Asher Hong has won the 2023 U.S. Men’s Gymnastics Championships. The 19-year-old claimed his first national title on Saturday.
Hong is originally from Texas but currently attends Stanford University, competing for Stanford men’s gymnastics Teams, Olympics.com reports.
The young gymnast finished the first day of the men’s competition on Thursday with a narrow lead. According to The Washington Post, only .146 points separated the top three gymnasts: Hong, Yul Moldauer and Fred Richard.
On Saturday, Moldauer and Richard lept ahead of Hong during the first three rotations. But it was Hong’s vault in the fifth rotation, scored at 15.105 score, that helped him take the lead.
Hong finished the competition with a total score of 170.930, earning him the gold medal, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. His Stanford teammate, Khoi Young, won the silver medal.
“I feel great about everything,” said Hong, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. “After high bar I was super motivated, floor was a bit rough and horse was a bit rough. But got back on it, the energy was there for rings, vault and (parallel)-bars, and I’m very happy with how today went.”
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