Juda, Richard Wrap Up FIG World Championships
10/5/2023 4:59:00 PM | Men's Gymnastics
• World Championships Event Central
University of Michigan men's Graduate student Paul Juda and sophomore Fred Richard wrapped up their first World Championship appearance over the weekend in individual event finals. Juda placed fifth on both vault with a 14.550 (14.600/14.500) and on high bar with a 14.100. Richard placed eighth on floor exercise with a 13.200.
FIG World Championships
Antwerp, Belgium
Sept. 30-Oct. 10
U-M Participants: Paul Juda, Fred Richard
Full Schedule
Sept. 30: Subdivision III Qualification, 10 a.m. CEST (4 a.m. EDT)
Oct. 3: Men's Team Final, 1:30 p.m. CEST (7:30 a.m. EDT)
Oct. 5: Individual All-Around final, 1:30 p.m. CEST (7:30 a.m. EDT)
Oct. 7: Apparatus finals day I (floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings), 2 p.m. CEST (8 a.m. EDT)
Oct. 8: Apparatus finals day II (vault, parallel bars, high bar), 2 p.m. CEST (8 a.m. EDT)
The University of Michigan men's gymnastics team will have two representatives at the upcoming 2023 FIG World Championships, Saturday, Sept. 30 through Sunday, Oct. 10 in Antwerp, Belgium. Graduate student Paul Juda will compete in the event after serving as an alternate a year ago, while sophomore Fred Richard will make his world championships debut.
The duo, representing Team USA, will look to secure a spot in the top eight after qualifications and will compete in their respective finals at the Word Championships.
In all-around competition, the top 24 gymnasts -- limited to two per country -- will advance to event finals Thursday and Friday (Oct. 5-6), respectively. For apparatus finals, the top eight gymnasts (also limited to two athletes per country), will move onto each event's final round.
Overall, the top 12 teams in the team competition will earn berths to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The U.S. men's team is looking for its first medal since 2014, when alum Sam Mikulak was part of the squad that took home bronze. In addition, Mikulak earned an individual bronze on the high bar in the 2018 World Championships.
Thursday: Oct. 5: Richard Earns All-Around Bronze at FIG World Championships
Fred Richard earned a bronze medal on at the FIG World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, becoming the first United States gymnast since Jonathan Horton in 2010 to earn an individual medal in the all-around at the event. Richard scored an 84.332 to place third behind Japan's Daiki Hashimoto (86.132) and Ukraine's Illia Kovtun (84.998).
The rising sophomore won on floor exercisew with a score of 14.633 and collected a 14.566 on vault to place third (14.566). He also added a 13.733 on pommel horse, a 13.500 on still rings and a 14.600 on parallel bars. The moment of the meet came in the final rotation on high bar, as he entered the final rotation in second.
Richard fell on the apparatus, scoring a 13.300 with his hopes for a medal seemingly dashed. However, two other gymnasts failed to hit their sets as Richard was able to hang on to a spot on the medal stand.
Tuesday: Oct. 3: Juda, Richard Help Team USA Secure Bronze Medal
Fred Richard and Paul Juda contributed to Team USA's first World Championship team medal since 2014 and the fourth-ever in USA Gymnastics history. Overall, the United States finished with a score of 252.428 to secure the third-place finish behind Japan's gold (255.594) and China's silver (253.794).
Richard tied for the top U-M score on floor exercise with a pair of 14.366s. On the last rotation, Richard secured the team medal on horizontal bar, sticking his landing to score a 14.533 to overtake Great Britain for third. Juda posted solid scores across the board and hitting every routine in both qualifying and the final, including a vault score of 14.400. Juda enters the individual finals having hit 7-of-7 routines.
Monday, Oct. 2:Â Richard, Juda Advance to World Championships Finals
After placing second in the team competition during qualifying with a team score of 254.628, the United States men secured a team berth in the 2024 Olympic Games.
Individually, Fred Richard earned a berth in the all-around final after ranking sixth in the qualifying session (83.566). Richard also earned a spot on floor exercise after placing second with a 14.600. Paul Juda qualified on vault with a 14.666 to take fifth, while also scoring a 14.166 on high bar to take sixth.
Players Mentioned
