What Can We Expect From The U.S. Men In Jakarta? John Roethlisberger’s Take!

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3-Time Olympian and NBC analyst John Roethlisberger writes a column in each issue of Inside Gymnastics magazine. With competition at the 2025 World Championships kicking off October 19 in Jakarta, Indonesia, for our October/November issue of Inside Gymnastics magazine, we asked John about his predictions for the U.S. Men, who arrive as reigning world and Olympic team bronze medalists.

Inside Gymnastics magazine will be onsite in Jakarta to bring you all of the latest from the floor! Stay tuned to our social media @InsideGym and right here on InsideGym.com for for updates!

Plus! Look for our full 2025 World Championships preview, and the podium training, competition and streaming schedule coming soon to InsideGym.com!

IN THE KNOW

By John Roethlisberger

The first World Championships of this Olympic cycle are upon us, and with it comes the excitement of what we might see as we head to Los Angeles in 2028! The first Worlds after an Olympics always has some surprises, as we usually see new faces on the awards podium and up-and coming stars.

For the U.S. men headed to Jakarta, we have some very familiar faces, and a great opportunity to bring home some significant hardware. In fact, I think every U.S. gymnast participating in this year’s World Championships has a great chance to bring home a medal, maybe more than one! Let’s start with Asher Hong.

The 2024 Olympian and Stanford Cardinal won the recent U.S. all-around title in dominant fashion. He’s never looked better in the all-around in my opinion, and I think he has a legitimate chance to win an all-around medal as well as a vault medal. He has upgraded his high bar in particular, which helps him significantly. His other “weakness”—pommel horse— also looked much improved. It will be fun to see how he holds up against the best in the world.

Floor will showcase “triple back guy” Kameron Nelson. He’s well-known around the world for being the first to do two triple backs in one routine—one in the piked position and one in the tucked position— and makes them look easy. It’s all about landings on floor. If he lands clean, he has what it takes to make the podium.

On pommel horse, Team USA is sending two medal contenders, Patrick Hoopes (see our story on Patty Hoopes here!) from the Air Force Academy and Brandon Dang (see Brandon’s routine from day 2 at Championships here!) from the University of Illinois. They finished 1-2 at the U.S. Championships, dominating the field with Hoopes securing gold and Dang earning silver. Pommel horse is a tough event to medal on—they need to get into finals, and get a good draw obviously, meaning be near the end of the line-up.

Rings will be another fun one. The word is Donnell Whittenberg has competed the highest start value on rings so far in this new Olympic cycle. The biggest reason is the Whittenburg, a triple pike dismount which is named for him. His medal hopes, in my opinion, will come down to that dismount. If he lands clean, I think he’s on the podium. If he sticks it, maybe it will be gold!

High bar is the other great shot at a medal for the Americans. Brody Malone will attempt to repeat his 2022 accomplishment, when he won gold in this event at the World Championships. He’s got some big gymnastics here and a huge start value, but as we all know, you have to catch the bar and hit handstands. This gold medal will simply come down to who does that best.

All in all, the U.S. men are sitting on seven potential medals. It’s unlikely every one of those chances come through, however it still could be one of the most successful World Championships for the American men in history!

How It Works At Worlds

The 2025 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, from October 19 to October 25. The event is an individual event and all-around competition only. There is no team event. Athletes will qualify to finals through Qualifications subdivisions.

Preliminary competition in Jakarta will consist of eight men’s and 10 women’s subdivisions, who will take to the apparatus in the Indonesia Arena during the first three days of the World Championships as they attempt to qualify for all-around and apparatus finals.

Back From The Big Easy – Remember U.S. Championships?

2024 Olympic team bronze medalist Asher Hong dominated the senior men’s competition from start to finish in New Orleans at the 2025 Xfinity U.S. Championships. Hong won the title by a huge margin (70.020) which was a nearly eight-point lead from second place. He also won vault (29.594), floor  (30.016) and rings (29.286), and took silver on parallel bars (28.100).

Hong’s Olympic teammate Frederick Richard took second, and lit up the crowd with a spectacular high bar set and finish with a 162.555. Oklahoma’s Fuzzy Benas completed the top three, securing bronze with a 162.310.

