Hello everyone, and Happy Gymnastics Saturday!
If you missed our announcement in January, we’re mixing things up this month, bringing you Olympics coverage on top of your weekly gymnastics news brief.
Much has happened in Milan this week, but don’t worry, I’m here to break it down for you the only way I know how: by heaping praise on some and slinging shit at others like a deranged chimpanzee.
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Winners
Jessie Diggins. Cross country skier Jessie Diggins won bronze in the 10km Interval Start Free despite being in a great deal of pain. She hurt her ribs in a crash during the 10km + 10km Skiathlon, but came back and killed it in the 10km, collapsing at the finish line as cross country skiers are wont to do. Kudos to them for normalizing public meltdowns, a noble cause to be sure.
Breezy Johnson. The aptly-named Alpine skier won the women’s downhill event, making her the first out LGBTQ athlete to medal in Milan.
Then, after she crashed on the Super-G, her man friend got down on one knee and proposed. I’m not one for public proposals, but she seems happy, so good for them. She also came in fourth with Mikaela Shiffrin in the team combined event.
Chock & Bates. Speaking of marriage, Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. took silver after a truly beautiful skate. After the Games, they plan to either open their own law firm or star in a buddy cop comedy. That’s not true, but come on, they need to do something with those names.
Chloe Kim. Kim won a silver medal in the snowboarding halfpipe event despite tearing her labrum just weeks ago. It was her third Olympic medal in a row, and the first she’s won with one of her arms just dangling limply in its skin sack.
Losers
People saying Chloe Kim “fell short” of gold. Is it technically true? Sure. Is it still a shitty take? Yup.
I’m not going to review every interview she’s ever done, but in this chat with NBC Kim did not explicitly say that winning this event was her goal. She was super gracious afterwards as well. We really need to ditch this narrative that one “loses” for silver. Side note: Is it weird that I would prefer silver? It’s far prettier.
Figure skating scoring. Controversy is brewing over the results of the ice dance competition. Team France won gold with a skate that was incredible but had visible errors. Apparently, a French judge heavily favored her compatriots in the scoring, but the International Skating Union won’t call foul.
Controversy is a recurring character in the story at this point for figure skating, but could we at least have had one Olympics that was just fun? Why can’t we have nice things? For their part, Chock & Bates, who already have a gold from the team event, have been classy about the whole thing.
Lindsey Vonn’s left tibia. It had one job to do. Instead, it shattered just seconds into Vonn’s first event. It’s a complex fracture, meaning the bone is broken in multiple places. Vonn has already had three surgeries since, and says the ACL tear in the same leg had nothing to do with the crash.
Honorable mentions
Fuck ICE. I know that peeing words in snow is a male-dominated event, but until there’s a women’s equivalent, we have to settle for freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy.
NBC’s heart rate monitors. Speaking of pee, I laughed so damn hard when the NBC feed showed Amber Glenn’s coach’s heart rate on TV. Apparently this isn’t new; it began at the Paris 2024 Games, where they tacked monitors onto athletes’ parents, coaches or other people in their lives.
Sharing spectators’ private medical information is a new frontier in sports, and I wasn’t here for it until Glenn’s skate, when her immobile coach’s heart rate hit 157. Hopefully he’s getting the medical attention he needs.
This guy‘s girlfriend. Biathlete Sturla Holm Laegreid cheated on his girlfriend and then apologized on air after winning an Olympic bronze, the Olympics equivalent of holding up a boombox over his head when my girl is just trying to get some shuteye. She’s not having it, which guarantees her at least a bronze in the race to stop forgiving unremarkable men.
American values. When Mikaela Shiffrin was asked about happenings in the U.S., she quoted Nelson Mandela and said she was there to represent her values, including diversity and inclusivity. Good for her.
Surya Bonaly. The Black figure skater from France did backflips long before Ilia Malinin was born, and now she’s finally getting the attention she deserves.
Big necklaces. Snoop Dogg was also present, a phenomenon that, like UFOs and Tyra Banks’ hot ice cream, has yet to be explained.
NCAA standings and schedule
After Week 6:
Oklahoma 197.879
LSU 197.520
Alabama 197.435
UCLA 197.404
Florida 197.360
I know Jordan Chiles has dominated this newsletter for weeks on end, but she keeps foiling my attempts to write about something else. Olympic gold medalist and American hero Chiles told the crowd at UCLA’s meet at Minnesota “we stand with you,” after earning a 10 for her Prince routine.
She also reacted to the Swiss Tribunal ruling in a piece for TIME, writing that she is standing up for fairness and that “I fight for that historic all-Black podium.”
Reddit sleuths noticed that Iowa State athletes are reactivating recruitment accounts and following coaches on Instagram. What a damn shame.
Friday featured Oklahoma at Florida, Missouri at Kentucky, Arkansas at Alabama, and Auburn at LSU. Saturday features Michigan at UCLA, and Sunday is a day of rest.
Full standings and schedule at Road to Nationals, and CollegeGymNews has a recap here.
Elite gym calendar
The elite gym season kicks off soon! I’ll have more in-depth previews in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here are the biggest events coming up in February and March. All rosters are subject to change, especially for countries sending multiple athletes.
Feb 19-22 Cottbus World Cup (roster)
Big names include Kaylia Nemour, Marta Pihan-Kulesza, Oksana Chusovitina and six gymnasts from Russia who will compete as neutral athletes.
February 20-22 Winter Cup (roster)
The top eight juniors and top eight seniors in the all-around will make the national team, with a minimum score of 51.50 for seniors, according to the latest international elite committee minutes. Also, Trinity Thomas will be a commentator!
Mar 5-8 Baku World Cup (roster)
Alice D’Amato, Kaylia Nemour, Chusovitina and more athletes from Russia will attend.
March 7 American Cup (roster)
USAG announced this week that athletes from The Philippines will also attend.
Mar 12-15 Antalya World Cup (roster)
Gymnasts from China and Russia will be there, along with Poland’s Marta Pihan Kulesza. And, of course, Chusovitina. Seriously, if Guinness had a record for world’s biggest cup, she would go to that cup and somehow win a medal.
Mar 19-22 British Championships
Nothing to see here yet.
While you’re here, do yourself a favor and bookmark The Gymternet’s 2026 meet calendar.
Five at the IX: Breezy Johnson
Breezy Johnson spoke to CBS News after winning the downhill skiing event. She seems super cool and I hope she replies to my letters soon.
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