Latest news with #JoscelynRoberson
Washington Post
19 hours ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
Olympic gold medalist Hezly Rivera surges to the lead at the U.S. gymnastics championships
NEW ORLEANS — Hezly Rivera cruised to the lead at the U.S. gymnastics championships on Friday night, putting together four steady and occasionally excellent routines on her way to a 55.600, putting her in strong position to claim her first national title on Sunday. Rivera, the youngest member of the five-woman team that cruised to gold at the 2024 Olympics, bounced back from a bumpy performance at the U.S. Classic last month. The now 17-year-old posted the top score on balance beam (14.350) and the second-highest score on floor exercise (14.000) to lead a very young field taking their first tentative steps toward the world championships this fall and — well down the road — the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Joscelyn Roberson, an Olympic alternate last summer and a rising sophomore at Arkansas, is second at 55.400. Roberson, who trained alongside two-time Olympic champion Simone Biles, finished with a dazzling floor routine to move past four-time world championship medalist Leanne Wong at 55.100. Rivera, Roberson and Wong will head into Sunday well ahead of the rest of a field whose average age is just under 18, a significant departure from the run-up to Paris, when Biles and a group of older athletes took center stage. ___ AP sports:
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Olympic gold medalist Hezly Rivera surges to the lead at the U.S. gymnastics championships
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hezly Rivera cruised to the lead at the U.S. gymnastics championships on Friday night, putting together four steady and occasionally excellent routines on her way to a 55.600, putting her in strong position to claim her first national title on Sunday. Rivera, the youngest member of the five-woman team that cruised to gold at the 2024 Olympics, bounced back from a bumpy performance at the U.S. Classic last month. The now 17-year-old posted the top score on balance beam (14.350) and the second-highest score on floor exercise (14.000) to lead a very young field taking their first tentative steps toward the world championships this fall and — well down the road — the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Joscelyn Roberson, an Olympic alternate last summer and a rising sophomore at Arkansas, is second at 55.400. Roberson, who trained alongside two-time Olympic champion Simone Biles, finished with a dazzling floor routine to move past four-time world championship medalist Leanne Wong at 55.100. Rivera, Roberson and Wong will head into Sunday well ahead of the rest of a field whose average age is just under 18, a significant departure from the run-up to Paris, when Biles and a group of older athletes took center stage. ___ AP sports:
Associated Press
20 hours ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Olympic gold medalist Hezly Rivera surges to the lead at the U.S. gymnastics championships
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hezly Rivera cruised to the lead at the U.S. gymnastics championships on Friday night, putting together four steady and occasionally excellent routines on her way to a 55.600, putting her in strong position to claim her first national title on Sunday. Rivera, the youngest member of the five-woman team that cruised to gold at the 2024 Olympics, bounced back from a bumpy performance at the U.S. Classic last month. The now 17-year-old posted the top score on balance beam (14.350) and the second-highest score on floor exercise (14.000) to lead a very young field taking their first tentative steps toward the world championships this fall and — well down the road — the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Joscelyn Roberson, an Olympic alternate last summer and a rising sophomore at Arkansas, is second at 55.400. Roberson, who trained alongside two-time Olympic champion Simone Biles, finished with a dazzling floor routine to move past four-time world championship medalist Leanne Wong at 55.100. Rivera, Roberson and Wong will head into Sunday well ahead of the rest of a field whose average age is just under 18, a significant departure from the run-up to Paris, when Biles and a group of older athletes took center stage. ___ AP sports:
Forbes
20 hours ago
- Sport
- Forbes
Olympian Hezly Rivera Powers To Early Lead At U.S. Gymnastics Championships
On night one of the 2025 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in New Orleans, Louisiana, Olympic veterans stole the show. Olympic gold medalist Hezly Rivera maintains a slight lead over Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong after Friday's competition, positioning an all-out battle for gold on Sunday. The senior women will return to the floor at 7:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 10, for the second and final day of competition. Here's how the action unfolded on night one in New Orleans. Rotation 1: Hezly Rivera was the highlight in rotation one. Rivera put her U.S. Classic falls behind her, but it wasn't an easy task: she started on the balance beam. After falling off the apparatus just a few weeks back in Chicago, Rivera cruised through her routine to post a 14.350, the highest beam score by an American woman in 2025. With the score, Rivera surged to an early and sizable lead. Olympic alternate Leanne Wong also impressed on beam, sticking her dismount and hitting her connections for a season-high score and an impressive 8.350 execution score. Joscelyn Roberson, another Olympic alternate, started strong on vault with a 13.800. While Wong and Rivera hit beam, two title-favorites struggled. Jayla Hang, the 2025 Pan American