The man the internet knows as “Frederick Flips” will be flipping all the way to Paris.
Frederick Richard won the all-around at the U.S. Olympic trials on Saturday with a two-day score of 170.500 to earn his first Olympic berth. The 20-year-old rising junior at Michigan who will lead a U.S. men’s team that’s ready to end a streak of three consecutive fifth-place Olympic finishes.
“Expect from me and the team,” Richard said during an in-arena interview on the big screen, “some medals in Paris.”
Richard, the reigning world all-around bronze medalist who also runs popular Instagram and TikTok pages with behind-the-scenes gymnastics content, helped the United States to a bronze medal at the 2023 world championships. It was the team’s first team medal at the world championships since 2014. Richard’s world champion teammates Paul Juda and Asher Hong will join him on the Olympic team in Paris along with second-place all-around finisher Brody Malone and pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik.
Malone, who missed the competition in 2023 while recovering from a career-threatening knee injury, shook off a fall on high bar in the opening event Saturday. He finished just two-tenths behind Richard, highlighted by a second stuck vault in as many days of competition that solidified his second Olympic berth.
Nedorocik’s inclusion on the team came as a surprise to some as he competed in only one event. The pommel horse specialist totaled 29.300 across the two days, which was second across two days, following Patrick Hoopes’ 29.450. Nedorocik’s consistency may have been key to earning his coveted Olympic position over Khoi Young, the reigning world silver medalist on pommel horse. Young was named a traveling alternate, along with Shane Wiskus.
Young needed to battle back from 12th in the all-around after the first day. But the bigger problem was that the 21-year-old Stanford star scored a lowly 11.650 in his signature event on Thursday. He redeemed himself with a 14.250 on the pommel horse, but still trailed behind Nedorocik, who tallied a 14.850.
Hong’s only major misstep came on pommel horse, where one of his legs appeared to clip the horse during a flare element, sending him crashing to the mat. He slipped from second in the all-around to fifth entering the final event. But the Stanford star left the selection committee with a final exclamation point to consider by sticking his dismount on rings in the last rotation. His 14.700 was the highest score on the event across both days of competition.
Juda helped the U.S. win a bronze medal at the 2023 world championships, the team’s first world team medal since 2014. The 22-year-old was the NCAA all-around champion at Michigan in 2022 and finished fourth overall with a score of 168.850.