Patrick Hoopes won pommel horse (31.300), 2024 Olympic team bronze medalist Brody Malone won on parallel bars (28.150), and Taylor Burkhart took the top spot on hight bar (28.960).

The 2025 Junior and Senior National Teams and World Championships teams Presented by Xfinity also were announced Saturday evening. Complete teams are listed alphabetically below.

Senior Men’s World Championships Team Presented by Xfinity

October 19-25 in Jakarta, Indonesia

• Taylor Burkhart — Arvada, Colo./Stanford University^
• Brandon Dang — San Jose, Calif./University of Illinois
• Asher Hong — Tomball, Texas/Stanford University
• Patrick Hoopes — Lehi, Utah/U.S. Air Force Academy
• Brody Malone — Aragon, Ga./EVO Gymnastics
• Kameron Nelson — Columbus, Ohio/Ohio State University
• Donnell Whittenburg — Baltimore, Md./EVO Gymnastics

Junior Men’s World Championships Team Presented by Xfinity

November 20-24 in Manila, the Philippines.

• Maksim Kan — Muskego, Wis./Salto Gymnastics Center*
• Danila Leykin — Sarasota, Fla./EVO Gymnastics
• Dante Reive — West Point, N.Y./United States Military Academy
• Nathan Roman— Poway, Calif./University of Oklahoma
• Hunter Simpson — Palmetto, Fla./EVO Gymnastics^

Senior Men’s National Team Presented by Xfinity

• Fuzzy Benas — Richmond, Texas/University of Oklahoma
• Taylor Burkhart — Arvada, Colo./Stanford University
• Crew Bold — Delray Beach, Fla./University of Michigan
• Brandon Dang — San Jose, Calif./University of Illinois
• Asher Hong — Tomball, Texas/Stanford University
• Patrick Hoopes — Lehi, Utah/U.S. Air Force Academy
• Jun Iwai — Lewisville, Texas/Texas Dreams Gymnastics
• Josh Karnes — Erie, Pa./Penn State University
• Riley Loos — El Dorado Hills, Calif./ Stanford University
• Brody Malone — Aragon, Ga./EVO Gymnastics
• Kameron Nelson — Columbus, Ohio/Ohio State University
• Dante Reive — West Point, N.Y./United States Military Academy
• Frederick Richard — Stoughton, Mass./University of Michigan
• Donnell Whittenburg — Baltimore, Md./EVO Gymnastics
• Colt Walker — Austin, Texas/Stanford University

Senior Men’s Development Team Presented by Xfinity

• Sasha Bogonosiuk — Buffalo Grove, Ill./University of Oklahoma
• Danila Leykin — Sarasota, Fla./EVO Gymnastics
• Preston Ngai — Elk Grove, Calif./University of Illinois
• Alex Nitache — Knoxville, Tenn./University of Nebraska
• Nathan Roman — Poway, Calif./University of Oklahoma

Junior Men’s National Team Presented by Xfinity

• Peyton Boerner — Mayfield Heights, Ohio/Gym World
• Hayden Brown — Corona Del Mar, Calif./SCATS Gymnastics
• Lincoln Dubin — Bellefonte, Pa./EVO Gymnastics
• Hunter Egan — Montgomery, Texas/Cypress Academy of Gymnastics
• Cooper Gunderson — Delano, Minn./Mini-Hops Gymnastics
• Elijah Gutierrez — South Lyon, Mich./Infinity Gymnastics Academy
• Kiefer Hong — Tomball, Texas/Cypress Academy of Gymnastics
• Maksim Kan — Muskego, Wis./Salto Gymnastics Center
• Jakson Kurecki — Nokomis, Fla./EVO Gymnastics
• Jovan Jimeno — Manassas, Va./Capital Gymnastics
• Ori Reilly — Windermere, Fla./Gymnastics USA
• Hunter Simpson — Palmetto, Fla./EVO Gymnastics
• Anthony Ruscheinsky — Summit, Wis./Salto Gymnastics Center
• Jay Watkins — Morristown, Tenn./GymTek Academy

*Denotes traveling replacement athlete

^Denotes non-traveling replacement athlete

2025 Sportsperson of the Year: Frederick Richard

2025 Athlete of the Year: Stephen Nedoroscik

2025 Coach of the Year: Xiao Yuan Michigan

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