A resilient Skye Blakely returns at Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships

NBC Sports

3 hours ago

There was a time last summer when Skye Blakely, toting crutches after surgery, reflected with her parents about how well she competed at the 2024 U.S. Gymnastics Championships a month or two earlier.
Blakely finished runner-up to Simone Biles at those nationals, confirming she was a bona fide contender for the five-woman Paris Olympic team.
Three weeks later, Blakely ruptured her right Achilles' tendon while training on floor exercise, two days before the Olympic Trials. She underwent season-ending surgery.
'Just talking about the feeling of how I competed at (2024 U.S.) Championships — I was very free, I was very relaxed, and I was having fun,' Blakely recalled. 'That was a newer kind of feeling for me. I don't always compete like that.
'They (mom Stephanie and dad Steven) were just like, 'You see how well you did, and you're still talking about how (much) more you have to give. Allow that to drive you for this next Olympics.''
Blakely returns to elite gymnastics competition for the first time in 14 months at this week's Xfinity U.S. Championships.
Nick Zaccardi,
She plans to do strictly balance beam and uneven bars, eschewing vault and floor for now. She is working toward returning to all-around competition in 2026.
Even without doing all four events, she can still be chosen for this October's World Championships, which include individual events only.
The four women for worlds will be decided at a selection competition in early autumn, though results at nationals will also play a role in committee picks.
Blakely's young senior career — she is 20 years old, coming off her freshman year at Florida — has already been defined by perseverance.
At the Tokyo Olympic Trials, she tore an elbow ligament warming up for vault, her first event. Blakely underwent Tommy John surgery, then came back to earn places on world championship-winning U.S. teams in 2022 and 2023.
In 2024, Blakely could have been the first-timer on an Olympic team otherwise full of veterans (Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles).
Instead, she could be the experienced rookie in 2028.
A day after the Achilles tear, she posted, 'I'm devastated and heartbroken but I believe everything happens for a reason. I was so close to reaching my dream but this injury was unavoidable. I had an amazing season that I am extremely grateful for. the plans we have for ourselves aren't always the plans God has for us. I'm going to keep my chin high and be proud of the statement I have made for myself these past couple years. I'll be back.'
Blakely, a Texan who started gymnastics at age 3, matriculated at Florida later last summer. She told coaches with determination that she planned to make it through physical rehab and be available for the first meet of the NCAA season in January 2025.
'There were some people who were like, 'I don't think you will compete. We're not sure if you will or be ready,'' she said. 'I was like, 'I'm going to be ready.''
On Jan. 10, Blakely mounted the bars minutes after older sister Sloane did in front of about 6,000 people at the O'Connell Center. She scored 9.725 in Florida's season-opening meet.
#Gators freshman Skye Blakely's first collegiate routine … Not bad for where she was less than 200 days ago … pic.twitter.com/YNRuQeaBzD
Blakely's original plan was to make the 2024 Olympics and move on from elite gymnastics. But as she saw others go to college and then return to elite successfully — like Lee, Carey and Chiles — Blakely revised her thinking.
'Right after I got hurt, I was like, I'm going for 2028,' she said.
Blakely began to feel like her old self in June. Through physical therapy, she had overcome weakness in her calf and discomfort in her heel after the NCAA season, which her surgeon had told her to expect.
The next three years will be about progression, from getting her skills back to developing into a seasoned NCAA competitor.
Come 2028, she can become the first U.S. female gymnast to make her first Olympic team off qualifying for her third Olympic Trials since Kelly Garrison in 1988.
'That kept me motivated, knowing how close I was to making the team, knowing how ready I was,' she said. 'The injury keeping me back from making that team just motivates me more.'