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≡ USA GYMNASTICS NATIONALS ≡
Asher Hong was a member of the breakthrough U.S. men’s team that took an Olympic bronze in Paris in 2024 and sailed to his second career national All-Around gold at the USA Gymnastics national championships in New Orleans, Louisiana on Saturday.
Hong, 21, the 2023 U.S. All-Around champion and the NCAA Floor and Rings winner for Stanford this year, was a decisive winner, leading after the first day by more than four points and extending to more than seven points, 170.020 to 162.555, over fellow Olympian Fred Richard of Michigan.
Two-time NCAA All-Around bronze winner Fuzzy Benas of Oklahoma, second after the first day, finished third at 162.310, followed by Colt Walker (Stanford: 161.560) and Joshua Karnes (Penn State: 160.802).
In the two-session totals for each apparatus:
● Floor: Hong won with 30.016 points, ahead of Kam Nelson (Ohio State: 29.952 ) and fellow Stanford Cardinal Jun Iwai (28.863).
● Pommel Horse: NCAA champion Patrick Hoopes (Air Force) won at 31.300, followed by teammate Brandon Dang (Illinois: 31.093) and Paris Olympian Brody Malone (28.202), who contested only four of the six events.
● Rings: Hong won here at 29.286, beating Malone (28.566) and veteran star and three-time nationals winner Donnell Whittenburg (28.114).
● Vault: Hong compiled the best score at 30.318 over the two days, which was just enough to edge NCAA champion Nelson (30.142) and Nebraska’s Alex Nitache (29.492).
● Parallel Bars: Malone won this one, scoring 28.150, with Hong a very close second at 28.100, then Whittenburg at 28.050.
● Horizontal Bar: Taylor Burkhart (Stanford) won at 28.960, just ahead of Michigan’s Crew Bold (28.354) and Richard (28.100).
Coming in, Hong owned two USA Gymnastics national titles, in the 2022 Vault and 2023 All-Around, but claimed four wins in New Orleans. Malone, the veteran of the group at 25, won one to give him a total of eight career national titles.
The national team for the World Artistic Championships in Jakarta (INA) in October was named, with Hong, Hoopes, Dang, Malone, Nelson and Whittenburg. Burkhart was named as a non-traveling alternate.
This was the first year of scoring under the new Federation Internationale de Gymnastique Code of Points for 2025-28.
The women’s competition concludes on Sunday.
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