By Mubarak Simmons, GymnasticsVille Host
Three reigning champions are missing from the field at the 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships, and the meet still decides the entire men’s World Championships team in one weekend. Asher Hong, the reigning U.S. all-around champion, is not on the registered entry list. Neither is Brody Malone, the two-time reigning world champion on high bar. Donnell Whittenburg, the reigning world champion on rings, announced he tore his bicep and will not compete.
Sixty men qualified to Phoenix. At the end of day two, five of them will be named to the team that represents the United States at the 2026 World Championships in Rotterdam, and there is no selection camp afterward to change the outcome. On the women’s side, the calculus is different: Phoenix counts for less than half of what decides the World team, with the rest coming at a separate selection event in September.
GymnasticsVille host Mubarak Simmons previewed the entire meet with Justin James, Highland Park ISD Gymnastics Coach, on the latest episode of Back to Basics. Here is what to know before competition begins August 6.
Three Champions Are Out, and the Timing Matters
The 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships run August 6 to 9 in Phoenix, Arizona, and this year’s men’s field is missing three of the sport’s biggest names. Hong has not competed since the NCAA Championships in April, where he helped Stanford win the team title. Malone has not competed since winning his second world title on high bar last year. Whittenburg’s injury was the first confirmed reason among the three, and it likely ends his chance to defend his rings title in Rotterdam.
“This sport is tough,” Simmons said on the show. “Obviously this is not ideal. I mean, Asher, Donnell just winning gold, so he’s not going to have the opportunity to potentially make a World team to defend his ring title. It’s definitely a blow.”
What makes the absences sting more than a typical injury cycle is the format. This year’s World Championships team gets named at the conclusion of day two in Phoenix, with no selection camp afterward. Both hosts said they preferred it that way.
“We want to see what you can do with the lights on the brightest,” Simmons said. “It’s obviously more pressure, and they’re rewarding the guys that are doing the best at the time when the lights are on, cameras are on, it’s being seen worldwide.”
The Pommel Horse Battle Everyone Is Watching
If there is one event carrying the marquee at this year’s U.S. Gymnastics Championships, it is pommel horse. Stephen Nedoroscik, the Olympic bronze medalist, is competing after returning from injury. Patrick Hoopes of Air Force just won a medal at the 2025 World Championships. Brandon Dang of Illinois just won the NCAA pommel horse title.
James pointed to college gymnastics as the reason the United States has developed real depth on the event. “All of those guys are coming out of the college program,” he said. “And what do you need in college? You need guys that hit every single event. Maybe that’s the secret sauce to pommel horse.”
Simmons made his prediction on the record: Hoopes wins the 2026 national title. “I just feel like he’s been waiting for this moment to overtake Stephen,” Simmons said. “You can book that.” James took the field’s underdog instead, picking Dang. Nedoroscik remains the favorite in most eyes, but for the first time in years, a fall by any of the three would likely hand the title to one of the others.
The All-Around Favorites
Both hosts landed on the same name for the all-around title: Fred Richard of Michigan, the reigning NCAA champion who won the 2026 Winter Cup all-around by more than four and a half points. “I think it’s gonna be Fred,” James said. “I think he’s gonna be a little bit ahead difficulty wise… he’s gonna be a great leader for us.”
Behind Richard, Simmons named a top four of Richard, Shane Wiskus, Yul Moldauer, and Danila Leykin of EVO Gymnastics. Moldauer is back at the University of Oklahoma training under Mark Williams and Valeri Goncharov, and Phoenix will be his first domestic competition since returning. Wiskus, a Tokyo Olympian, qualified to the meet by winning the men’s national qualifier outright.
Leykin, meanwhile, is the name both hosts kept returning to as a breakout candidate. He trained under Sergei at WOGA before following him to EVO Gymnastics, and James described him as a gymnast with real international polish who “could just stumble himself onto the World team this year.”
Why EVO Gymnastics Is Sending 16 Athletes to Phoenix
No program in the country is sending more athletes to the 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships than EVO Gymnastics, which qualified 16 total: 10 senior men and 6 juniors. Stanford is next with 9, followed by Oklahoma and Nebraska with 6 each and Michigan with 5.
Simmons and James credited the training environment Kevin Mazeika has built at EVO as much as any individual recruiting pitch. “Everybody’s finishing their college career and moving out there for some more senior time,” James said. Simmons pointed to a story Mazeika told on a previous GymnasticsVille episode about walking into the gym and seeing five or six triple twists in the span of a couple of minutes. “That’s all contagious,” Simmons said. “You need someone to push you.”
The same logic is starting to spread. James noted that Nori Iwai, formerly of Texas Dreams, is now building a men’s program at Pacific Reign Gymnastics with the same ambitions. Iwai’s son, Jun, is a Stanford freshman who won the NCAA vault title this year and is one of the sleepers to watch in Phoenix.
What Is Actually at Stake for the 2028 Olympics
The 2026 World Championships in Rotterdam carry more weight than a typical non-Olympic year. Under the new qualification system, the top 3 teams in the team final automatically qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Everyone else has to wait for the next opportunity in 2027.
Asked directly whether a team built without Hong, Malone, and Whittenburg can still finish top 3, James did not hesitate. “I do. I do,” he said. “Even without those guys, I think they can be top three because the other guys are, they’re no slackers in this bunch.”
James closed with a line that framed the entire meet: with only five spots available, most of the 60 men who qualified will not make the team, no matter how well they compete. “Even the guys that missed out, they still did their job because they helped us provide the best team to the world,” he said. “They’re all part of the process.”
How to Watch the 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships
- Dates: August 6 to 9, 2026
- Location: Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix, Arizona
- Men’s competition: Thursday, August 6 and Saturday, August 8
- Women’s competition: Friday, August 7 and Sunday, August 9
- World Championships team named: At the conclusion of day two for the men
The 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships mark the first step toward the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, and this year’s storylines are as unpredictable as the sport has seen in years. Listen to the full preview with Justin James on Back to Basics, and check out our breakdown of the Elite Gymnastics storylines heading into Rotterdam. For more from the GymnasticsVille Podcast, browse our full Podcasts archive, including the recent conversation on Kevin Mazeika and the EVO Gymnastics program.
Listen to the GymnasticsVille Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Last Updated: August 4, 2026
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