PARIS — Britain insists it doesn’t have any sort of rivalry with the U.S. in men’s gymnastics, even if the two programs have spent the better part of a decade jockeying for position at every major international event right behind superpowers China and Japan.
Maybe, but during Olympic qualifying on Saturday, the British sent a very real if unspoken message: They are not ready to cede a podium spot in Paris to the Americans, or just about anybody else for that matter, either.
Powered by newcomer Jake Jarman and steadied by six-time Olympic medalist Max Whitlock, Britain surged to the lead in the first subdivision inside Bercy Arena, posting a team total of 256.561 to finish well ahead of the somewhat sloppy Americans.
Jarman’s 84.897 all-around total was just ahead of teammate Joe Fraser while Whitlock — in his fourth and final Games — fought off the jitters he knew would come to score a 15.133 on pommel horse and give Britain momentum heading into Monday night’s team final.
“A lot of people have asked me that question in terms of ‘How’s it feel to be above the U.S.?’” Whitlock said. “To be honest, you take it with a pinch of salt. I think it’s really important to kind of just think about our job.”
One that Whitlock and his four teammates did extremely well over two-plus hours in front of an audience that included U.S. first lady Jill Biden, who clapped along with American star Frederick Richard’s floor routine and posed for pictures with a somewhat subdued team afterward.
While Richard called the experience “pretty sick,” he regretted not being able to show Biden a “cooler” routine after he scored a 13.833, a bit below what he knows he’ll need in order to medal in the all-around finals next week.
Richard wasn’t the only one. The U.S. arrived in Paris hoping to earn a team medal for the first time since a bronze in Beijing 16 years ago. While that certainly remains on the table, Richard & Co. will need to be sharper on Monday night.
Brody Malone, who returned from a catastrophic leg injury in March 2023 to make his second Olympic team, fell once on pommel horse and twice on high bar and likely will miss all-around and event finals.
The second miscue on high bar — a high-risk, high-reward event in which Malone won gold at the 2022 world championships — forced the Americans to use Asher Hong’s 12.600, one of the reasons the U.S. ended up 3.322 behind Britain.
“It was definitely not perfect,” U.S. high performance director Brett McClure said. “And it was a few too many mistakes. I feel leading into team finals we need to clean some things up.”
Malone’s miscues opened the door for Paul Juda. The 23-year-old doesn’t do the most difficult gymnastics, focusing more on execution to stay competitive. McClure put Juda up first on five of the six events, a position that requires more than a little mental toughness because it can set the tone for an entire rotation.
Juda seems uniquely suited for the position.
“I just knew that if they put me first, that I earned that myself,” said Juda, a Michigan student who says he has worked extensively with a sports psychologist over the last couple of years. “And with my team behind me … I was ready for it.”
When Malone faltered, it created an opportunity to compete in the all-around finals that few — perhaps Juda himself at some point — saw coming.
“I think today would have been one of those things where I got to say I did all-around at the Olympics, but then to hopefully be making an all-around final, I think that’s the cooler thing,” Juda said. “And, you know, the coolest thing is yet to come.”
Qualifying continues later Saturday, with longtime rivals and gold medal favorites Japan and China competing in the second of three subdivisions. The top eight team finishers advance to the team finals on Monday.
The one superpower that won’t be in the mix is Russia. The defending Olympic champions will miss the Paris Games as part of the fallout of the war with Ukraine. Russia’s absence creates an opportunity for the U.S., Britain and perhaps Ukraine to reach the podium.
“If they were in, you’d like to think that they’d be up near the top,” Whitlock said. “So with them not, of course, there’s a little bit of (a better opportunity to medal) but only a little bit.”
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