Is there room for a world gymnastics champion on the world championships team?

TAMPA — Stephen Nedoroscik is the lone entrant at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships who already owns an individual world title, yet he might not make the five-man team for the world championships in two months.

Last October, Nedoroscik rebounded from missing the Tokyo Olympics to become the first American to win a world title on pommel horse (unbeknownst, he competed with a broken bone in his left hand that later put him in a cast for 10 weeks.)

Nedoroscik is a specialist, focusing on just that one apparatus out of the six in men’s gymnastics. He will compete for a total of 90 seconds at nationals this week, bypassing floor exercise, high bar, parallel bars, still rings and vault.

That was fine in the last Olympic cycle, when the format allowed for some gymnasts to qualify for the Games via international results on one event. And at last year’s worlds, where there was no team event and less incentive to pack rosters with all-around gymnasts.

But this year, and this Olympic cycle, is different. The 2024 Paris Games revert to the five-man and five-woman team formats from the Olympics in 2012 and 2016. The world championships the next two years also have five-person teams, with no extra spots for American gymnasts to compete strictly in individual events.

So Nedoroscik, who on Thursday solved a Rubik’s cube while waiting for his pommel horse score (15.693 points), must find a way to fit in the U.S. men’s team puzzle.

“My [Olympic] path is going to be a little bit trickier,” said Nedoroscik, a Penn State electrical engineering grad who competes in Rec Specs out of comfort and superstition rather than prescription (but forgot to bring them to last year’s worlds). “I have quite a good understanding of how well I need to do at