17 Apr Fred Richard Wins 2026 Nissen Emery Award
2024 Olympic team bronze medalist and 2025 NCAA All-Around Champion Fred Richard of the No. 2-ranked University of Michigan men’s gymnastics team was named the 2026 Nissen-Emery Award winner, as announced by the College Gymnastics Association on Thursday night.
The Nissen-Emery Award honors the collegiate senior male gymnast who has not only established an outstanding record of achievement during his college career but also an athlete who has demonstrated good sportsmanship, fair play and a high standard of athletic excellence.
Richard is the fourth Wolverine to earn the award, joining Paul Juda (2023), Sam Mikulak (2014) and Justin Toman (2002).
Also the 2026 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, Richard earned his fourth Big Ten All-Around individual title to make him just the second gymnast in conference history to do so (John Roethlisberger of Minnesota, 1990-93). Richard was also named Gymnast of the Championships for the fourth straight year.
In 2025, Richard built momentum all season, peaking at NCAAs, and capturing the All-Around title while helping lead the Wolverines to the NCAA Championship win. With Michigan coming into NCAAs as the underdog to No. 1 Oklahoma and 10-time champion Stanford, Richard and his team put everything on the floor and built momentum all night – never once believing the win was out of reach. In the end, Richard couldn’t have written the first half of 2025 any better. And, as if adding NCAA hardware to his growing collection wasn’t enough, two weeks later, he broke the Guinness World Record for the most standing back flips completed in 24 hours (he completed 1,111!) and he did it all while raising money to bring gymnastics equipment to children in Africa. The GoFundMe campaign raised more than $37,000 during the time Richard was flipping, exceeding the $50,000 mark in the days after.
On Friday in Champaign, the Wolverines will begin their quest to defend their 2025 championship in the second of two qualifying sessions against No.3 Stanford, No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Illinois, No. 10 Navy, and No. 11 Army.
Three teams and the top three All-Around competitors not on one of the qualifying teams, plus the top three individuals on each event not already qualified on a team or as an all-around competitor, will advance from each pre-qualifying session to the finals session. Finals competition will take place on April 18.
Championship qualifiers will air on ESPN+. Session I will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern time and Session II will air at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The championship finals will air on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. Eastern time. For more information regarding the National Collegiate Men’s Gymnastics Championships, log on to ncaa.com.
Friday, April 17
SESSION I: Championships Qualifier, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
No.1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Nebraska, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 8 California, No. 9 Greenville and No. 12 Springfield
SESSION II: Championships Qualifier, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Stanford, No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Illinois, No. 10 Navy and No. 11 Army
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