Fred Richard Wins World Title On Floor, First For U.S. Men In 23 Years
· Yahoo Sports
ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - OCTOBER 24: Frederick Richard of Team United States reacts as he competes in the Men's Floor Final during day eight of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Rotterdam 2026 at Ahoy on October 24, 2026 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
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Getty Images“There will be a gold medal from Worlds around my neck,” U.S. gymnast Fred Richard wrote on social media last spring. Some dismissed it as arrogance. After all, the Olympic medalist didn’t make the 2025 world team just months earlier.
Call it what you want – Fred Richard said what he said, and delivered. The American gymnast won gold in the men’s floor exercise final on Oct. 24 in Rotterdam, becoming only the ninth American man to win a world championship gold medal in gymnastics.
Defending world champion Jake Jarman (Great Britain) won silver, and Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat claimed bronze. After finishing off the podium in the men’s team final (sixth) and a disappointing 12th place in the all-around final, it seemed that Richard’s goal would be postponed.
Richard also faced an uphill battle. The U.S. Champion had the lowest start value (5.7 difficulty) of the men’s finalists, meaning that he would have to execute to perfection if he hoped to prevail over his international competitors.
ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - OCTOBER 24: Frederick Richard of Team United States competes in the Men's Floor Final during day eight of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Rotterdam 2026 at Ahoy on October 24, 2026 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
Getty ImagesJake Jarman, by comparison, competed a whopping start value of 6.3. Richard would have to be perfect – and he was.
The University of Michigan star nailed nearly every landing on Saturday, earning an unprecedented execution score just short of a 9.0 out of 10.0, a gold standard in artistic gymnastics. His execution earned an additional award: a one-tenth “stick bonus.” The bonus made the difference: Richard earned a 14.633, edging Jarman by just .033 for gold.
While 2020 Olympic Champion and former world champion Artem Dolgopyat looked ready to challenge, Dolgopyat could not execute to the same level of Richard, settling for bronze.
With his win, Richard becomes only the third American man to win the world title on floor exercise, joining U.S. gymnastics legends Kurt Thomas (1978) and Paul Hamm (2003). With three total world medals, Richard is now tied as the fifth most-decorated U.S. male gymnast on the world championship stage.
In August, Richard told NBC Sports that he didn’t want to be “side character" at this month’s world championships. One year after missing the world championship team, Frederick Richard can say: mission accomplished.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com