All-Around Champion, nearly fell on her first tumbling pass and seemingly recovered until falling on her final pass. On bars, 2025 Winter Cup Champion Ashlee Sullivan looked to start her meet on a strong note. Unfortunately, the UCLA commit peeled off the bars on her release move, earning just a 12.050. U.S. Classic All-Around Champion Claire Pease, Rivera's practice partner, hit her elegant beam routine for a 13.900, good for second going into the second rotation. Skye Blakely made her return to elite gymnastics in rotation one, hitting her beam routine after returning from an Achilles injury incurred at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. Though Blakely grabbed the beam for an automatic .500 deduction, she still posted a formidable 13.450. With her score, Blakely would have finished in second at the U.S. Classic. Not a bad return to the bright lights of elite competition. After One: 1. Hezly Rivera: 14.350, 2. Claire Pease: 13.900, 3. Gabrielle Hardie and Joscelyn Roberson: 13.800, 5. Leanne Wong: 13.750 Rotation Two: Rotation two saw more of the same for Rivera and Wong. Rivera continued her stellar start in rotation two, hitting her challenging floor routine for another score over 14.00 – the gold standard in women's elite gymnastics. Wong went next, nailing her opening tumbling pass for a near-perfect 8.500 execution score and a 13.800. After a rough start on floor, Hang roared back with a clean and powerful vault, good for a big 14.050. Claire Pease was one of the top floor scorers in Chicago, but the same would not happen today in New Orleans. Pease came up very short on her opening tumbling pass, taking a huge hit to her event score. Over on bars, Joscelyn Roberson went two for two on the night, hitting one of the best bar routines of her career. Roberson stuck her full-twisting double layout dismount without a flicker and to an immediate smile. While the frontrunners battled it out, Dulcy Caylor quietly delivered a huge hit on beam, posting a massive 13.850, and Simone Rose continued a strong day on vault. Olympic alternate Tiana Sumanasekera delivered another strong beam routine on her signature event, hitting her triple series for a 13.800. After Two: 1. Hezly Rivera: 28.350, 2. Leanne Wong: 27.550, 3. Dulcy Caylor and Joscelyn Roberson: 27.450, 5. Gabrielle Hardie and Simone Rose: 27.000 Rotation Three: Rivera's career day continued in rotation three. The 17-year-old competed on vault – typically her weakest event and her most significant test of the night. Like she had before, Rivera passed with flying colors. The Olympic medalist had her best landing of the year, good for a strong 13.800 to maintain a substantial lead over the field. Wong went up next, and so came another hit. Showing the most power she's shown all year, Wong hit a huge Yurchenko double and completed a strong second vault to stay in contention for the vault event title. With their two hits, the two Olympic teammates maintained their stronghold over the competitive field – but Roberson was not far off. Known for her powerful beam work, Roberson impressed once again on the event on night one. The NCAA all-American on beam powered through a huge standing full twist and triple acrobatic series for a 13.800, pushing her into third place overall. After a rough start on bars, Winter Cup Champion Ashlee Sullivan returned to her typical dynamic gymnastics, hitting a huge floor routine for a 14.000. With that much-needed score, Sullivan rocketed back into contention. While Sullivan hit, Tiana Sumanasekera had a fluke fall on the same event, missing her timing on her third pass and falling backwards. Sumanasekera's exercise marked her first floor routine since sustaining an ankle injury earlier this year. After Three: 1. Hezly Rivera: 42.150 2. Leanne Wong: 41.550 3. Joscelyn Roberson: 41.250 4. Simone Rose: 40.350 5. Izzy Stassi: 40.150 Rotation Four: Heading into the final rotation, the field's veterans began to rise to the top, with three Olympic teammates leading the way. Rivera and Wong would finish on bars, while Roberson would complete her night on the floor. In veteran fashion, Leanne capped her night with another hit on uneven bars. Wong flew through her release and double layout to close a fantastic start to her 2025 Championship. With a 13.500, Wong's total came to 55.100, a huge score – the second highest by a U.S. woman in 2025. But would it hold? Ashlee Sullivan finished her day with another strong score, a huge 14.000. U.S. Classic Champion Claire Pease continued her struggles on day one, posting just a 12.350 on bars, typically one of her strongest events. Needing a stronger floor score than she posted at the U.S. Classic, Roberson took to the floor with huge tumbling ahead of her. Though she stepped out of bounds on her second pass, Roberson nailed her upgraded passes, including her mount, one of the highest difficulty skills in women's gymnastics. With her final stuck pass and a 14.150, Roberson capped a stellar starting day at the U.S. Championships. Just like that, Roberson leapfrogged Wong for the lead. Her 55.400U score now stood as the second highest of the year – but Rivera was still to go. Needing a 13.250, Rivera just needed to stay on the bars. Weeks ago at the U.S. Classic, that was a tall order. But tonight, she fought hard. Rivera pushed through her routine, adapting to slight errors and fighting for the landing on the dismount. It wasn't perfect, but it was a hit. With a 13.450, Rivera slid just past Roberson for the lead. Just a five-tenths difference separates the three Olympians heading into day two. After Four: 1. Hezly Rivera: 55.600 2. Joscelyn Roberson: 55.400 3. Leanne Wong: 55.100 4. Dulcy Caylor: 53.800 5. Gabrielle Hardie: 53.750
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
