Fred Richard

2019–20

Richard competed in his first elite-level National Championships in Kansas City, Missouri in 2019. He placed eighth in the all-around but won bronze on floor exercise behind Nick Kuebler and Khoi Young. He was added to the junior national team for the first time.^[4] In 2020 Richard competed at the Elite Team Cup and the Winter Cup in Las Vegas. He finished third at the latter behind Fuzzy Benas and Asher Hong.^[5] The majority of competitions for the rest of the year were canceled or postponed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

2021

Richard returned to competition at the 2021 National Championships in Fort Worth, Texas where he won the junior all-around title.^[6] He was named to the team to compete at the Junior Pan American Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico.^[7] He and the U.S. team won gold in the team event. He won gold in the all-around and on vault and horizontal bar. Additionally, he won silver on floor exercise and bronze on rings.^[8]

2022

Richard became age-eligible to compete at the senior level in 2022 but remained at the junior level in international competition. He competed at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge in Stuttgart, Germany finishing first with the U.S. team as a team. Individually, he won gold on vault and parallel bars and placed fifth on floor exercise.^[9] Later in 2022, Richard competed at the Pan American Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he again led the United States to team gold and individually won the all-around competition.^[10] During event finals he won gold on floor exercise, rings, and vault, silver on parallel bars, and bronze on pommel horse.^[11]

Although he competed at the junior level internationally, Richard competed in the senior division in domestic competitions. He competed in three events at the U.S. Classic in West Valley City, Utah before competing in the all-around at the 2022 National Championships in Tampa, Florida. While there, he finished fourth in the all-around, third on floor exercise, and second on horizontal bar. As a result he was added to the senior national team.^[12]

2023

Richard began competing for the Michigan Wolverines in the 2022–2023 season.^[13] He was selected to represent the United States at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge in Stuttgart alongside Yul Moldauer, Asher Hong, Brody Malone, and Shane Wiskus. They placed first as a team.^[14]

In August, Richard competed at the World University Games in Chengdu, China and Team USA finished fourth as a team. Individually, he qualified for the all-around and horizontal bar finals. He finished fourth in the all-around final and seventh in the horizontal bar final.^[15] Richard next competed at the Xfinity National Championships in San Jose, California, where he placed third all-around behind Hong and Khoi Young.^[16] The next day he was named to the team to compete at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium alongside Hong, Young, Moldauer, Paul Juda, and alternate Colt Walker.^[17]

At the World Championships, Richard competed in four events leading Team USA to a bronze-medal finish. In the all-around competition, he earned the bronze medal behind Daiki Hashimoto of Japan and Illia Kovtun of Ukraine. Richard is the youngest USA gymnast to win an individual world medal in the men's competition, and the USA's first men's all-around medalist since 2010.^[18]

2024

During the 2024 NCAA men's gymnastics championship in Columbus, Ohio, Richard finished second on still rings with a score of 14.400 and second in the all-around with a score of 83.999 which helped Michigan finish as runner-up in the team competition.^[19] At the 2024 National Championships in Fort Worth, he finished second in the all-around behind Brody Malone.^[20]

In June, Richard competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he placed first all-around (170.500),^[21] third on floor (28.700), ninth on pommel horse (27.050), seventh on rings (27.650), second on parallel bars (29.850), and first on horizontal bar (28.850).^[22] After placing first in the all-around and in the top three for three events, Richard was automatically named to the U.S. Olympic Team to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris alongside Malone, Asher Hong, Paul Juda, and Stephen Nedoroscik.^[23]

During the qualification round, Richard competed on all apparatuses, helping the USA qualify to the team final in fifth place; individually, he qualified for the all-around final in tenth place and was the third reserve for the horizontal bar final.^[24] During the team final, he contributed scores on floor exercise, rings, parallel bars, and horizontal bar towards the USA's bronze medal finish.^[25] In the all-around final, Richard finished in fifteenth place after shaky performances on pommel horse and floor exercise.^[26] In September 2024, he embarked on the Gold Over America Tour.^[27]

2025

During the 2025 NCAA men's gymnastics championship in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Richard won the all-around title with a score of 84.264, and tied for second on the high bar with a score of 13.766. He helped Michigan win their seventh NCAA men's gymnastics championships team title.^[28]