NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hezly Rivera met the moment.
The 17-year-old Olympic gold medalist pulled away for a victory at the U.S. gymnastics championships on Sunday, looking more than ready to be the standard-bearer for the women’s program in the early stages of the run-up to the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
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Rivera, the youngest member of the five-woman team that finished atop the podium in Paris a year ago, posted a two-day total of 112.000 just eight-tenths (0.8) clear of runner-up Leanne Wong.
Three weeks after a shaky meet at the U.S. Classic, where she finished a distant 12th, Rivera responded with the kind of polished performance that all but assured her of a spot on the four-woman world championship team that will head to Jakarta, Indonesia, in October.
Rivera, at the very least, locked up a spot in the world championship selection camp next month. So did Wong, a four-time world championship medalist. Third-place finisher Joscelyn Roberson, an Olympic alternate last summer, also figures to be at the selection camp as the three veterans put significant distance between themselves and the rest of a remarkably young field.
Unlike Asher Hong’s easy win in the men’s competition on Saturday, things did not come easily for Rivera. She was pushed through four rotations by Wong, a pre-med student at Florida and a budding entrepreneur who has been remarkably consistent over the last four-plus years.
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Wong put pressure on Rivera from the start with a stuck Cheng vault and didn’t relent over the course of two hours. Rivera responded each time — she posted the top scores on three of the four events — but it wasn’t until she walked off the podium following her floor routine with victory in hand that she could relax.
Roberson looked ready to make it a three-woman race until she tweaked her ankle on floor exercise during the second rotation. The rising sophomore at Arkansas, visibly limping at times, continued on anyway. She gritted her way through her vault dismount, though the five-tenths (0.5) deduction for using an additional pad for her protection took her out of contention for the all-around.
Skye Blakely, who was injured at the Olympic Trials in both 2021 and 2024, was sublime on both uneven bars and balance beam to put herself in consideration to make the world team.
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