USA Gymnastics is entering a new era both on and off the floor as the US championships begin
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — There was a time, not that long ago really, when Joscelyn Roberson would combat the nerves that inevitably popped up before a major gymnastics meet by reminding herself of one very simple fact. 'I could be like, 'Oh no one's watching me,'' the 19-year-old said with a laugh. 'Like they're watching Simone (Biles). They're watching Jordan (Chiles). They're watching Suni (Lee) and Jade (Carey). Like, they are not watching me.' Well, they are now. Biles, Lee, Carey and Carey are all on sabbatical from elite gymnastics, perhaps for good. And when Roberson salutes the judges during the first night of the U.S. Gymnastics Championships on Friday, the world championship gold medalist and Olympic alternate will be one of the few athletes on the floor with experience on the sport's biggest stage. 'Maybe they are kind of watching me (now), so it adds a different level of nerves, but I love it,' Roberson said. Good thing, because she'll probably have to get used to it. Not just for Roberson, but the athletes who will find the spotlight pointing their way now that the icons who commanded it so completely have stepped aside, at least for now. A year after sending the oldest team in modern Olympic history to Paris, the average age of the competitors who will spend the weekend at Smoothie King Center taking their first tentative steps toward the 2028 Los Angeles Games is under 18. Hezley Rivera helped the Americans capture gold last summer. Now, the 17-year-old finds herself thrust into the role as one of the standardbearers for one of the marquee programs of the U.S. Olympic movement, and the external pressure that comes along with it. 'I definitely know that people have certain expectations, but I don't really care what people have, like, expectations-wise for me,' she said. 'I know what I want and my goals, so it's kind of just focusing on what I'm doing in the gym and what I am doing on the competition floor.' Rivera's elite 2025 debut was bumpy. She tied for 12th at the U.S. Classic last month, well behind WOGA club teammate Claire Pease, who showed uncommon poise in her first major competition at the senior level. Yes, it wasn't the meet Rivera wanted, but the reality is the year following an Olympics is all about adjusting to the sport's updated Code of Points and plotting out what the run-up to the next Olympics might look like. That's perhaps even more true this time around, not just on the floor but off it. While a new wave of athletes who grew up idolizing Biles and Lee step towards the forefront, the organization they will represent is undergoing a significant change of its own. A 'bittersweet' departure Li Li Leung, who nimbly guided USA Gymnastics out of the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal, is stepping down at the end of the year. During her final 'State of the Sport' address on Wednesday, Leung grew uncharacteristically emotional during what she called a 'bittersweet' milestone. Asked if she's had any second thoughts since announcing her plan in June, Leung shook her head. 'I've accomplished everything that I set out to do when I took this role," she said. "It takes quite a bit of work to build up to an Olympic Games, and it would be so unfair if I made my decision a couple of years from now and not giving the next CEO the runway to be able to build successfully into LA.' Much of the groundwork has already been laid. While the organization is certainly on much stronger footing — earlier this week USA Gymnastics and NBC Sports announced they were extending their partnership through 2032, and the high-profile corporate sponsors who bailed in the aftermath of Nassar have returned — Leung stressed the job she and the rest of an organization that was in tatters when she arrived in early 2019 is hardly finished. 'The transformation of USA Gymnastics and its culture is not over, it will never be over,' she said. 'There is no such thing as a 'mission accomplished' attitude at USA Gymnastics. Instead, we will always be looking at how to build on what we have achieved.' Hitting reset That remains true on the floor as well. The faces that defined the U.S.'s lengthy run of dominance — Biles most of all — are taking a well-deserved break. And while the lure of performing in a hometown Games three summers from now may eventually prod some of them back, this year will be about getting a feel for the next generation. 'I really look at this as a rebuilding year and it's a year of opportunity,' women's program technical lead Chellsie Memmel said. 'Most of our Olympians haven't returned. And then the few we have are still very young. So it's really about building an opportunity for the younger ones.' And for some of the newly older ones (by gymnastics standards, anyway), too. Skye Blakely is all of 20. Yet she's seen her hopes of making it to the Olympics end not once but twice because of injury. The road back from the torn right Achilles she suffered on the eve of the 2024 Olympic Trials hasn't been easy. Yet she's at a point where she can compete safely on uneven bars and balance beam. While there was a part of her that wanted to give all four events a shot, she also understands there's no rush. Back when Blakely was 13, she figured she'd be done as an elite by 20. She pointed to Biles' history-making performance last summer at 27 as proof that 'old' isn't what it used to be. 'Your end is what you make it, it's not what everybody else says it is," she said. 'I say I might not go for another 10 years, but to be completely honest, I don't know what these next 10 years will look like for me at all, because I didn't even think I'd still be doing elite at 20, and here we are.' ___ AP sports:
