2024 Olympic team bronze medalist Frederick Richard won (84.359) the 2026 Winter Cup Saturday night in Louisville, Kentucky to kick off his Elite season.
Richard, who helped lead his Michigan Wolverines to the 2025 NCAA team title and placed second in the All-Around to Asher Hong at the 2025 Xfinity U.S. Championships last August, dominated the competition from start to finish in what promises to be an exciting 2026 in the run up to the 2026 World Championships in Rotterdam in October, and one more step towards LA 2028.
Following the competition, Richard told commentators Paul Juda and Christian Marsh his two “hot takes” for 2026 were Michigan defending their NCAA Championship with Stanford second and Oklahoma third. And, that he predicted World Championship gold this fall.
Richard spent time supporting Team USA athletes in Milano Cortina last week at the 2026 Olympic Games, noting and laughing, “I gotta train in Italy before all my big competitions!”
Richard also secured the floor exercise title with a 14.355 and won bronze on pommel horse (13.952), horizontal bar (13.850) and rings (13.800).
In his first national appearance since the 2024 Olympic Team Trials, Yul Moldauer placed second in the All-Around with a 79.710, and won gold on parallel bars (14.955) and a silver on rings (14.055).
Moldauer told Inside Gymnastics prior to his 2026 debut at the Rocky Mountain Open:
“Training has been going really well! I am super excited to come back! I am getting ready for Rocky Mountain Open this weekend. I am going to be doing lighter routines just to get back into the swing of things. I need to compete at this comp to qualify to Winter Cup.
Some people will be surprised how fast I’ve been coming back but I will let you guys in on everything I did while I was out in a podcast I am releasing with GymCrew within the next month. (The podcast can be found here.)
Lastly, I want to say thank you to all the families, friends, and fans that have been supportive over this past year. I am beyond grateful for my circle of people.”
Moldauer was suspended for 16 months by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) due to a Whereabouts violation, noting in part in a January 16, 2025 Instagram post: “This experience has been incredibly difficult, but it has also given me the chance to reflect, grow, and come back stronger. I am now in a better mental and physical place and more determined than ever to continue pursuing my goals.”
Welcome back, Yul!
Stanford’s David Shamah, the 2022 U.S. Junior All-Around Champion, who has had a strong start to his NCAA season, won bronze with a 79.608 and also earned silver on parallel bars (14.808).
Shamah told Inside Gymnastics earlier this month that: “My strategy has always been clean gymnastics, but that doesn’t mean easy routines,” Shamah said. “I debuted some upgrades earlier this season, and now I’m in the refining phase, making them more consistent and cleaner.“One of our mantras at Stanford is ‘full send,’” Shamah said. “It takes difficulty to break into lineups, so it’s about finding the balance between clean execution and continuing to push difficulty.”
You can see the full story on Shamah, here.
Parker Thackston won pommel horse with a 15.325, Danila Leykin earned high bar gold with a 14.658, while Garrett Schooley won vault with a 14.135 (14.135; 13.700) and Christopher Hiser took the title on rings with a 14.352.
Asher Hong, Danila Leykin and Yul Moldauer will represent the U.S. Men at the 2026 American Cup.
Following the competition, the 2026 Senior Men’s National Team was also named:
- Crew Bold — University of Michigan
- Taylor Burkhart — Stanford University
- Brandon Dang — University of Illinois
- Asher Hong — Stanford University
- Patrick Hoopes — U.S. Air Force Academy
- Josh Karnes — EVO Gymnastics
- Danila Leykin — EVO Gymnastics
- Riley Loos — Stanford University
- Brody Malone — EVO Gymnastics
- Yul Moldauer — 5280 Gymnastics
- Kameron Nelson — EVO Gymnastics
- Dante Reive — West Point Gymnastics
- Frederick Richard — University of Michigan
- David Shamah — Stanford University
- Parker Thackston — Ohio State University
- Donnell Whittenburg — EVO Gymnastics
The women take the floor today in Louisville beginning at 11:45am ET. All competitions will be streamed free on USA Gymnastics’ YouTube channel. Former gymnasts Paul Juda, Trinity Thomas and Christian Marsh will provide commentary.
11:45 a.m. — Winter Cup Junior Women
5 p.m. — Winter Cup Senior Women
Live Results
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