One year after the Paris Olympics, New Orleans becomes the center of the gymnastics universe Thursday through Sunday, with the Smoothie King Center hosting the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships.
A total of 140 gymnasts are expected to compete in the men’s and women’s senior and junior divisions, vying for individual national championships as well as spots on the U.S. teams for the senior and junior world championships later this year.
The competition starts Thursday with the men’s preliminaries, followed by the women’s prelims Friday. Men’s finals will be Saturday and the women’s finals Sunday. All the senior sessions will be streamed live on Peacock, with the women’s finals on NBC.
In addition, ESPN will telecast an episode of “SportsCenter” from the championships at 5 p.m. Friday as part of its “50 States in 50 Days” tour.
LSU gymnastics coach Jay Clark said that for a non-Olympic year, this meet is as big as it gets for gymnastics in this country.
“It is the pinnacle of elite gymnastics in this country,” Clark said. “This is the championship they train for. It will determine an awful lot for them going forward to the next Olympic games.”
While four members of the 2024 U.S. men’s Olympic team are competing, this year’s championship represents a new chapter for American women’s gymnastics. Absent among the competitors is seven-time Olympic gold medalist and nine-time U.S. all-around champion Simone Biles, who has neither ruled out or committed to competing in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The only one of the five members of the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s team from Paris in the field is 17-year old Hezly Rivera, who committed to LSU in September.
Rivera’s current plan is to enroll at LSU after the 2028 Olympics. For now, she enters the championships as one of the favorites.
“I am not adding any extra pressure on myself,” the Hackensack, New Jersey, native said Wednesday. “I’m just going to do what I do in the gym. I know normal is enough.”
Several other gymnasts LSU is recruiting are also slated to compete, including 2024 U.S. junior all-around champion Claire Pease of Sunnyvale, Texas; Reese Esponda of The Woodlands, Texas; Tatum Drusch of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Ally Damelio of San Mateo, California; and Annalisa Milton of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, a 2026 LSU commitment.
Olympic alternates Leanne Wong of Florida and Jocelyn Robertson of Arkansas will also compete.
On the men’s side, three-time U.S. all-around champion and 2024 Olympic team bronze medalist Brody Malone of Johnson City, Tennessee, headlines the field. He is joined by three other members of the U.S. men’s Olympic squad from 2024: Michigan gymnast Frederick Richard; 2023 U.S. all-around champion Asher Hong of Stanford; and Stephen Nedoroscik of Worcester, Massachusetts, who also won pommel horse bronze in Paris.
U.S. Gymnastics Championships schedule
at the Smoothie King Center
Thursday
Junior men’s preliminaries, 1:30 p.m.
Senior men’s preliminaries, 7 p.m. (Peacock)
Friday
Junior women’s preliminaries, 1:45 p.m.
Senior women’s preliminaries, 6:45 p.m. (Peacock)
Saturday
Junior men’s finals, noon
Senior men’s finals, 5:30 p.m. (Peacock; NBC, tape delay, 11 a.m. Sunday)
Sunday
Junior women’s finals, 12:45 p.m.
Senior women’s finals, 6 p.m. (NBC, Peacock)