Buoyed by hometown support, Shane Wiskus states his case at the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Fred Richard and Brody Malone's trips to Paris next month are all but assured.

An old friend might be making a pretty compelling case to join them.

While Richard and Malone surged to the front at the U.S. gymnastics Olympic trials as expected — with the charismatic 20-year-old Richard on top at 85.600 with Malone, a three-time national champion at 85.100 — Shane Wiskus may have given the selection committee something to think about following a promising third-place finish buoyed by the support of performing in front of essentially his hometown.

Wiskus, a member of the 2020 Olympic team, said trials would be the last meet of his competitive career if he doesn't make the five-man Olympic team that will be announced Saturday night.

The 25-year-old, who has dealt with injuries and inconsistency since Tokyo, felt a jolt after being introduced. The native of Waconia, Minnesota — about 30 miles west of the Target Center — let the adrenaline carry him through six steady rotations that will be forever etched in his memory no matter what comes next.

“I allowed it to give me energy," Wiskus said. “I think in other scenarios in the past, I feel like I’ve let it get to me and let the pressure build on me. But, you know, I felt nothing but love out there tonight and (it) gave me goosebumps for every event.”

If those goosebumps and that steadiness — particularly on floor exercise, where his 14.350 was third-best of the night — combine again over the weekend, if others in the mix behind Richard and Malone continue to struggle, Wiskus might not be done just yet.

“I think if my M.O. can just be going out there and getting the ball rolling and being consistent and doing my job for Team USA, (then I have a shot),” Wiskus said.

It will be a nerve-wracking 48 hours for Wiskus and just about everyone else not named Richard and Malone.

The all-around leader after Saturday night could earn an automatic spot on the five-man team if he also places in the top three on three different events.

That's unlikely to happen — a nod to the depth the Americans have cultivated — but Richard seems poised to make his Olympic debut while Malone's trip to Paris is basically locked in three years after he finished 10th in the all-around in Tokyo.

Richard, who won bronze in the all-around at the 2023 world championships, shook off a slow start with dazzling sets on both parallel bars and high bar. The charismatic 20-year-old — who flipped into a pose during introductions and interacted with the crowd after seemingly every event — seems to be rounding into form after finishing two points behind Malone at the U.S. Championships earlier this month.

While Malone wasn't quite as sharp as he was during an occasionally spectacular performance in Fort Worth, the three-time national champion can get his passport ready for France. Heady territory for an athlete whose career appeared to be in jeopardy following a “catastrophic” knee injury suffered at a World Cup event in Germany in March 2023.

The 24-year-old Malone appears to be getting stronger the further removed he is from the injury. He began his second Olympic trials by ditching the bulky brace that protects his surgically repaired knee on vault. The knee held up just fine as Malone stuck the landing and his score of 14.6 was the second-best of the night.

“(The brace) was kind of hurting my shin a lot,” Malone said. “So I’ve been training without it on at all, and it’s felt a lot better. My run feels way smoother. And, I mean, just sticking it was a cherry on top, for sure.”

Malone watched from home last fall as the American men earned a bronze at the world championships, the U.S.'s first medal in a major international competition since 2011.

Richard became a breakout star when he captured bronze in the all-around. He returned home and most of his sophomore season at Michigan building toward this moment, and he seems ready to meet it.

The rest of the men that joined him in Antwerp, Belgium, at worlds — Khoi Young, Yul Moldauer, Asher Hong and Paul Juda — might have some work to do on Saturday night.

Juda may be in the best shape at the moment. He's fourth after the first day and finished in the top seven on five of the six events.

Hong came off the pommel horse and was pretty blah on high bar, not optimal following a distant 10th-place finish at nationals. Moldauer, a 2020 Olympian, is sixth but also had sluggish showings on high bar and pommels.

Young, who added silver on vault and pommels at 2023 worlds, put together a brilliant vault but otherwise struggled. He came off the horse — perhaps his best event — and was ninth or worse on five of the six events.

