Riley Loos wins 2025 Winter Cup mere months after contemplating retirement

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A yr in the past, Riley Loos suffered a again damage months earlier than hoping to contend for the U.S. Olympic workforce. Regardless of making it by the “brutal restoration” and again to U.S. championships, Loos didn’t qualify to Olympic Trials, and as an alternative of going to Paris, he was able to give up gymnastics altogether.

After which got here fall.

The Stanford alum joined the Gold Over America Tour with Simone Biles and different large names within the sport, together with a lot of his teammates from the U.S. and faculty. They toured the nation – dwelling on a tour bus, filming enjoyable content material for social media, turning into a household, doing gymnastics day by day – and he began to alter his tune.

“These folks, finest folks on the earth, they received me to think about doing gymnastics once more, and right here I’m,” Loos stated Sunday, shortly after successful the senior males’s title on the 2025 Winter Cup.

He wasn’t instantly again within the fitness center after the tour, however that was the catalyst.

“I began coaching once more in November after a protracted break,” Loos stated. “I wasn’t certain if I used to be gonna hold doing gymnastics, after which I went to the Dancing with the Stars factor (performing within the finale with Stephen Nedoroscik and his Stanford teammates), so it form of disrupted my coaching a bit bit. After which it was Christmas break, so then began absolutely coaching in January, severely.”

READ MORE: 5 key takeaways from Day 1 of senior males’s competitors at Winter Cup

That’s why Loos was “gassed out all day” Sunday when he bested second place finisher and Olympic bronze medalist Fred Richard by 1.850 factors – 160.850-159.000.

The 24-year-old admitted “it’s all the time brutal” to compete in Louisville – “it’s both chilly, dry, or too scorching or one thing. It’s only a powerful place to compete.” He was nervous day one regardless of a “stable” efficiency that noticed him main with the one 80+ all-around whole within the subject (80.400) – “I used to be simply going by the motions virtually.” Then he needed to lock in for day two, and lock in he did.

Loos improved on his day one whole, scoring an 80.450 and securing the ground, the place he’s identified for his Maltese work, and rings titles. He additionally led the sphere in single vault scores for his entrance handspring Randi, which went 14.500 on day one – the very best vault rating of the meet. (Loos wasn’t eligible for the vault title as a result of he didn’t compete two vaults.)

Simply when he was prepared to hold up his grips, Loos had his breakthrough. This was his ninth Winter Cup look; in his eight earlier outings on the meet, Loos has gained a number of occasion medals and all-around silver (’21) and bronze (’24) – however by no means a title.

“It felt actually, actually good,” Loos stated of his win. “I simply felt this further push to go for that this yr. I’ve by no means, like, gone for the gold. This yr, I actually went for it, and it was superior.”

Loos has some essential selections to make after Winter Cup. No, he isn’t nonetheless contemplating retirement, however he was planning to drop all-around and give attention to his specialty occasions forward of Worlds this yr. Now, he’s not fairly so certain – “possibly I ought to rethink.”

He’ll definitely be busy this spring representing the U.S. on the worldwide stage. Whereas he hoped to go to the Antalya World Cup in Turkey, Loos was chosen to compete on the DTB Males’s Crew Problem in Germany from March 27-30 and on the Osijek World Cup in Croatia from April 10-13.

Now that’s he’s again on the nationwide workforce, Loos may additionally get to take a few of the work load off his shoulders. Proper now, he’s going nonstop between private coaching within the morning, non-public classes within the night, serving to his dad along with his enterprise, and being the workforce supervisor for Stanford, which is how he will get entry to coach there after graduating. If you’re a nationwide workforce member, you get a month-to-month stipend ($1,000/month), and for those who win a medal at a world cup? That stipend doubles.

All which means is, for now, Riley Loos isn’t going anyplace.

New uniform doesn’t make Fred Richard invincible

Fred Richard made headlines coming into Winter Cup due to his new uniform idea for males’s gymnastics. Finally, he didn’t lose the title to Loos due to the six-tenths in deductions he gathered for going towards the uniform guidelines.

No, Richard’s loss was attributable to main errors that resulted in him failing to crack the 80 mark within the all-around on both day, together with falling on pommel horse each days and sitting his vault on day two.

