© John Cheng
INDIANAPOLIS (February 28, 2023) – The USA Gymnastics men’s and women’s programs have set the National Team assignments for upcoming international competition following the 2023 Winter Cup in Louisville, Kentucky. Competitions include the Baku World Cup, Cairo World Cup and the DTB Pokal Team Challenge and Mixed Cup in Stuttgart, Germany.
The FIG Apparatus World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan slated for March 9-12 will see Stanford athletes Riley Loos (Folsom, Calif.), Curran Phillips (Naperville, Ill.) and Blake Sun (San Antonio, Texas) competing. Phillips won 2023 Winter Cup titles on horizontal bar and parallel bars, where Sun was second. Loos picked up still rings silver.
The DTB Pokal Team Challenge and Mixed Cup March 17-19 in Stuttgart, Germany, will feature fifteen U.S. athletes in men’s, women’s and mixed competition. Olympians Brody Malone (Aragon, Ga./Stanford University), Yul Moldauer (Arvada, Colo./5280 Gymnastics) and Shane Wiskus (Spring Park, Minn./ EVO Gymnastics) will be joined by Asher Hong (Tomball, Texas/Stanford University) and Fred Richard (Stoughton, Mass./University of Michigan) in men’s competition. Winter Cup all-around champion Lexi Zeiss (Omaha, Neb./Twin City Twisters) headlines a women’s roster that includes Nola Matthews (Gilroy, Calif./Airborne Gymnastics Training Center), Zoe Miller (Spring, Texas/World Champions Centre), Joscelyn Roberson (Spring, Texas/World Champions Centre) and Ashlee Sullivan (Richardson, Texas/WOGA Gymnastics).
In the DTB Pokal Mixed Cup, the U.S. will be represented by Matthews, Elle Mueller (Ham Lake, Minn./Twin City Twisters), Addison Fatta (Wrightsville, Pa./Prestige Gymnastics), Jeremy Bischoff (Santa Clarita, Calif./Stanford University), Landon Blixt (Fowlerville, Mich./University of Michigan) and Isaiah Drake (Los Angeles, Calif./U.S. Naval Academy). Two men and two women will compete per apparatus.
The FIG Apparatus World Cup in Cairo, Egypt on April 27-30 also will feature U.S. men in action. Reigning U.S. still rings champion Donnell Whittenburg (Baltimore, Md./ Salto Gymnastics Center), will be joined by 2023 Winter Cup floor exercise and vault gold medalist Kameron Nelson (Evans, Ga./Ohio State Univ) and 2023 Winter Cup pommel horse title winner Ian Skirkey (Pepperell, Mass./University of Illinois) at the event.
Additional international selections will be released as they are assigned. Junior assignments, including the FIG Junior World Championships, will be announced next week.
Early 2023 National Team assignments
- FIG Apparatus World Cup, Baku: Riley Loos, Curran Phillips, Blake Sun
- DTB Pokal Team Challenge (men): Asher Hong, Brody Malone, Yul Moldauer, Shane Wiskus, Fred Richard
- DTB Pokal Team Challenge (women): Nola Matthews, Zoe Miller, Joscelyn Roberson, Ashlee Sullivan, Lexi Zeiss
- DTB Mixed Cup: Jeremy Bischoff, Landon Blixt, Isaiah Drake, Addison Fatta, Nola Matthews, Elle Mueller
- FIG Apparatus World Cup, Cairo: Kameron Nelson, Ian Skirkey, Donnell Whittenburg