Two years ago, Stephen Nedoroscik was the most celebrated gymnast in America. He stepped off the bench, produced a near-perfect routine, and helped Team USA win their first men’s team medal in sixteen years at the Olympics. A year later, he wasn’t even on the World Championship team. Now, days away from the 2026 US Championships, Nedoroscik is back on the horse and making promises.

The 27-year-old took to Instagram to post a video of himself practising his routine on the pommel horse, albeit with a telling caption.

“8/1/26 hit routine 🥳,” Nedoroscik wrote on Instagram. “It’s been a difficult journey to get here, but I compete in 5 days, and I can’t wait to take a shot at getting back on Team USA.”

It has indeed been a tough journey for the now 27-year-old. Two years on from his Olympic heroics, life hasn’t exactly gone to plan for Nedoroscik. After a superb 2024, the pommel horse specialist struggled in 2025, with a fifth-place finish at the US National Championships. He produced a performance well below his norm, scoring 27.400 from his two attempts.

In comparison, Patrick Hoopes scored 31.300, Brandon Dang scored 31.093, and Brody Malone scored 28.202 to take the podium. It was a stark drop-off from the 30.000 that Stephen Nedoroscik had put up to win the 2024 US National title. In fact, it was the first time since 2023 that the American had finished outside the podium.

However, since then, things have been looking up for the gymnast. 2026 has been far kinder to him as he produced a 14.300 at the 2026 Men’s National Qualifier in Colorado in late June. The difficulty level was not quite at the level of his Olympic performance, and it was near-flawless. In fact, the 27-year-old earned a 9.200 execution score from the panel and edged out the second-place finisher to take the win.

That was despite damaging his right shoulder in May 2026, although Nedoroscik avoided surgery. However, even then, the Olympic bronze medalist could only resume training a week before the qualifiers started. Now, a little over a month later, the 27-year-old looks to be back in peak fitness again, although only time will tell.

After all, Stephen Nedoroscik’s long-term goal is the 2028 LA Olympics. Many expected him to retire after the 2024 Olympics, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, the American simply turned his eyes towards the first hometown Olympics in his lifetime and realised that his goal was set.

“I’m going to continue going,” Nedoroscik told USA Gymnastics. “L.A. (2028 Olympics) would be amazing, so I want to shoot for that.”

However, even if he is a one-event specialist, he knows better than most that their body limits a gymnast’s career. So far, though, Nedoroscik’s body has responded well despite surgery to fix a deformity in his hip in 2025. It saw the American touch on potential retirement during that period, with only one factor playing a role.

“I’ve always told myself, ‘I want to be done with the sport when my body is done with the sport,’ and I’m still getting better,” Nedoroscik said in 2025. “I feel like I’d be doing myself a dishonor to not see how far I could go.”

For Stephen Nedoroscik, the US Championships are about proving that last year’s disappointment was only a detour. Now, he’ll finally get the chance to find out whether that promise of redemption can put him back where he believes he belongs: wearing Team USA colors once again.