It’s not a good day for Olympians in the 2025 Xfinity U.S. Championships. After 16 years without a men’s gymnastics team medal, Team USA finally broke through at the 2024 Paris Olympics, scoring 257.793 to claim bronze and reignite the country’s excitement for the sport. Stephen Nedoroscik nailed a near-perfect pommel horse routine, scoring 14.866 when it mattered most. Meanwhile, Fred Richard’s steady all-around performance, with a total score of 82.166, kept the team in the hunt every step of the way. But this might not be the case in the World in October.

Stephen Nedoroscik returned to elite gymnastics at the Championships, scoring 14.200 on Day 1 (D 5.1, E 9.100) on pommel horse. On Day 2, he attempted a harder skill but fell, earning 13.200. His combined score of 27.400 placed him fifth overall, and he couldn’t qualify for the World team because his highest difficulty score didn’t meet the required 6.2 benchmark set by recent international competitions. And now Fred Richards has joined him.

USA Gymnastics announced via X on August 10th the team that would represent America in the 2025 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in October. They wrote, “Introducing: The 2025 U.S. Men’s World Championships Team presented by@Xfinity⭐️ Brandon Dang⭐️ Asher Hong⭐️ Patty Hoopes⭐️ Brody Malone⭐️ Kameron Nelson⭐️ Donnell Whittenburg. Non-Traveling Replacement Athlete: Taylor Burkhart.” Asher Hong won the all-around with a dominant margin of 7.465 points, also taking gold on floor, rings, and vault.

Brandon Dang scored 31.093 to finish second on pommel horse, while Patrick Hoopes won pommel horse with 31.300. Brody Malone earned first on parallel bars with a 28.150 score. Meanwhile, Fred Richards met a bad fate.

On Day 1 of the 2025 U.S. Championships, Frederick Richard struggled with sticking his landings and showed unsteady execution, finishing fourth, about six points behind the leader. His mistakes, including steps and wobbles on tumbling passes, lowered his score and put him in a tough position for Day 2, where he needed near-perfect routines to stay competitive.

In addition to performance issues, Richard was penalized 0.6 points over two days for wearing a nonconforming uniform—gray shorts with leggings instead of the traditional stirrup pants.

“This week wasn’t going to be my peak week,” Richard mentioned after night two of the competition. “This is one step along to Worlds where I peak in two months…and I think I got the job done, which is important.” Typically, a top-two national finisher would seem like an obvious choice for a World team. However, Hong’s win over Richard was the largest by any gymnast—male or female—in USA Gymnastics history. This deficit, coupled with the individual structure of the World Championships, likely led to an unfavorable result for Richard.

Fred Richard’s trying to revolutionize the sport

“Every competition I go to, I look at the crowd and I see a lot of seats open. I say, I want to change this. And this is the first step,” he shared. The man hopes he will help boost men’s gymnastics.

Only 15 colleges and universities sponsor a men’s gymnastics program, including the University of Michigan. By contrast, there are 87 women’s programs. “I think we all realize this is bigger than us,” he said. “We all grew up giving everything to the sport. We want other kids to have that opportunity, to have way more colleges to select from and to get blessed with what they deserve, because the sport deserves so much more.”

Fred Richard first introduced the new, more comfortable gymnastics uniform – featuring a looser tank, basketball-style shorts, and leggings – at the 2025 Winter Cup. But he was penalized for the same at the Xfinity Championships, and it might keep happening for a while because his new uniform violates the FIG code. So it’s him vs FIG changing its rules.

Richard has even hinted at taking this to the LA Olympics. The big question is, will the USA take the risk? Or will Fred be able to compel FIG to change its rules?