The University of Florida's Skye Blakely and 17-year-old Claire Pease of Honolulu are tied for the all-around lead after the first day of women's competition at the US gymnastics championships on Friday in Phoenix. Each scored 55.6 points.
Top contenders after day one
Sixteen-year-old Charleigh Bullock from Virginia holds third place with 55.4 points, while defending champion Hezly Rivera (55.0), Jade Carey (54.4), and Reese Esponda (54.1) remain in contention. The women's all-around competition concludes on Sunday.
Blakely, 21, was part of the US teams that won gold at the 2022 and 2023 world championships. She missed the 2024 Paris Olympics due to an Achilles injury sustained at the US trials. She returned to competition last year and shared the uneven bars title with Rivera at the US championships.
Quotes from the leaders
According to Olympics.com, Blakely said of her performance: “That felt really good. I’m really proud of myself. It’s not easy, but I feel like I handled each moment the best of my ability.”
Pease called being the co-leader “definitely a dream,” and added, “I just like to stay focused on what I’m doing in the gym.”
Notable scores and standout performances
Rivera, 18, a member of the gold-medal-winning US team at the 2024 Olympics, had her Friday score hurt by a fall on the uneven bars. However, she ended the day with the best score on the balance beam (14.3) and the second-best mark on the floor exercise (14.0), behind only Esponda’s 14.45.
Bullock produced the best uneven bars score (14.25), just ahead of Pease and Blakely, who both scored 14.2. On the balance beam, Pease (13.9) and Blakely (13.75) were second and third, respectively, behind Rivera.
The women's event concludes on Sunday, with the all-around title still up for grabs among the top contenders.
