US Olympic Gymnastics Trials 2021: Sam Mikulak makes a narrow escape to make it to his third Olympics

Sam Mikulak, the six-time US national all-around champion, became the first American gymnast to compete in three Olympics since 2004. He finished fourth in the much-awaited US Olympic Trials for Gymnastics in the men's category at The Dome, American Center.

Nineteen men competed at the trial for the top two spots as it guarantees an automatic qualification to the Olympics. The third and fourth positions were decided by the committee.

The selection committee at the trials released a list of four gymnasts who will compete at multiple events, including Sam Mikulak. Yul Maldouver is selected to compete at an individual event which would be the pommel horse.

Brody Malone, Sam Mikulak, Yul Moldauer, and Shane Wiskus

Brody Malone and Yul Moldauer finished first and second with aggregated scores of 171.600 and 168.600, respectively. They earned direct qualifications. Shane Wiskus finished third with a score of 168.150.

Sam Mikulak's Narrow Escape And Struggle For Top 4

Sam Mikulak, with a score of 166.750 finished fourth, just above Brandon Briones, who fell 0.50 seconds short as he scored 166.700. The 28-year old, talked about the 15 minute waiting period before the names were announced.

He said: "Everything that I did leading up to this moment was worth it — being able to confront all the hard internal battles and make it through the pandemic"

Sam Mikulak was so close to being named among the alternates for the Summer games as he had fallen short during the pommel horse event and thought that he blew his chance for Tokyo.

However, his inclusion in the squad gives the United States an opportunity to end the medal drought in the men's category in Tokyo next month.

Gymnastics 101: Fly high and stick the landing. ✈️@SamuelMikulak x #GymTrials21 pic.twitter.com/pJs3t0X7Gw

— Team USA (@TeamUSA) June 26, 2021

Sam Mikulak also opened up about his struggles and talked about the mental health issues he faced all this while waiting for the moment. He said:

“My training has been up and down, injuries left and right, cortisones left and right. All of that weighed on me for so long and then this moment of waiting for 15 minutes to call the name.”

Alternate Squad

Brandon Briones, Cameron Bock, Allan Bower and Akash Modi are the alternate players selected by the committee. They will be traveling with the squad in case any replacements are required.

Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics

The event will start on the 24th of July and go on till the 8th of August. A total of 18 events will be played at the Ariake Gymnastics Center.