It’s early within the season, so within the grand scheme of issues, there’s nothing to be severely anxious about for Richard. In any case, he didn’t even must compete right here – in any respect. He retained his nationwide workforce spot because of being an Olympic workforce member whether or not he competed all six or stayed dwelling and rested for the weekend. It’s good preparation for the NCAA championships in April, little doubt, however definitely not mandatory.

Whereas he continues to push for change within the uniform division, Richard will return to Ann Arbor and give attention to the second half of the NCAA season earlier than switching gears again to elite later this yr.

USA Gymnastics broadcasts first nationwide workforce of 2025 and spring worldwide assignments

Shortly after the conclusion of the boys’s competitors on Sunday evening, USA Gymnastics introduced the primary U.S. males’s nationwide workforce of 2025 and spring worldwide assignments.

2025 U.S. Males’s Senior Nationwide Crew after Winter Cup

The nationwide workforce can be reordered once more after the U.S. championships in August.

• Taylor Burkhart — Arvada, Colo./Stanford College
• Taylor Christopulos — Layton, Utah/College of Nebraska
• Brandon Dang — San Jose, Calif./College of Illinois
• Alex Diab — Glen Ellyn, In poor health./EVO Gymnastics
• Asher Hong — Tomball, Texas/Stanford College
• Patrick Hoopes — Lehi, Utah/U.S. Air Drive Academy
• Jun Iwai — Lewisville, Texas/Texas Goals Gymnastics
• Paul Juda — Deerfield, In poor health./College of Michigan
• Riley Loos — Folsom, Calif./Stanford College
• Brody Malone — Aragon, Ga./EVO Gymnastics
• Stephen Nedoroscik — Worcester, Mass./EVO Gymnastics
• Alex Nitache — Knoxville, Tenn./College of Nebraska
• Frederick Richard — Stoughton, Mass./College of Michigan
• Colt Walker — Cedar Park, Texas/Stanford College
• Donnell Whittenburg — Baltimore, Md./Salto Gymnastics*
• Shane Wiskus — Spring Park, Minn./EVO Gymnastics
• Khoi Younger — Bowie, Md./Stanford College

*Denotes injured reserve athlete

Senior Improvement Crew

• Tate Costa — Narragansett, R.I./College of Illinois
• Josh Karnes — Erie, Pa./Penn State College
• Kiran Mandava — Cypress, Texas/Stanford College
• Kai Uemura — Chicago, In poor health./Stanford College

2025 U.S. males’s spring worldwide assignments

Baku World Cup – March 6-9

• Alex Diab
• Brandon Dang
• Patrick Hoopes

Antalya World Cup – March 20-23

• Brandon Dang
• Asher Hong
• Patrick Hoopes

Osijek World Cup – April 10-13

• Alex Diab
• Jun Iwai
• Riley Loos

Cairo World Cup – April 25-28

• Alex Diab
• Brandon Dang
• Patrick Hoopes

Senior Males’s Outcomes – 2025 Winter Cup

Full outcomes: Senior Males’s All-Round | Senior Males’s Occasion Finals | Junior Males’s Occasion Finals

High 5 All-Round – Senior Males

1. Riley Loos (Stanford) – 160.850
2. Fred Richard (Michigan) – 159.000
3. Taylor Christopulos (Nebraska) – 158.400
4. Taylor Burkhart (Stanford) – 158.050
5. Jun Iwai (Texas Goals) – 157.750

Occasion Winners – Senior Males

• FX: Riley Loos (Stanford) – 27.700
• PH: Brandon Dang (Illinois) – 28.350
• SR: Riley Loos (Stanford) – 27.350
• VT: Nartey Brady (Eagle Ridge) – 28.000
• PB: Colt Walker (Stanford) – 28.250
• HB: Crew Daring (Michigan) – 26.900

Occasion Winners – Junior Males

• FX: Adam Lakomy (Area 6) – 13.550
• PH: Maksim Kan (Area 5) – 12.350
• SR: Nathan Underhill (Area 5) – 12.800
• VT: Nathan Underhill (Area 5) – 14.000
• PB: Joey Nieves (Area 2) – 12.900
• HB: Adam Lakomy (Area 6) – 12.700