Young, up-and-coming contingent will vie for spot on U.S. men’s Olympic gymnastics team at trials

When Shane Wiskus’ plane touched down in Minneapolis ahead of this weekend’s Olympic gymnastics trials, he texted his mom that it felt good to be home.

The 25-year-old University of Minnesota alum and Spring Park native last competed in Minneapolis when the Twin Cities hosted the NCAA men’s gymnastics championships in 2021. Now, he’s back — with his second trip to the Olympics on the line.

Wiskus is among the 20 male gymnasts competing for five spots on the U.S. Olympic men’s artistic gymnastics team on Thursday and Saturday at Target Center. In 2021, Wiskus represented the United States in Tokyo after winning three individual NCAA titles as a Golden Gopher.

“I don’t get to come home very often, so to have a competition here, it feels good, feels comforting,” Wiskus said.

Dealing with injuries that caused him to pull out of last year’s Pan American Games, plus the heightened expectations he felt after the Olympics, Wiskus said the last three years have entailed “falling back in love with the sport.” He moved to Sarasota, Florida, to train at EVO Gymnastics, which provides a stable salary for training gymnasts — plus, a great sunset after a tough session, Wiskus said.

“I was really beat up, and I took some time off and really just set myself up for this year,” Wiskus said. “I feel like now I’m in the best shape of my life, and I’m just so grateful to be here and not where I was six months ago or a year ago.”

At EVO, Wiskus trains with Brody Malone, Stephen Nedoroscik and Alex Diab, all participating in the trials this weekend. A 2020 Olympian like Wiskus, Malone won his third U.S. all-around title in June, coming off knee surgery.

Yul Moldauer — another member of the U.S. team that placed fifth in Tokyo — will also compete in the trials. Trialists Moldauer, Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Frederick Richard and Khoi Young, plus alternate Colt Walker, made up the 2023 World Championships team that won bronze, the United States men’s best finish at a world championship since 2014.

“We weren’t really expected to be big hitters at Worlds and onwards,” Young said. “Winning that medal, I think, brought a lot of energy and a lot of support behind us, especially since a lot of us are young and up and coming.”

Young is well, young, at 21. He won silver in both vault and pommel horse in 2023′s World Championships. Richard — who won all-around bronze at last year’s Worlds — and Hong are even younger, at 20. Juda is 22. They’re part of a cohort of young gymnasts vying for their first trip to the Olympics.

Like Wiskus, many of the gymnasts competing in the men’s trials are former all-around or apparatus champions at the collegiate level. However, Wiskus’ University of Minnesota program has since been cut as a varsity sport, now competing at the club level and relocated from their decades-old home. Wiskus voiced his support for the team on Tuesday and said that it’s still making its alumni proud.

On Tuesday, ahead of trials, several gymnasts also discussed the field’s attempt to increase the difficulty of their routines, in turn increasing their maximum possible score which, if executed well, would put them in a better medaling position in Paris.

“Just the progress we’ve made since Tokyo, as far as pushing our difficulty — and you’re going to have to have difficulty up to be competitive on the international stage — is just incredible,” Malone said. “And it’s all because of these young guys who are willing to put in the work to be the best, bring the difficulty up and bring our competitiveness up.”

The men’s trials will take place Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon. Young has spent days leading up to the competition bingeing film of past trials. Monday night’s choice was the 2012 trials on YouTube.

Young said that to medal in Paris — the men’s artistic team last medaled in 2008, bronze — would mean, “a lot more eyes to men’s gymnastics, and a lot more people talking about us. We definitely want to be on that podium, just to inspire the younger generation.”