Fresh off bronze in Paris, ‘Pommel Horse Guy’ returns at U.S. Championships with eyes on long game
Stephen Nedoroscik had barely stepped off the podium in Paris before disappearing from gymnastics entirely. For nine months, he didn’t compete. Barely trained. Just took a breath — the kind of full stop you don’t often see from Olympians in their prime.
With a bronze around his neck and a nickname that stuck — “Pommel Horse Guy” — Nedoroscik returns to competition at this week’s Xfinity U.S. Championships in New Orleans. It’s his first time on the horse since the 2024 Olympics. And it’s not just a pit stop. He wants to ride this thing all the way to LA 2028.
“Crazy” Prep for a Quiet Comeback
There’s nothing loud about Nedoroscik’s return.
No huge marketing push. No grand declarations. Just a quiet press conference on a humid Wednesday in New Orleans, where he admitted that the last few months have been, well, kind of wild.
“Three months leading up to a competition after a nine-month break is pretty crazy,” he said with a grin.
He wasn’t being dramatic.
Most elite gymnasts plan their training years in advance. Cycles. Phases. Periodization. Nedoroscik, on the other hand, jumped back in midstream and started ramping up for a major meet with barely 90 days of prep under his belt.
And still, here he is. Competing. Smiling. And very much not done.
The Pommel Horse Is His Playground — and His Ticket
If there’s one event Nedoroscik owns, it’s the pommel horse.
He’s not trying to be a five-event guy. He’s not adding flash or flair to check every box. He’s here to do one thing — and do it better than anyone else.
And honestly? He might.
His Paris bronze made him the first U.S. gymnast in 92 years to medal in pommel horse at the Olympics. The last one? 1932. That’s not just rare. That’s historic.
So even after nine months away, there’s a decent chance Nedoroscik could vault right back into national contention.
He’s banking on that.
The Long Path to LA Is Lined with New Names
Here’s the thing. LA 2028 is still three years away. And in gymnastics, three years is a lifetime.
Nedoroscik knows that. The U.S. men’s gymnastics scene doesn’t stand still. It never does. Young talent keeps coming. Bodies change. Politics shift. Momentum swings.
At this week’s U.S. Championships alone, the field is stacked with names trying to make a statement — or reclaim lost ground:
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Brody Malone, recovering from a serious knee injury, hoping to regain all-around form
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Yul Moldauer, the veteran workhorse, still in the mix
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Asher Hong, the teenage phenom with all-around firepower
And then there’s Stephen — back from the break, betting big on the pommel horse to carry him through another Olympic cycle.
What’s Changed Since Paris? A Lot.
To say the sport has moved on would be unfair. But it’s evolved.
Paris 2024 was a breakout for U.S. men’s gymnastics — not dominance, but clear progress. The team bronze was the first in 16 years. Individual medals gave fresh credibility.
Since then?
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USA Gymnastics has shuffled coaching roles, aiming to build consistency across the men’s pipeline.
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The Paris medalists have become public figures, whether they wanted to or not.
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International scoring trends have shifted, with emphasis tilting toward execution over difficulty in pommel horse specifically.
That last one might actually help Nedoroscik. His routines aren’t necessarily the hardest in the field. But they’re clean. Smooth. Artistic.
And that style? It’s suddenly trending again.
Gymnastics Isn’t Kind to Specialists, but He’s Betting Big Anyway
Let’s be blunt. Specializing in a single apparatus in men’s gymnastics is risky.
Olympic selection often favors the all-arounders. Coaches and selection committees lean toward guys who can plug holes. Utility players. Swiss Army knives.
But sometimes, a guy is so good at one thing that they can’t be ignored. That’s what Nedoroscik is banking on.
“I don’t need to be the all-around guy,” he told one reporter after Paris. “I need to be the guy who delivers the medal.”
The math isn’t in his favor, but the precedent is. Several nations — including Japan and China — have brought event specialists to the Olympics, and they’ve medaled. The U.S. has been slower to embrace that approach, but if anyone’s going to force the conversation, it’s him.
One sentence here.
Numbers Can Be Deceiving, But This One Isn’t
There’s one number that keeps being repeated by commentators and insiders alike.
That’s how far Nedoroscik was from making the Tokyo 2020 team. Less than three-thousandths of a point. He was cut. Left home. Watched from the sidelines.
He’s used that number ever since. As fuel. As a reminder. As a promise not to miss the moment again.
And in Paris, he didn’t.
What Comes Next? Nobody Knows. But He’s In.
Nedoroscik hasn’t mapped it all out yet. No detailed plan. No perfect calendar with checkboxes from here to LA.
But he’s in.
The Xfinity U.S. Championships are just the first checkpoint. World Championships next? Maybe. Trials in 2026 and 2027? We’ll see. It’ll depend on scores, health, and that intangible thing coaches call “momentum.”
