PHOENIX — Frederick Richard won his first U.S. all-around gymnastics title despite ceding nearly a full point to the field for deductions outside of his routines.
Richard, an Olympic and World Championships bronze medalist, totaled 170.015 points between two nights of competition at the Xfinity U.S. Championships.
“I strived my whole life to get here, it took 20 years, four championships later as a senior, but we’re here,” Richard said on the NBC Sports broadcast. “It shows the hard work is paying off.”
GYMNASTICS: Results | Broadcast Schedule
He prevailed by a comfortable 2.051 over Tokyo Olympian Shane Wiskus, who nixed a planned retirement after just missing the Paris Olympic team. Wiskus also missed the 2025 U.S. Championships after shoulder surgery.
Danila Leykin, 19, could have become the youngest U.S. men’s all-around champion since 1989 (Tim Ryan). He dropped from second place after the first night of competition to third. He lost two points Saturday for two falls on floor exercise.
Richard led Leykin by 153 thousandths of a point after night one.
That was despite Richard giving up six tenths for deductions Thursday for wearing a uniform that doesn’t conform to rules (an intentional move he also made last year) and for saluting in the wrong direction after his pommel horse routine.
Richard was docked another three tenths Saturday for the uniform — again, a deduction he knew he would be getting.
Richard later hit his horse set Saturday, then said with a smile, “I saluted this time.”
He added the U.S. all-around crown to an already impressive CV. It also includes a World Championships all-around bronze medal in 2023 (the first for an American man since 2010), an Olympic Trials all-around win in 2024 and an Olympic team bronze medal in 2024.
He also has more than 900,000 followers each on TikTok and Instagram, plus more than 450,000 YouTube subscribers. Richard graduated from the University of Michigan this spring.
Also Saturday, Olympic bronze medalist Stephen Nedoroscik fell off the pommel horse and dropped from second place in the event on Thursday to fifth.
Nedoroscik was pessimistic about his chances at nationals due to a left shoulder injury. His goal was to make the national team, which will be at least 15 gymnasts.
By the end of the weekend, the five-man team for October’s World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands, will be announced.
The team will not include 2024 Olympic team bronze medalists Brody Malone and Asher Hong, who combined to win the previous five U.S. all-around titles.
Malone is taking this season off from competition, while Hong missed nationals due to finger and hand injuries.
Richard announced back in May that he will win at least one gold medal at the World Championships, probably in the all-around.
“It’s going to take me going for every skill, not playing it safe,” said Richard, who scored 1.363 more points Saturday than Thursday. “I tried that today, and I think I made a lot of improvements.”
Nationals end Sunday with the last day of women’s competition, live at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
