By Mubarak Simmons, GymnasticsVille Host
In 2001, in Ghent, Belgium, an American man stood on top of a World Championship podium for the first time in twenty-two years. Parallel bars, Sean Townsend. That same week, the U.S. men won a team silver nobody saw coming, and Sean was one of five guys who did it.
Twenty-five years later, Townsend sat down with GymnasticsVille Host Mubarak Simmons, his former teammate at Houston Gymnastics Academy under coach Kevin Mazeika, to preview the 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships. This is the second GymnasticsVille preview ahead of Phoenix, and Townsend brings a perspective nobody else on the schedule can: he has actually lived through a World Championships selection, and he is now coaching two athletes competing in Phoenix himself.
Is Brody Malone Playing the Long Game?
Asher Hong, Brody Malone, and Donnell Whittenburg are all missing from the 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships field, and Townsend’s read on Malone stood out from anything said on the show so far.
“I think he’s kind of like a Paul to Morgan Hamm,” Townsend said. “He’s just waiting to strike when the time counts. I know it’s important for Team USA, but it’s not important in his schedule, and I think he believes in the guys below him that they can get the job done.”
Townsend’s theory is that Malone, who will be over 25 during the next Olympic cycle, is managing his body deliberately rather than forcing a four-year push without a break. “I feel like he’s just being super cautious, super smart,” Townsend said. “He’s trying to peak for the 2027, 2028 year, in my opinion.”
Pommel Horse Is the “Meal Ticket,” and Townsend Helped Build That Culture
One of the biggest storylines of this year’s U.S. Gymnastics Championships is the depth at pommel horse, and Townsend has been coaching toward this moment for a decade.
“For the last five to ten years, I’ve preached to all my gymnasts, if you want a meal ticket to a college, Olympic, or world team, get good at pommel horse,” Townsend said. “I think all the coaches in the 2000s took that to heart because of how behind we were, and they preached it to the future gymnasts coming up. And guess what’s happening? We are proving that we’re the best in the country on pommel horse.”
Townsend credited the depth to how the scoring system rewards the event. “Pommel horse is one of the easier events to have a high start value, because you can load up D’s and E’s pretty fast,” he said. “That’s why one of these guys could sneak onto this world team.”
Why Townsend Thinks EVO Gymnastics Is “Ahead of Its Time”
Kevin Mazeika, Townsend and Simmons’ coach at Houston Gymnastics Academy, now runs EVO Gymnastics, which is sending 16 athletes to Phoenix, more than any other club or college program. Townsend, who also went on to coach, said the model Mazeika built is about more than talent development.
“Kevin’s just ahead of his time with what needs to happen in this sport in the United States,” Townsend said. “You gotta take care of the athletes financially. People expect us to be robots and go do gymnastics like other countries and not get paid for it, but we can go get a nine-to-five job and make more money doing that.”
Townsend was candid about his own career. “That’s part of the reason why I gave up four years, because I was like, hey, I can go be a coach and make more money than being a gymnast,” he said. “I feel like Kevin has provided that opportunity through all of his resources.”
His Own Guys Are Competing in Phoenix
Townsend is now head coach at Houston Gymnastics Academy, and two of his junior athletes qualified to the 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships: Dominic Camarena and Andres Aranda.
“Dominic’s been a little banged up,” Townsend said. “He is the reigning Level 9 all-around champion at Developmental Nationals last year. We did have to go the route of petition because he’s been battling some injuries, because he’s finally growing. He is 15 years old, one of the youngest guys competing.” Townsend named parallel bars and high bar as Camarena’s strongest events.
Aranda has been with Townsend since age five. “He was two years ago the Level 9 all-around champion, so we had back-to-back Level 9 all-around champions in our program,” Townsend said. “His strengths are floor and vault, but he’s also really, really good on pommel horse, which, as you know, is your meal ticket to make a team.”
Townsend was not shy about how far he thinks this generation can go. “I feel like the 2032 Olympic team is gonna be the best USA-produced Olympic team in the history of the United States,” he said, pointing to social media access to international competition, tight-knit junior national team camps, and the leadership of Development Program Director Raj Bhavsar, his own 2001 World Championships teammate.
A World Champion’s Five for Rotterdam
Asked to build the U.S. men’s World Championships team himself, Townsend did not hesitate: Fred Richard, Yul Moldauer, Shane Wiskus, Danila Leykin, and Kameron Nelson.
“We desperately need a rings guy, because Whittenburg’s out, Brody’s out, and Asher’s out,” Townsend said of the Nelson pick. He named Richard, Moldauer, and Leykin as his three-up, three-count group on pommel horse. His prediction differs from the five named by Justin James in the first GymnasticsVille preview, and the gap between the two lists is its own storyline heading into Phoenix.
On the international field, Townsend does not see an easy path to a top-3 finish. “China and Japan, they have more depth, they have more guys,” he said. “But you never know. Three up, three count, anything can happen.” He also flagged Russia’s return to major competition after several years away as a factor nobody is talking about enough, along with Great Britain, Colombia, and Italy as threats for the final qualifying spot.
Naming the Team in Phoenix, Not at a Camp
Townsend has experienced both a team named after a major competition and a team named at a selection camp, and he was clear about which one he prefers for this cycle.
“I honestly think you should pick the team after U.S. Championships, in a big stadium,” he said. “You don’t want to have them pick the team at the training center gym where you do a one-on-six and there’s a few judges there judging them. I feel like they need to be in this pressure situation of a crowd, a big arena, on a podium.”
It is a fitting note from a man who once learned his own team’s fate changed twice within a matter of weeks. Before the 2001 World Championships, Townsend’s team was initially told they would not compete, then received word two weeks later that they would travel after all, with additional security. “That kind of just put a dagger in the heart, and then it just kind of humbled us,” Townsend said. “We were just grateful for the opportunity to travel and compete and represent our country.”
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
- 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 Sean Townsend’s perspective, as both a former World Champion and a coach with two athletes on the floor in Phoenix, offers a rare look at what these next few days really mean. Listen to the full conversation with Sean Townsend on Back to Basics, and catch up on our first preview with Justin James if you missed it. For more from the GymnasticsVille Podcast, browse our full Podcasts archive, including our breakdown of Kevin Mazeika, the coach both Townsend and Simmons came up under at Houston Gymnastics Academy.
Listen to the GymnasticsVille Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Last Updated: August 6, 2026
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