For an American team that thinks it can reach the podium at the Olympics for the first time since 2008, there remains plenty to sort out with men's qualifying in Paris a month away.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Asher Hong competes in the floor exercise at the United States Gymnastics Olympic Trials on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Khoi Young competes on the vault at the United States Gymnastics Olympic Trials on Thursday, June 27, 2024 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Shane Wiskus celebrates after competing on the pommel horse at the United States Gymnastics Olympic Trials on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Brody Malone competes on the pommel horse at the United States Gymnastics Olympic Trials on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Brody Malone competes on the still rings at the United States Gymnastics Olympic Trials on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Beryl is forecast to strengthen into a powerful Category 4 storm as it approaches the southeast Caribbean, which began shutting down Sunday amid urgent pleads from government officials for people to take shelter.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

“This is a very serious situation developing for the Windward Islands,” warned the National Hurricane Center in Miami, which said that Beryl was “forecast to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge … as an extremely dangerous hurricane.”

Early Sunday morning, Beryl was located about 465 miles (750 kilometers) east-southeast of Barbados. It was a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph) and was moving west at 21 mph (33 kph).

Two hurricane hunters were en route to the storm to gather more details about its intensity, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Beryl is expect to pass just south of Barbados early Monday and then head into the Caribbean Sea as a major hurricane on a path toward Jamaica. It is expected to weaken by mid-week but still remain a hurricane as it heads toward Mexico.

Forecasters warned of life-threatening storm surge of up to 9 feet (3 meters) in areas where Beryl will make landfall, with up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain for Barbados and nearby islands.

Long lines formed at gas stations and grocery stores in Barbados and other islands as people rushed to prepare for a storm that has broken records and rapidly intensified from a tropical storm with 35 mph winds on Friday to a Category 1 hurricane on Saturday.

Warm waters were fueling Beryl, with ocean heat content in the deep Atlantic the highest on record for this time of year, according to Brian McNoldy, University of Miami tropical meteorology researcher.

Beryl marks the farthest east that a hurricane has formed in the tropical Atlantic in June, breaking a record set in 1933, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher. If Beryl’s winds reach 125 mph, it would be the second earliest such storm in the Atlantic on record, surpassing Audrey in 1957, he said.

In addition, if Beryl reaches a Category 3, it would only be the third storm to do so in the Caribbean prior to August; Dennis and Emily both did so in July of 2005, according to Klotzbach.

“We have to remain vigilant,” Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley said in a public address late Saturday. “We do not want to put anybody’s life at risk.”

Thousands of people were in Barbados for Saturday’s Twenty20 World Cup final, cricket’s biggest event, with Mottley noting that not all fans were able to leave Sunday despite many rushing to change their flights.

“Some of them have never gone through a storm before,” she said. “We have plans to take care of them.”

Mottley said all businesses should close by Sunday evening and warned the airport would close by nighttime.

Kemar Saffrey, president of a Barbadian group that aims to end homelessness, said in a video posted on social media Saturday night that those without homes tend to think they can ride out storms because they’ve done it before.

“I don’t want that to be the approach that they take,” he said, warning that Beryl is a dangerous storm and urging Barbadians to direct homeless people to a shelter.

Echoing his comments was Wilfred Abrahams, minister of home affairs and information.

“I need Barbadians at this point to be their brother’s keeper,” he said. “Some people are vulnerable.”

Meanwhile, St. Lucia Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre announced a national shutdown for Sunday evening and said schools and businesses would remain closed on Monday.

“Preservation and protection of life is a priority,” he said.

Caribbean leaders were preparing not only for Beryl, but for a cluster of thunderstorms trailing the hurricane that have a 70% chance of becoming a tropical depression.

“Do not let your guard down,” Mottley said.

Beryl is the second named storm in what is forecast to be an above-average hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto came ashore in northeastern Mexico with heavy rains that resulted in four deaths.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the 2024 hurricane season is likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast calls for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 3:10am GMT shows tropical storm Beryl, lower center right, as it strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, June 29, 2024. The storm could strengthen into the year's first hurricane before it reaches the Caribbean Sea early next week. (NOAA via AP)

This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 4:50pm EDT shows hurricane Beryl as it strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean and churns toward the southeast Caribbean on Saturday, June 29, 2024. (NOAA via AP)

This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 4:20pm EDT shows hurricane Beryl, lower center right, as it strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean and churns toward the southeast Caribbean on Saturday, June 29, 2024. (NOAA via AP)