Brody Malone eyes spring 2024 return to gymnastics from leg surgeries

Brody Malone
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U.S. all-around gymnastics champion Brody Malone plans to return from three right leg surgeries to full routines around next April ahead of the Olympic Trials, which are usually in late June.

Malone on Wednesday confirmed details reported by Gymnastics Now — that he suffered a tibial plateau fracture, a partially torn PCL and a fully torn LCL on a high bar dismount fall at a March 18 competition in Germany.

He is planning to get a third and hopefully final surgery in July, after which he could return to doing landings on some events around January.

Malone is likely to compete on no more than four of the six apparatuses at the Olympic Trials and, should he make the team, the Paris Games, because he does not expect to be ready for vault and floor exercise landings.

Malone won the U.S. all-around title in 2021 and 2022, succeeding the since-retired Sam Mikulak as the top American male gymnast.

At the 2022 Worlds, Malone won the high bar title and placed fourth in the all-around, matching the best all-around finish for an American man since Jonathan Horton‘s bronze in 2010.

After Malone, the top U.S. men’s all-arounders include Asher Hong, who was sixth at worlds, becoming at 18 the second-youngest man from any nation to finish that high since 2001. And Donnell Whittenburg, a 2016 Olympic alternate, who was second to Malone at last year’s nationals.

The U.S. men’s team must finish in the top 12 at this fall’s world championships to qualify a full team for next year’s Olympics (assuming the already qualified China, Japan and Great Britain are also in the top 12).

Last year, the U.S. finished fifth at worlds with Malone, who was the lone U.S. gymnast to compete on all six apparatuses in the team final.

The U.S. has finished between third and fifth at every Olympics and worlds since 2007 and has competed in the Olympic men’s team event at every Games since World War I, save the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games.

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Brody Malone to miss U.S. Gymnastics Championships with injury

Brody Malone
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U.S. all-around gymnastics champion Brody Malone will miss August’s national championships after injuring his right leg at a meet in Germany on March 18.

“Brody is currently undergoing treatment for his leg injury and doing everything he can to heal and get back to competing,” a representative for Malone said in an email. “As of now, there is no chance he will be competing in the U.S Championships in August. However, he is working very hard and is extremely hopeful that he will make it back in time for the Paris games.”

Malone was injured after inadvertently peeling off the high bar early for his dismount, landing backward and awkwardly twisting his right leg.

Malone won the U.S. all-around title in 2021 and 2022, succeeding the since-retired Sam Mikulak as the top American male gymnast.

At the 2022 Worlds, Malone won the high bar title and placed fourth in the all-around, matching the best all-around finish for an American man since Jonathan Horton‘s bronze in 2010.

After Malone, the top U.S. men last year were Asher Hong, who was sixth in the world all-around, becoming at 18 the second-youngest man from any nation to finish that high since 2001. And Donnell Whittenburg, a 2016 Olympic alternate, who was second to Malone at last year’s nationals.

The U.S. men’s team must finish in the top 12 at this fall’s world championships to qualify a full team for next year’s Olympics (assuming the already qualified China, Japan and Great Britain are also in the top 12).

Last year, the U.S. finished fifth at worlds with Malone, who was the lone U.S. gymnast to compete on all six apparatuses in the team final.

The U.S. has finished between third and fifth at every Olympics and worlds since 2007 and has competed in the Olympic men’s team event at every Games since World War I, save the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games.

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Maile O’Keefe edges Jordan Chiles for NCAA all-around gymnastics title

Maile O'Keefe
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Maile O’Keefe finished with a perfect 10 on balance beam to overtake Olympic silver medalist Jordan Chiles for the NCAA all-around title and help Utah advance to Saturday’s NCAA team final for the third year in a row.

O’Keefe’s closing 10 on beam overtook Chiles, who had moved into the lead with a 10 on her last event, the uneven bars. O’Keefe totaled 39.7625 points to Chiles’ 39.1725.

O’Keefe, the 2016 and 2017 U.S. junior all-around champion, is the first Red Rock to win the NCAA all-around since 1999.

Chiles, who was bidding to become the first Olympian to win the NCAA all-around since Bridget Sloan in 2016, took two crowns for UCLA, with the first perfect 10 of the semifinals on bars and a 9.9875 on the floor.

Utah surged into the lead (198.2250) with a lights-out performance on the beam in the second semifinal on Thursday night. Defending champion Oklahoma (198.1625) also advanced to the national championship for the 10th straight season. Utah and Oklahoma were the only programs with plus-198 scores on the day.

Utah’s other star, Olympic silver medalist Grace McCallum, competed for the first time since Feb. 11 due to a knee injury and scored a 9.95 on the uneven bars in an emotional return. She put Utah in the final with a good showing on the beam following O’Keefe’s 10.

Earlier in the day, Florida advanced to the championship round for the third straight year after getting a lift from the return of 2022 NCAA all-around champion Trinity Thomas.

Florida’s Southeastern Conference counterpart LSU posted the top score of the first session at 197.4750. The Gators finished ahead of California and Denver for a chance at their first national title since winning three straight from 2013-15. LSU looks for its first title in program history.

Thomas, who at last year’s NCAAs beat Olympic all-around gold medalist Suni Lee, competed for the first time since suffering a lower leg injury in her floor routine in the regional on March 31. Thomas drilled a landing on the uneven bars with a near-perfect score of 9.95 to help the Gators take the lead after the first rotation. She also competed in the vault.

Lee, an Auburn sophomore, announced last week a premature end to her final college season, citing non-gymnastics related kidney issues.

Olympic floor exercise champion Jade Carey, an Oregon State sophomore, tied for second on beam behind O’Keefe on Thursday. She did not qualify for the all-around.

Chiles, Lee and Carey are expected to return to elite, Olympic-level gymnastics for Paris 2024 bids.

McCallum and Thomas have not announced publicly whether they will return to elite. O’Keefe is not expected to go back to elite.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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