double layout dismount. He left the podium pumping his fists on his chest. His second day total of 84.950 was the top all-around score from Saturday's competition.

"I'm not going to beat myself up about anything," Mikulak said. "That's the happiest third place finish I'll ever have."