Skye Blakely Ushers In The Next Era Of USA Gymnastics With Gold

My favorite moment from this year’s World Gymnastics Championships was the second after Skye Blakely hit the final pose in her floor routine. For a second, she was all smiles, sass, and confidence, radiating exactly the energy her sport’s judges want to see. Then the music ended, Blakely’s muscles released, and the 21-year-old from Texas looked like she might cry. The performance was done and Blakely could once again be exactly who she was: a young woman who had just done something very difficult.

That routine capped Blakely’s first all-around gold medal, which was one of four medals Blakely brought home this week from the Netherlands—her gold joined a Team USA silver, as well as individual bronzes for herself on uneven bars and vault. A pair of Americans—Claire Pease and Reese Esponda—took individual gold and silver on the floor, respectively, in Rotterdam, while Pease also won silver on vault. On the men’s side, Fred Richard won gold on the men’s floor, making him the country’s first gold medalist on that exercise since Paul Hamm in 2003.

In other words, women’s gymnastics, even if Simone Biles doesn’t come back for the 2028 Olympic Games, seems to be in good shape. In fact, Blakely’s win meant the United States went a whopping one year without being home to the reigning women’s all-around champion, as Biles had previously won the title in 2023 (at Worlds) and 2024 (the Paris Olympics). Even that requires an asterisk because, at last year’s Worlds, American Leanne Wong took home the all-around silver.