Fourteen months ago, Brody Malone lay in a hospital bed in Germany with a metal device protruding from his right leg, unsure if a return in time for Paris 2024 was possible, let alone competing in all six events. 

Now, 441 days later, he is an all-around national champion for the third time in his career.

Watching Malone across both days of competition at the 2024 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships, the only thing that seemed to have changed was the brace on his right knee – which he injured so badly in March of 2023, he had to learn how to walk again. 

Malone walked onto the floor during the second of two days of competition with a 1.6-point lead over world all-around bronze medalist Frederick Richard and never slowed down.  

Malone started with a bang on the rings (14.850) and continued to pick up steam as the night went on. After his stuck high bar dismount in the fourth rotation – a carbon copy of his landing from night one – a new script started to write itself. It’s the very move that Malone sustained his injury, but one would never have known. 

It all came down to pommel horse during the sixth and final rotation, when Malone sealed the deal with a 14.000 for a final total of 86.350 points (172.300 combined total) to land himself atop the medal podium once again. 

"It feels amazing - with everything I've gone through - to come back and make a comeback like I have and be competitive enough to be on the top again," Malone said. "I've been very competitive from a young age. When I played all kinds of sports, not just gymnastics, I was super competitive in all of them. I don't like to lose. I don't know, it drives me, makes me word hard. I didn't come here to just show up and compete, I wanted to win." 

Richard, who finished second, improved his score on every single event on night two, but couldn’t make up enough ground to surpass Malone (170.250 combined total). His result, however, bests his third-place finish from 2023 and fourth-place finish from 2022. 

Khoi Young, who sat third heading into night two, was able to get redemption on pommel horse (15.000) after falling on his dismount night one, proving why he’s a world silver medalist on the event. Young finished in third (169.550 combined total). 

Defending all-around national champion Asher Hong had struggles on pommel horse during both days of competition and finished in tenth.

Competition at the 2024 Xfinity U.S. Championships concludes on Sunday with the senior women at 7 p.m. ET. Fans can tune in on NBC, Peacock, NBC.com, or the NBC/NBC Sports app. 

Floor - Frederick Richard (29.500)

Pommel Horse - Stephen Nedoroscik (30.000) 

Rings - Alex Diab (29.450)

Vault - Donnell Whittenburg (29.050)

Parallel Bars - Yul Moldauer (30.800)

High Bar - Brody Malone (29.500)