FORT WORTH, Texas — Less than a year ago, American gymnast Brody Malone posted a video on Instagram of himself moving gingerly with a crutch under one arm and a massive brace on his right leg. The caption read: "Learning to walk, round 2."
On Saturday night, with a bulky brace still wrapped around his leg, he walked off the floor at Dickies Arena having secured his third all-around national championship − a feat made all the more impressive by the gruesome injury he overcame to get there.
In a remarkably consistent and commanding performance, Malone maintained the lead he had built on the first night of competition at the U.S. gymnastics championships to win handily, posting an overall score of 172.300 that left a significant gap between him and the rest of the field. It served as proof that the 24-year-old is not only healthy enough to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics later this summer, but also that he might be the most surefire pick to make the team.
"It just feels amazing to be able to, with everything I've gone through, be able to come back and make a comeback like I have and be competitive enough to be on the top again," Malone said.
"Going through what I've gone through, I've definitely learned to be grateful for every opportunity I have to compete. And so with that, I'm just letting loose a little bit more, having a little bit more fun."
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Fred Richard, the reigning world all-around bronze medalist, finished in second place a little more than two points behind Malone with a score of 170.250. And Khoi Young came in third, at 169.550, with Olympic veterans Yul Moldauer and Shane Wiskus not far behind.
They, and perhaps as many as 10 of the other top performers at this weekend's national championships, will now be invited to the U.S. Olympic trials in Minneapolis at the end of this month. Their two scores at each meet will be used to select the five-member team that will represent the U.S. in Paris.
"Let's just say we're going to be very deadly. This is going to be a fun Olympics," Richard said. "We are fully loaded, stronger than I've ever seen the U.S. in years. So I think we can look for medals."
Malone's return certainly strengthens the Americans' odds. The Georgia native, who placed fourth at the 2022 world championships, had been a question mark coming off of his injury and said he only decided about three weeks ago that he was going to compete in the all-around this weekend. It's been a long road back.
Exactly 441 days ago, Malone suffered a catastrophic injury on a high bar dismount at a meet in Germany, fracturing a bone, shredding his meniscus and tearing two of the four major ligaments in his right knee. He flew home from Germany with an external fixation device sticking out of his leg, keeping the bones in place, and went straight to another hospital when he landed. All told, Malone needed three surgeries to repair all the damage in his knee − the last of which came less than a year ago.
In a sport where running, jumping and landing on one's knee is unavoidable, Malone has floored those in the gymnastics community simply by returning to competition at all − let alone at a similar level to before his injury.
"Absolutely blown away beyond belief," NBC analyst Tim Daggett said on air Saturday night. "Most gymnasts would have probably just stopped after that injury."
Instead, Malone opted not only to compete, but to compete in all six events. On the first night of competition Thursday, he shined on high bar and parallel bars to build a lead of 1.6 points over Richard. Then, on Saturday, he put up scores that were, on aggregate, four-tenths of a point higher − including more than one point of improvement across rings, vault and parallel bars.
"I don’t want to say it was up in the air how I was going to do, but it was my first (all-around) back. I didn’t really know how it was going to go," Malone said. "But hitting everything Thursday gave me a lot of confidence going into today. It’s just another all-around competition. It's just another gymnastics meet, nothing different."
When asked how his knee was feeling after the competition, Malone admitted it was "definitely sore," particularly after some crunching during his floor routine. He said he actually competed this weekend with two different knee braces − a bulkier one for floor exercise and vault, which put the most strain on his leg, and another one for the other four events.
"Just changing my braces is just a pain in the butt. I don’t like it," Malone said.
With Saturday's performance, Malone has now won three of the past four men's all-around national titles, with the lone exception being the year in which he was injured. He's grateful to be back, sure. But he said merely completing two days of all-around competition wouldn't have been enough.
"I didn't come here to just show up and compete," Malone said. "I wanted to win."
Fred Richard finishes second
Richard, 20, got off to a bit of a rough start on the first night of competition but showed vast improvement Saturday night. He bested his scores from the first session on five of the six apparatuses and duplicated his score on high bar (14.400).
The Michigan product said he doesn't have any significant changes planned for trials, only "sharpening." And he has no complaints about how these U.S. championships unfolded.
"I like first (place) better, but I’m satisfied definitely with the performance this week," Richard said. "Great warm-up and shows that I'm definitely in the (running) for the Olympics. Keep getting a little better for trials, keeping getting a little better for the Olympics and keep going."
Khoi Young, Yul Moldauer in the mix despite small injuries
While Malone and Richard staked strong claims to be included in the Olympic team that will head to Paris, several others bolstered their candidacy − including a pair of gymnasts who are dealing with a few nicks and bruises.
Moldauer injured his hip during a high bar dismount earlier in the week and said Saturday night that "it definitely still hurts," likening it to lingering pain from a rolled ankle. But he still managed to finish in a tie for fourth, thanks in large part to a pair of dominant performances on parallel bars.
Khoi Young, who finished third, said he's also felt a little banged up. He had a wrap on his left knee during his floor exercise, and Daggett reported on air that he's dealing with patella tendinitis in his left knee.
Asked about the injury Saturday, the reigning NCAA all-around champion described it as "a chronic thing that's been going on for a while."
"I landed a vault really low in podium training and I think it flared it up quite a bit," he said. "But there's nothing structurally wrong with it. I just have to go home, do some rehab, see my trainer and I'll be back, ready to go at trials."
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @Tom_Schad.
