Malone fell off his pommel horse in the first rotation and struggled on the high bar, his signature event, which kept him from making it to the all-around final. The top 24 athletes qualify for the final, but no more than two from each country make it through. Americans Frederick Richard (83.498) and Paul Juda (82.865) finished well ahead of Malone and secured a spot in the all-around final.
However, Richard (10th) and Juda (13th) finished nowhere near the top of the field, reflecting the struggles the U.S. team had on Saturday. Stephen Nedoroscik was the only American to advance to an individual apparatus final thanks to his fantastic placement on the pommel horse.
Malone and Richard traded the top two spots on the all-around podium at the national championships and Olympic trials — Malone ahead of Richard at the national championships and then ahead of Richard at the trials. Those two gymnasts were expected to be the Americans in the all-around final, but Juda had been performing well and was in contention even before Malone fell twice on beam. Malone, who also fell to the floor in the final rotation, called her mistakes “dumb mistakes.”
“What happened here today is over,” Malone said. “There’s nothing I can do about it now. Just do the best I can to be ready for the team final.”
Malone, the only returning Olympian on this team, finished with a 79.598, a far cry from the 86.350 he earned at nationals. Malone’s scores from all four of his previous outings were 85.100 or better, which would have been good enough for third place in the qualifying round. After Saturday’s competition, Malone apologized to his teammates, according to Juda, who added, “He’s the captain of this ship. He’s going to right us over the next few days.”
The U.S. men’s team had a standout showing at last fall’s world championships, winning bronze in the team competition along with three individual medals. Their chance to repeat that performance on a bigger stage has gotten off to a rocky start.
The Americans had the fifth-best score in the qualifying round, behind not only China and Japan, the two teams favored to win gold and silver, but also Great Britain and Ukraine. The Americans finished nearly 10 points behind China in first place and, perhaps most notably, more than three points behind Great Britain in third. Scores don’t carry over, so Malone and the U.S. team have a chance to make a comeback.
In the qualifying round, teams lose one point per apparatus, so Malone’s low scores didn’t affect her score of 253.229. But Americans often rely on their performances to be among the best on the team.
Malone, the 2022 world high bar champion, also missed his chance to compete for a medal in his best event. His low score on that apparatus (12.233) was well below the mark needed to advance. Now his only chance to win a medal here will come in the team final, where the Americans badly need him to perform better.
