Fred Richard promised he would win gold at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, even after missing the 2025 U.S. world team. Some saw the prediction as overconfidence, but the American gymnast had the last word in Rotterdam. On October 24, 2026, he delivered on that promise and ended a 23-year wait for the United States in the men’s floor exercise.
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“There will be a gold medal from Worlds around my neck,” Richard wrote on social media on May 5. After winning the title, he had a message for those who doubted him.
“You don’t have to wait to get the win to say you will be a champion,” he told NBC Sports. “You don’t have to know when it’s going to happen or how it’s going to happen, but believing it every second of every day does pay off. I’m proof of that now.”
Richard’s path to the title was far from smooth. He finished sixth with the U.S. men’s team and placed 9th in the all-around final, leaving him without a medal in either event. The floor final offered one last opportunity to make his mark at the championships, but he faced a difficult challenge against some of the world’s best gymnasts.
The University of Michigan graduate entered the final with a difficulty start value of 5.7, the lowest among the finalists. Great Britain’s Jake Jarman, the defending world champion, had a higher start value of 6.3. Fred Richards needed exceptional execution to close that gap, and he delivered nearly flawless landings throughout his routine.
His execution score came just short of 9.0 out of 10, and a one-tenth stick bonus proved crucial. Richard finished with 14.633 points, edging Jarman’s 14.600 by just 0.033 points. Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat took bronze with 14.466.
The result gave Fred Richards his first individual world title and added another major achievement to a career that already included bronze medals in the team and all-around events at the 2023 World Championships, along with a team bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He also became the first American man since Paul Hamm in 2003 to win the men’s floor world title.
America’s 23-Year Wait for Another Floor World Champion
The drought Fred Richards ended began after Hamm’s triumph in 2003. Before Hamm, Kurt Thomas had established the United States as a force in men’s floor exercise. Thomas won the world title in 1978 and successfully defended it in 1979. His victories marked a landmark period for American men’s gymnastics. Unfortunately, Team USA had to wait until Hamm’s 2003 win for another floor world champion.
Hamm’s victory brought an end to a 24-year gap after Thomas’s second title. His success set the benchmark for American gymnasts who followed, but no U.S. man managed to reclaim the world crown over the next two decades. The United States continued to produce strong gymnasts, yet the floor title remained out of reach.
There were signs of American promise during that stretch. At the 2017 World Championships, Yul Moldauer won bronze on floor, finishing behind Japan’s Kenzo Shirai and Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat. Moldauer placed fourth at the 2018 championships, narrowly missing the podium. Those results showed that American gymnasts could challenge for medals, but a world title remained elusive.
That was until Fred Richard stepped into the fray. The 22-year-old has now joined Thomas and Hamm in American floor exercise history.
His victory also carries a personal meaning: he predicted it months before the competition, endured disappointing results earlier in the week, and still delivered when the final opportunity arrived.