Asher Hong Wins First U.S. National Title at the 2023 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships 

Asher Hong Wins First U.S. National Title at the 2023 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships 

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The U.S. National title is staying on The Farm. In 2021 and 2022, recent Stanford graduate Brody Malone brought home the title. Now it’s Asher Hong’s time! The leader after Day 1, Hong came in hungry for the title and didn’t let up, clinching the first U.S. national title of his young career.

“I don’t think I’ve won a national championship for the senior event, so it is really exciting,” Hong said. “I put in a lot of hard work in the gym and you know, the next few weeks if I’m selected for the World Team, I’m gonna go back, work just as hard to perform well at Worlds and hopefully get the team on the podium.”

Hong posted a 170.930 to top Stanford teammate Khoi Young (169.455), who had an impressive showing in San Jose with stuck landings and clean execution across the board.

2023 NCAA All-Around Champion Fred Richard was a favorite for the title coming into the competition but didn’t see his name at the top of the leaderboard until the fifth rotation on Day 2. With pommel horse and rings to go, the odds seemed to be in Richard’s favor, but two falls on pommel horse took him out of the mix for the title. However, Richard’s finished strong on rings to solidify his spot on the medal podium and grab the bronze (169.311).

Yul Moldauer sat in second place after Day 1 but led the way on Day 2 for most of the competition until a fall on high bar in the fourth rotation. With several errors on floor, including a fall, Moldauer finished the day in fourth (167.446).

2023 National Champions:

Floor: Paul Juda – 29.300

Pommel Horse: Stephen Nedoroscik – 31.301

Rings: Donnell Whittenburg – 30.272

Vault: Kameron Nelson – 28.500

Parallel Bars: Yul Moldauer – 31.360

High Bar: Fred Richard – 29.802

2023 U.S. Senior Men’s National Team: 

Asher Hong, Khoi Young, Colt Walker, Fred Richard, Yul Moldauer, Paul Juda, Donnell Whittenburg, Curran Phillips, Taylor Burkhart and Dallas Hale!

Photos by Lloyd Smith for Inside Gymnastics 

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