Jakarta Bound: Patty Hoopes Set For World Championships

U.S. National Team Member and Air Force graduate Patty Hoopes has been on the rise since winning pommel horse at the 2024 Olympic Trials. Hoopes was named an alternate to the Paris Olympic Team and has been no short of success in 2025. The pommel horse specialist began his year by competing at three World Cups and medaling in two (Baku and Cairo). He then went on to win the NCAA pommel horse title for a second time. In the summer, he won bronze at the University Games, and took his first Xfinity U.S. Championship title on pommel horse in New Orleans, securing his spot on the World Championship team. 

“I feel really good about the performance that I had at Champs, and then really grateful to be selected for the world team. That’s kind of been a big goal, is to make it to this worlds. Ever since I made National Team for the first time, going to worlds has always been a big goal for me. So being able to actually achieve it and be on the team,it’s incredible. I’m super thankful and super grateful for it.”

Hoopes credits his success to his coach Sergey Resnick. Resnick has been able to help Hoopes pace correctly throughout the year and ensures he is not over exerting himself between competitions. 

“A great example is this last week, coming back from Champs. I wanted to get straight into doing routines and getting ready, and he had to put his foot down and tell me, ‘No, you can’t you need to take it easy. You need a break, you need to rest.’ So he’s a big part in creating my training plan. I mean, he makes all of it—training plan, conditioning, everything to make sure that I’m peaking when I need to be. He takes the brunt of that, and I just kind look at the paper and do what my assignment is for the day,” Hoopes said. 

Hoopes concluded his NCAA career by winning his second NCAA National Title on  pommel horse. He’s able to continue training with his coaches at Air Force by joining a program called the World Class Athlete Program. 

“They pretty much sponsor any member of the Air Force that’s able to reach the requirements set per sport, and enables them to keep training until the next Olympics,” he said.

A Unique Experience

While plenty of Elite-level gymnasts have grown accustomed to balancing school and gymnastics, Hoopes spent his college years also having Military and Air Force training on his plate. A typical day for Hoopes was spent with school, Military training, and gymnastics. His wake up call would be at roughly 6:30 AM, he would immediately go to Military training from 7 AM-8 AM. He would then spend the rest of his morning in class before marching to lunch. After lunch he would have downtime, which was usually filled with more military training! From 2 PM-6 PM he would have gymnastics practice, followed by dinner, and spending the rest of his night with homework….. then he would wake up and do it all again the next day. 

“Definitely, looking back, I was like, wow, that was a lot of stuff,” he said. “I mean, I obviously make it easier by breaking it down and focus on it by sections of the day. Now it’s like, that was a lot of stuff I had to get through. A lot of stuff I had to do every day.”

Since graduation, Hoopes has been able to focus solely on gymnastics. He now has the freedom to get to practice early, or stay longer if needed. With this freedom, he also has more time to relax, which he spends watching movies or playing Red Dead Redemption 2. 

“It’s mainly going to be my schedule for the next little bit,” Hoopes said. “I’m really excited about that. Just being able to relax, take the time I need to recover. Maybe I don’t finish everything I need to at a practice, so I can stay late or come in early to make sure I get everything done.”

Hoopes is now fortunate for the extra time he has on his hands, and looks back on his time on the Air Force gymnastics team with fond memories. 

“I just look back at all the fun times we had hanging out as a team, doing stuff on the weekends,” he said. “For pretty much my entire time at the Academy, if I was ever not in my room, or off campus, 98% of the time I was with the team and just hanging out with them. That’s the stuff I look back on the most.”

Packed House

Hoopes is a part of a stacked pommel horse field within USA Gymnastics. The field includes the reigning Olympic bronze medalist, Stephen Nedoroscik, and fellow World Championship teammate Brandon Dang from the University of Illinois. 

“Part of me definitely wishes that it would have been after my career that this blow up would have happened, so then I would have an easier job myself,” he said with a laugh. “It’s just nice having someone there that’s doing the exact same thing as you. Because usually when I would go in the past, like Winter Cup and Champs it was usually me and then one other All-Arounder. It just kind of ends up being the All-Arounders are doing everything, and for 15 minutes we’re together, and then he moves on.”

While they may be each others direct competition, Hoopes finds it motivating having other athletes pushing him to be the best. 

“Me and Steve text each other routines and new skills that we’ve been trying and figuring out ways to build the best routine that we can. It’s good to have someone that understands the competition standpoint on that event specifically, and every single one of those horse guys, Steve and Brandon, they all have pretty deep knowledge about horse, maybe not the other five events!”

Eyes On Jakarta 

At the 2025 Xfinity U.S. Championships Hoopes earned a 15.050 without any bonus. According to the Gymter.net this ranks as the highest pommel horse score in the world in 2025. Hoopes also competed a 6.0 difficult routine, which is tied as the third highest difficulty score competed in 2025. However, Hoopes does have plans to upgrade his already challenging routine. He hopes to upgrade his dismount bringing his routine to a 6.2 difficulty score, which would match the highest difficulty score in 2025. This upgrade will hopefully bring him closer to accomplishing his ultimate goal at the World Championships in Jakarta. 

“I want to medal at Worlds,” Hoopes said. “It’s kind of the big goal. I want to medal. You know, I’ve done it at most of the international comps I’ve been to this year. So it’s definitely possible, you know, it’s definitely been a mix of guys. If you look at the World Finals, there’s probably gonna be three people I competed against in Baku. All these World Cups have been kind of separated, but I think it’s definitely possible and very feasible to come away with a medal.” 

A medal at the upcoming World Championships will certainly help bring him closer to his long-term goal of making the LA 2028 Olympic team. 

“I’m definitely going for the LA team. [I was] barely [off] the team for Paris and Steve went and did his thing. So that was awesome. But I’m really looking forward to and want another shot and making that team.”

Catch Hoopes in action at the World Championships October 19-25.

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