Paris Olympics: Recovering From Career-Ending Injury, Brody Malone Shares Update After Gymnastics Trials Day 1

“I’m not going to come here just to participate. I want to win,” says star gymnast Brody Malone. After his second surgery in 2023, star gymnast Brody Malone was bedridden, struggling to even walk a few steps. Just a year later, the resilient Stanford student has made a remarkable comeback. On the first day of the U.S. Gymnastics Trials, Malone competed in all events, showing consistency and scoring no lower than 14 in five out of six events.

His performance has reignited hopes for his participation in the 2024 Paris Olympics. In a heartfelt update, Malone shares his journey of recovery, the challenges he faced, and his determination to represent his country on the world’s biggest stage.

Brody Malone glad to have his knee brace off

In a recent interview after the first day of the gymnastics trials, Brody Malone sat down with Andrew Cornelius, an announcer for Gopher Video and NSPN Minnesota. Cornelius shared the interview on X, captioning it, “Brody Malone on doing the vault without his brace and he said he is ‘physically good’ after night 1.” In the video, Malone stated, “It honestly feels way better to do vaults without the brace on.” His shin was hurting, but without the braces, his running feels much smoother. This underscores the fact that Brody Malone is now confident about his knee.

Malone suffered a severe injury in March last year during the DTB Pokal Cup in Germany. He lost his grip on the High bar and fell hard onto the mat, injuring his right leg. The fall resulted in a dislocated knee, fractured tibia, and multiple torn ligaments. He underwent emergency surgery in Germany before being transferred to Stanford in the US for additional treatment. It took him months to recover, and at one point he was completely dependent on crutches. He basically had to relearn how to walk. 

However, by fall 2023, with his knee wrapped in braces, Malone was back on the high bars. At the Belgium Worlds in 2024, the U.S. men’s gymnastics team continued to advance their performance. “It motivated me a lot,” Malone said to the Washington Post, “because I want to be a part of the team that does it in Paris.” In 2024, Brody Malone made his comeback with the winter cup after rigorous physical therapy. He even won the Xfinity US National Championships in the all-around category which was a huge feat that helped him punch his ticket for the Olympic team trials.

Brody Malone is in top form. He scored a 14.6 on the vaults and a 14.3 on the High bara during the Olympic trials last night. Additionally, he scored a 14.1 and 14 on the parallel bar and floor exercise respectively. He scored a 14.6 on the Rings. His lowest score of the night was on the Pommel horse with 13.6. Overall he came second which is a pretty good ranking for the first night.

Ten times NCAA champion’s journey of triumph 

Brody Malone is one of the prime gymnasts in the country right now. He won a bronze on the High bars at the 2021 World Championships and a gold in the same event at the 2022 Worlds. Additionally, he also has seven US national titles, which constitute of three AAs won in 2021, 2022 and miraculously 2024. Brody spoke about pulling off a stunning performance so soon after recovery in his distinct southern drawl, “I don’t like to lose. It drives me and makes me work hard. I didn’t come here to just show up and compete. I wanted to win”. He also has two High bar titles, and one floor and vault title each. During his collegiate career at Stanford University, he won 10 NCAA titles as well. 

Brody Malone was part of the men’s gymnastics team that went to Tokyo for the Olympics as well. He was joined by Yul Moldauer, Shane Wiskus, Alec Yoder and Sam Mikulak. Though Malone’s floor exercise did go out of bounds, he scored a high 14.633 on the parallel bars. Followed by 14.533 on both Horizontal bars and the Vault. His rings score was 14.200. But his Pommel Horse, like the trials, failed to hit the 14 mark and was at around 13.733. Team USA came 5th, missing a podium finish with ROC, Japan and China coming 1-2-3 in the Tokyo Olympics.

This year, after recovering from a fully torn LCL and partially torn PCL that required 3 surgeries, he’s back on the mat. Amongst his top competitors this time around is Fres Richards who scored 85.600 narrowly edging Malone out who got 85.100. Fred Richards is reigning world AA bronze medalist. There’s also Shane Wiskus who got 84.300 and is the 2023 world medalist. Yul Moldauer and Asher Hong, who went to Tokyo as well, are also on the roster. So are Paul Juda and Khoi Young. We have our fingers crossed that he makes it into the Olympics team.