Stephen Nedoroscik, Pommel Horse Guy, faces chronic hurdles in bid for U.S. gymnastics record

Stephen Nedoroscik, who turns 28 on Oct. 28, says he'll keep being Pommel Horse Guy in competition as long as his body allows.

>"Though recently it’s been giving me fuss," he said last week in an emailed response to questions.

>Nedoroscik is one of two members of the 2024 Olympic bronze-medal-winning men's team in the field for this week's Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Phoenix.

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class="WatchScheduleCarousel-slide-started">While Paris teammate Frederick Richard is an all-around favorite, Nedoroscik's prospects on his one event, pommel horse of course, are less clear.

>That's because of a shoulder injury that's affected him since mid-May. What's more, he’s coming back from October 2025 surgery on his right hip after sustaining a double labrum tear and cartilage damage. The hip is pain-free now.

>"My job is cool except for all the chronic injuries," he posted on TikTok on July 18.

>Nedoroscik won a qualifying competition in late June, though the field did not include his primary domestic rival, Patrick Hoopes, the 2025 U.S. champion and world bronze medalist on horse.

>Nedoroscik said he feels less prepared than he did going into the 2025 U.S. Championships, where he was fifth on horse coming off three months of training preceded by a nine-month break from gymnastics following his Olympic breakout.

>This year, he began training routines on July 21 in preparation for nationals. His plan is to perform a horse routine with a 5.8-point degree of difficulty. In 2025, he planned a 6.2-point routine, but ended up with difficulty scores of 5.1 and 5.4 (with a fall) on the two days of competition.

>Earlier this week, Nedoroscik posted a TikTok video that he called "a more honest depiction" of his prep for these nationals. It was a montage of clips of him coming off the horse in training.

"I’d be a big stinky liar if I said this has been a fun process, it’s one I will learn from regardless though," he captioned another post.

>On the line this week is not only tying Alex Naddour's record five U.S. titles on horse (since USA Gymnastics started in 1963), but also a spot on the five-man team for October's World Championships in the Netherlands, should there be room for a one-event specialist.

>Asked his goals for this week, Nedoroscik instead said he'd love to make the national team. At least 15 men make the national team every year.

>Beyond that, "anything else would be a blessing," he said.