NCAA stars combine for four medals at 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Written by Gymnastics Now in partnership with the CGA
ANTWERP, Belgium – The work they put in at the national level paid off on the international level.
The United States men’s team walked away from the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships with four medals in a historic showing.
Yul Moldauer (Oklahoma), Fred Richard (Michigan), Asher Hong (Stanford), Khoi Young (Stanford), Paul Juda (Michigan), and alternate Colt Walker (Stanford) won bronze in the men’s team final on October 3 – the first world medal from a U.S. men’s team since 2014.
It was the cherry on top to an already successful world championships after the U.S. qualified a team to next summer’s Paris Olympics during qualifying.
But they weren’t done yet.
Richard, in his first world championships, won bronze in the all-around behind Olympic champion Hashimoto Daiki (JPN) and Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun, finishing with an 84.332.
The 19-year-old nearly won silver but fell on high bar in the last rotation, leaving room for improvement heading into the Olympic year. The 2023 NCAA all-around, parallel bars, and high bar champion made a statement in Antwerp and is expected to be a force for the U.S. men’s program for years to come.
Richard also advanced to the floor final but fell on his last pass, finishing eighth.
Young was the secret weapon for the U.S. team this worlds, walking away with not one, but two silver medals on pommel horse and vault. In his first world championships, Young put up a 6.5-difficulty set in the pommel horse final, contending alongside world and Olympic champions. His 14.966 was just 0.134 behind back-to-back world champion Rhys McClenaghan of Ireland.
“During team final, I fell on horse, so today, I really wanted to prove to myself and the team that I can be trusted in high pressure situations,” Young said. “I think that’s what I really proved today.”
On vault, Young brought a balanced combination of difficulty and execution, sticking both his front handspring Randi (15.033) and Yurchenko half-on, double twist off (14.666) to average a 14.849.
Juda was fifth on vault and high bar and earned the highest execution score of the high bar final with an impressive 8.7.
Hong finished 19th in the all-around and sixth in the parallel bars final. Moldauer was eighth in the parallel bars final after a fall.
The U.S. team aren’t the only ones walking away from worlds successful; Kevin Penev (Michigan/BUL) officially qualified to Paris after finishing eighth in the men’s vault final.
With elite season over, the active NCAA athletes will switch their focus to preparing for the 2024 NCAA season, refining routines, and potentially pushing difficulty ahead of the Olympic year.
With so much success in Antwerp, the potential for Paris is high, and the future is bright for the NCAA’s stars.