Early life and education
Moldauer was born in Seoul, South Korea on August 16, 1996, and named Kyung-Tae. [3] Because his biological mother was chemically dependent, his adoptive father was told he might not develop into a "productive adult." [3]
Before he was a year old, Peter Moldauer adopted him and named him Yul after the actor Yul Brynner. [3] [4] [5] Moldauer has three siblings, Leah, Sorcha and Sundo. He grew up on a farm in Colorado and attended Golden High School. He later attended the University of Oklahoma and graduated in May 2020 with a degree in communications. [6]
Junior gymnastics career
At age seven, Moldauer joined a local gym offering a free tryout, and at age ten, he joined 5280 Gymnastics, where he was coached by the Artemev family (Vladimir, Irina, and Alexander Artemev). [3] In the next few years, he started winning state and regional meets, and eventually won a place on the Junior National Team. [7] [8]
In 2014, Moldauer won the junior title on the pommel horse at the U.S. National Championships. [9] In 2015, he won the gold medal in the 18-year-old age division at the Junior Olympic National Championships. [10]
In 2016, Moldauer won his first NCAA all-around title. [11] [12]
Senior gymnastics career
2017
Moldauer competed at the 2017 Winter Cup where he won gold in the all-around, rings and parallel bars, and silver on floor and vault. He competed at his first top level international competition in March at the 2017 American Cup in Newark, New Jersey, where he placed first ahead of Olympic gold and silver medalist Oleg Verniaiev. [13] Later that year, he became the NCAA champion on the floor exercise and rings, and placed second in the all-around and on parallel bars. In August, Moldauer won the all-around national title at the 2017 U.S. National Championships in Anaheim, California, and tied for the gold medal with Eddie Penev on floor exercise. [14]
Moldauer made his first World Championship appearance at the 2017 World Championships in Montreal, Canada. He won the bronze medal in the floor exercise final and placed 7th in the all-around final. [15] [16]
2018
Moldauer won his second consecutive American Cup all-around title in March at the 2018 American Cup ahead of more accomplished gymnasts including Kenzō Shirai of Japan, the 2017 World all-around bronze medalist, thanks to Moldauer achieving a top three score on every apparatus. In August at the 2018 U.S. National Championships, he won the silver medal in the all-around behind Sam Mikulak.
In October, Moldauer competed at the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. He and the U.S. team finished fourth in the team competition. He went on to place 12th in the all-around final and fourth in the floor exercise final. In 2018, USA Gymnastics named him the 2018 Male Athlete of the Year. [3]
2019
Moldauer competed at the 2019 Winter Cup in Las Vegas, finishing first in the all-around. Moldauer won his third consecutive American Cup all-around title in March at the 2019 American Cup, just 0.001 of a point ahead of fellow American Sam Mikulak. Moldauer suffered from right elbow pain and did not compete for six weeks. [3] In April 2019, he was presented with the Nissen Emery Award, an annual prize given to the top male gymnast in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. [3]
In August at the 2019 U.S. National Championships, he again won the silver medal in the all-around behind Sam Mikulak. Additionally, he won silver medals on floor exercise and parallel bars.
2020–21
Moldauer competed at the 2020 Winter Cup in Las Vegas, finishing first on vault, third on parallel bars, fourth on pommel horse and fifth all-around. Due to his results at the Winter Cup Challenge, he was named to the 2020 senior men's team. [17]
Moldauer finished first on parallel bars, third all-around, third on floor, fourth on pommel horse and fifth on still rings at the 2021 Winter Cup Challenge in Indianapolis, Indiana. At 2021 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas he finished first on parallel bars, second all-around and third on floor and still rings. [18] Moldauer was named to the 2020 Olympic team alongside Brody Malone, Sam Mikulak, and Shane Wiskus. [19] He secured his spot on the team by finishing second in the all-around and finishing in top three on at least three apparatuses at the 2020 Olympic Trials in St. Louis, Missouri. [2]
In November Moldauer competed at the Arthur Gander Memorial. He won the four-event all-around, beating Nikita Nagornyy in the tie-breaker. [20]
2022
Moldauer competed at the 2022 Winter Cup where he placed fourth in the all-around behind Vitaliy Guimaraes, Khoi Young, and Asher Hong. [21] As a result he was selected to represent the USA at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge in Stuttgart alongside Guimaraes, Young, Hong, and Brody Malone. [22]
In June Moldauer was selected to represent the United States at the Pan American Championships alongside Riley Loos, Brody Malone, Colt Walker, and Shane Wiskus. [23] On the first day of competition Moldauer competed on all six events to help qualify the United States in first place to the team final. Individually he won silver in the all-around behind Caio Souza of Brazil but won gold on floor exercise, pommel horse, and parallel bars. [24] During the team final Moldauer competed on floor, pommel horse, rings, and parallel bars to help the USA win gold ahead of the reigning team champion Brazil. [25]
In August Moldauer competed at the U.S. National Championships. He finished fifth in the all-around but recorded the third highest score when removing domestic bonuses. Additionally he finished third on pommel horse. [26] In October Moldauer was named as the traveling alternate for the World Championships team. [27]
2023
Moldauer won the 2023 Winter Cup in February. He was later selected to represent the United States at the Pan American Championships alongside Shane Wiskus, Curran Phillips, Khoi Young, and Taylor Christopulos. On the first day of competition Moldauer helped the USA qualify for the team final. Individually he won gold in the all-around, on floor exercise, and on parallel bars, won silver on horizontal bar, and won bronze on pommel horse. Moldauer became the first American male gymnast to win the all-around title at the Pan American Gymnastics Championships. On the final day of competition Moldauer helped the USA win their second consecutive team title. [28]
In August Moldauer competed at the Core Hydration Classic where he placed fifth on parallel bars. [29] He next competed at the Xfinity National Championships where he placed fifth in the all-around but the national title on parallel bars. [30] The following day he was named to the team to compete at the upcoming World Championships alongside Asher Hong, Khoi Young, Fred Richard, Paul Juda, and alternate Colt Walker. [31]
At the World Championships Moldauer helped the USA qualify to the team final in second place. Individually he qualified to the parallel bars final. During the team final he contributed scores on floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, and parallel bars toward the USA's third place finish. In doing so, Moldauer won his second World Championships medal and helped the USA win their first team medal in nine years. [32]
2024
Moldauer won first place in the all around and floor exercise, as well as second on parallel bars, at the 2024 Winter Cup. [33] This performance led him to be selected to compete at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge alongside Shane Wiskus, Riley Loos, Cameron Bock, and Curran Phillips. [34] At this competition, he competed on five out of six events to help team USA win gold at the team final. He also qualified for the pommel horse event final and finished fourth. [35] In April, he was selected to compete at the Pacific Rim Championships along with Cameron Bock, Riley Loos, Danila Leykin, Caden Clinton, and Kai Uemura. On the first day of competition, he secured the all-around title and continued to win medals throughout the competition: gold in the team final, parallel bars, still rings, and floor exercise. [36]
In June, Moldauer competed at the U.S. National Championships, where he finished fourth in the all-around, second on floor exercise, and won the national title on parallel bars. [37] As a result, he was named to the senior national team for the ninth year in a row and qualified to Olympic Trials. [38] After uncharacteristic mistakes made throughout the competition, Moldauer finished ninth in the all-around and was selected to be a non-traveling alternate for the 2024 Summer Olympics. [39] [40] [41]
In the fall Moldauer participated in the Gold Over America Tour. [42]
