Shane Wiskus leads after day one of competition at Winter Cup
The 2020 Olympian held off Tokyo teammate Yul Moldauer Friday (23 February) in Louisville while Brody Malone made a solid return to major competition
2020 Olympian Shane Wiskus got his Olympic season off to a strong start Friday (23 February), topping the men's all-around standings at USA Gymnastics' Winter Cup in Louisville, Kentucky.
Wiskus' 84.850 was good enough for the lead, just ahead of fellow Tokyo Olympian Yul Moldauer at 84.450. Cameron Bock rounded out the top three (82.950).
"It feels good, but I know a lot of gymnastics is left to be done," Wiskus told reporters afterward. "I think Sunday is where it matters, so I'm just trying to bottle up how I feel and carry it with me on to Sunday and kind of do the same gymnastics."
Having started his day with consistent performances on the pommel horse, still rings and vault, Wiskus earned scores of 13.350, 13.800, and 14.400, respectively. In the fourth rotation, he came alive, earning a 14.800 on the parallel bars. He then moved to the horizontal bar where his two double-flipping catch-and-release moves earned him a 13.850. He led Moldauer by .200 going into his final routine on the floor exercise.
With the pressure on, he delivered the day's highest score on the event a 14.550 to end atop the leaderboard.
"I had a really fun time today, and I'm just hoping to have some more fun on Sunday and then have some more fun at Championships and kind of keep that momentum going because I think too much of my career I got locked in to performance and outcome goals," said Wiskus, who says this is likely his last run at the Games. "These last couple meets are for me, and for me only."
Moldauer, 27, got off to a red-hot start on the parallel bars, where he earned a 15.000, the second best mark of the day. From there, he strung together constitent routines on the horizontal bar (13.200) and floor exercise (14.200). His sole major error of the afternoon came in the fourth rotation as he lost momentum on his way up to handstand on the pommel horse, he scored 13.350.
The error cost him the lead, but he rebounded to finish out his day with a 14.150 on still rings, and a 14.350 on vault.
Bock's individual scores were 13.600, floor exercise; 13.650, pommel hose; 13.600, still rings; 14.200, vault; 14.300, parallel bars; and 13.600, high bar.
Competition at the Winter Cup continues Saturday (24 February) with the senior women, featuring Tokyo 2020 all-around gold medallist Sunisa Lee. The men's competition wraps up on Sunday (25 February).
Brody Malone: "I'm super happy with my progress so far."
Two-time U.S. champion and 2022 World high bar champion Brody Malone was back in action in Louisville, his biggest competition since suffering a horrific injury on a high bar dismount nearly a year ago that required multiple surgeries.
He earned scores of 13.950, pommel horse; 12.850, still rings; and 14.850, parallel bars. Those scores were good enough for fourth on pommels and third on the parallel bars, signaling that a return to top of U.S. gymnastics is still very possible for Malone.
That's not something of which he was always certain.
"There was so much running through my head when it all happened, but, I just knew, you got to take everything as it comes. Everything happens for a reason," Malone told reporters on Thursday after practicing ahead of the competition. "I just knew that it was going to be a long road ahead, but, here I am, I don't even know how many months since my last surgery, but I had to relearn to walk after my surgeries, and here I am, running and jumping around, tumbling on tumble track and rod floor. So I'm super happy with my progress so far."
Happy but with more to accomplish.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympian expects to be cleared for horizontal bar dismounts onto competition surfaces in the next month or so and plans to incorporate floor and vault - at some level - into this competitive programme by May's U.S. Championships.