U.S. champion Konnor McClain confirms she’s resumed training, working toward Paris 2024
Plus, a Brody Malone injury update, Pan Am Championships teams named and a look back at Team GB on bars from Tokyo 2020
Artistic Gymnastics
2022 U.S. women’s gymnastics all-around champion Konnor McClain has resumed training after a back injury and subsequent surgery kept her out of the World Championships last season.
“Still the goal!” McClain wrote of Paris 2024 during an Instagram stories takeover of leotard manufacturer Ozone’s account.
The 18-year-old also confirmed that she is targeting August’s U.S. Classic and U.S. Championships as a return. The stories also included a short clip of her training a toe-on, full pirouette on the uneven bars from a recent U.S. national team camp.
Another video posted on Inside Gymnastics magazine’s Twitter showed McClain performing a double pike off a Tumbl Trak into the pit.
McClain recently left WOGA Gymnastics in Dallas, Texas, where she had been training since the summer of 2021, to begin working out at Pacific Reign in the Seattle metro area with head coach Cale Robinson.
“Some places just don’t work out the way you thought they were going to,” McClain said of the move, adding in a later story, “Really just gotta know what I want and follow my heart.”
Brody Malone to miss U.S. Championships, remainder of season
World horizontal bar champion Brody Malone will miss the U.S. Championships and the remainder of the 2023 season, according to a report from NBC Olympic Talk.
Malone took a scary fall in March at an event in Germany, when he slipped off the bar on his dismount.
“Brody is currently undergoing treatment for his leg injury and doing everything he can to heal and get back to competing. As of now, there is no chance he will be competing in the U.S Championships in August,” a representative for Malone said, according to NBC. “However, he is working very hard and is extremely hopeful that he will make it back in time for the Paris games.”
The U.S. Championships, scheduled for late August 2023, are the sole selection event for the U.S. men’s team for the World Championships.
The 23-year-old Malone, who is a Tokyo 2020 Olympian, has won the last two U.S. all-around titles.
Brazil, U.S. women name squads for the Pan American Championships
On Tuesday (2 May), the Confederação Brasileira de Ginástica named its teams for the upcoming Pan American Championships, scheduled for 22-29 in Medellin, Colombia.
The women’s team consists of Andreza Lima, Carolyne Pedro, Christal Bezerra, Gabriela Barbosa, Júlia Soares, and Luísa Maia.
Bernardo Actos, Diogo Soares, Leonardo Souza, Patrick Sampaio, Tomás Florêncio, and Yuri Guimarães comprise the men’s squad.
Earlier, USA Gymnastics announced their women’s team, which will be headlined by Joscelyn Roberson, who took gold medals on the vault and floor exercise at the recent Cairo World Cup. She’ll be joined by Nola Matthews, Zoe Miller, Addison Fatta, and Tiana Sumanasekera. Madray Johnson is the reserve.
The U.S. men’s camp to select their team takes place this week (3-7 May) in Colorado Springs.
ICYMI: Our Riley McCusker exclusive!
In case you missed it, we published an exclusive interview with University of Florida sophomore and 2018 world team gold medallist Riley McCusker.
After a stellar second year as a Gator, McCusker told us about the transition period into college and how mental health has become a focus for her.
“I think for any athlete going through a transition, whether it be from elite to college or college to the pros or transitioning into retirement from your sport, there’s going to be a certain period of uncertainty just trying to figure out where you stand and everything,” said McCusker, who received the most improved gymnast award on her Gator squad.
From the vault…
This week, we take a look back at Great Britain on the uneven bars during the women’s team final at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, held in 2021. The GB squad earned the bronze medal, their first time on the women’s team podium since 1928. Alice Kinsella led the effort in the final rotation on the uneven bars, scoring a 14.166 to help them hold off Italy.