Frederick Richard halfway to first U.S. all-around gymnastics title with slim lead

PHOENIX — Frederick Richard is halfway to filling a major hole in his gymnastics resume — a U.S. all-around title — but his lead is tenuous.

Richard, an Olympic and world championships bronze medalist, totaled 84.326 points over six routines, taking a slim lead of .153 over 19-year-old Danila Leykin on the first night of the Xfinity U.S. Championships. The second half of the men’s competition is Saturday.

“It’s great I’m in first place, it (the training) is showing, but I still think I have a lot more to show on day two,” Richard said on the NBC Sports broadcast.

Richard was the U.S. all-around runner-up in 2024 and 2025, but the men who won those titles — Olympic teammates Brody Malone and Asher Hong — are sitting out this year’s nationals.

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“Everybody says you haven’t won U.S. Championships yet,” Richard said before the meet. “My coaches (at the University of Michigan) say, ‘You haven’t won a U.S. Championships,’ and so I think it’s a big piece of the puzzle.”

Richard leads despite taking six tenths of deductions outside of his routines: three tenths for wearing a uniform that doesn’t conform to rules (an intentional move he also made last year) and three tenths for saluting the wrong way after his pommel horse set.

Richard said he isn’t hung up on the pommel horse salute deduction.

He was asked if he’d do something similar to what Simone Biles did at the Paris Olympics. She was docked three tenths for not saluting long enough after her balance beam final routine, then did a long salute after her floor exercise final routine.

“I can exaggerate it, I guess, but I don’t want to be rude,” Richard said. “I mean, it is what it is.”

Richard said that if he loses the all-around title by fewer than six tenths — the total amount of deductions he’ll receive for the uniform over the two days — it’ll still be worth it.

“It’s more than just the medal at the end of the day,” he said. “I come here to do great gymnastics, and if I don’t win, that’s a result of my gymnastics, I believe, more than those three tenths. Two, I have fun in this uniform. There’s a lot of boys sitting in the crowd, seeing what I’m doing and getting inspired, and I think things that we’re passionate about changing, we should change, and that’s why I keep doing it.”

Leykin, who was 10th in his senior nationals debut in 2025, leads a younger generation on the rise as the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics approach. He won three medals at the 2025 World Junior Championships.

“I knew if I had a good day that it was possible,” to be in the top three, he said. “I wasn’t necessarily going into it with big hopes of yeah, I’m going for this all-around.”

Nationals continue Friday with the first of two days of women’s competition, live at 10 p.m. ET on Peacock and NBCSN.

Frederick Richard eyes his first national all-around title at the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships this week, live on Peacock and NBCSN.

Stephen Nedoroscik hits pommel horse routine

The famed Pommel Horse Guy from the Paris Olympics was pessimistic going into nationals due to a left shoulder injury.

But once again Stephen Nedoroscik delivered in the spotlight, hitting his horse routine for 14.958 points. He is in second place going into Saturday, trailing 2025 World bronze medalist Patrick Hoopes, who scored 15.641.

“That was unbelievable compared to what I was expecting to do today,” Nedoroscik said.

He was significantly better than at the 2025 U.S. Championships, where he had mistakes on both nights, averaging 13.7 points per horse routine for fifth place on the apparatus.

Nedoroscik said before nationals that his goal was merely to make the national team, which will be at least 15 gymnasts, most of whom will not be on the five-man roster for October’s World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The world team will be announced on Saturday or Sunday.

Stephen Nedoroscik returns from surgery to compete at the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships, live on Peacock and NBCSN.