Hello, and welcome to Gymnastics Insider!
This week, the United States named its team for the 2026 World Championships following a two-day selection camp:
- Skye Blakely
- Charleigh Bullock
- Reese Esponda
- Claire Pease
- Hezly Rivera
Traveling alternate: Dulcy Caylor
Non-traveling alternate: Jade Carey
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This isn’t what I had predicted going in, but it is the correct group based on what happened at trials. Following Izzy Stassi’s withdrawal, 12 athletes ended up competing over two days. Everyone did the all-around on day one and two events on day two.
The top contenders started on floor, where the team will begin during worlds qualifications, and finished on beam, where someone taped a Tampax logo for maximum visibility.
Day one results, day one replay
Day two results, day two replay
Pease and Bullock thrive
Let’s start with what went well. Pease (56.7) had an excellent competition overall to win both trials and one of the automatic spots on the worlds team. She started out on floor with her standard short FTDLO and stumbled forward a bit, but the rest of her passes were solid for a 13.95, the top floor score of the day.
The highlight of the day for me was Pease’s massive Cheng, which she nearly stuck for a 14.500, followed by a sky-high DTY for a 14.150. She followed that with an excellent bar routine for a 14.35, where she nearly stuck her weird dismount, and beam, where she nearly lost it on her switch half but recovered for a 13.9 to clinch her worlds spot.
On a totally unnecessary day two, she brought it when it mattered least, ramming her bars dismount into the ground. She also did a beam routine that was very much “fine, I’ll do it again.” She did it again.
Bullock (55.65) also had an incredible day thanks in part to her gorgeous extension in all things. Starting on beam, she hit her switch half and side aerial, and had quick connections throughout. I appreciated that she was definitely vibing with the floor music as she stuck her 2.5 for a 13.6.
Floor featured more of her gorgeous leaps, though she does cross her ankles and she stepped out of bounds on her full-in for a 13.250. Her DTY also could use some ankle work, but she got a very impressive 14.45. Bars were lovely, with just some flexed feet on her inbars, but she stuck her full-in cold for a 14.350.
On day two, she looked a bit nervous, and caught her jaeger with fingertips, but stuck her dismount. She didn’t hit her switch half and had a balance check on beam. But third place on day one was enough to clinch her spot, as the automatic spots also factored in nationals scores.
Blakely redeems herself
Blakely (56.5) wasn’t going to go ahead and leave things simple for us, was she? She was my reluctant alternate after nationals, as she struggles with consistency. At nationals, she finished seventh after several falls.
Here, she needed to prove that she could hit four-for-four, obviously. So does everyone, but there was a lot more pressure on her to claw her way back up the standings than there was on someone like Pease.
And that she did. She started out by casually earning the highest beam score of the night. Her standing full was solid, and with just a leg up on her front tuck and a step on the double tuck, she ended up with a 14.25.
Then, she waited for 300 years under this gym’s “Thou Shalt Not Whine” sign before performing a clean floor with relatively low difficulty for a 13.25 there. She did a very strong DTY, landing with her chest up for a 14.45, and a Lopez with just some flexed feet and a hop back for a 14.100. She hit bars on both days, earning a 14.55 on day one to put her in second.
Then came day two on beam. Her standing full was rock solid, but then she came off on her front handspring front tuck. It was a shame because it was a great routine otherwise. As far as the team equation goes, it’s a risk to bring someone who struggles with consistency like this, but coming in second on day one pretty much clinched her spot for me.
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Rivera struggles on day one
Rivera (53.5) had a disappointing day one. She started on floor, where her FTDLO and DLO were both landed a bit short, and she had a big step back on double tuck for a 13.5. Her DTY was nice in the air, but just a tad low on the landing, 14.000.
Things kind of fell apart on bars. She lost momentum on her Weiler and hopped off. Rivera pulled herself together but then came off again on her tkatchev. She finished the rest of her routine beautifully but only got a 11.8.
Rivera finished with a phenomenal rage beam. She hit her bhs stepout to layout to two feet and just had a low landing on the double pike. She got a 14.2, but she did NOT look happy coming off that beam.
On day two, she proved that her falls on day one were an anomaly. She stayed on bars with just a few errors, and landed low and super close to the bar on her dismount. Beam was also very strong, with just a couple of balance checks.
I get why Rivera’s mad, but she’s one of the best all-arounders in the world. She was always going to be on this team.
Carey’s staying home
The biggest shock of this team is the absence of Carey. Normally the queen of pacing, many of us had the two-time Olympian on our list by virtue of experience and the assumption that she would peak when it counted.
Instead, her stock fell abruptly after day one, when she was only the third-best vaulter based on the two-vault average. She technically had a hit day for a 53.45, but her floor brought in only a 13.1.
More importantly, her vaults aren’t quite there yet — both her Cheng (14.200) and her DTY (14.150) had leg form issues and unsteady landings. She looked a bit better on day two (14.250, 14.200), but the damage was done when Pease outperformed her.
The team equation
That leaves Esponda (55.35), who hit four for four, including her specialties, floor and vault. Her whip to DLO was stellar, and don’t worry, her whip half to double tuck is still there (13.8). She did a DTY and Lopez, with some messy feet and hops back to average a 14.050 on day one.
Caylor (53.75) had a hit day one to come in fifth all-around. She’s a great fit for alternate; she can be subbed in on any event.
For qualifications, that brings us here:
Vault: Pease, Blakely, Esponda (Rivera)
Uneven Bars: Pease, Blakely, Bullock (Rivera)
Balance Beam: Blakely, Rivera, Pease (Esponda)
Floor: Pease, Esponda, Rivera (Blakely)
This gives Pease and Rivera the all-around spots, with Blakely as a backup. Pease and Blakely could qualify for vault finals, with Esponda as a backup there. Esponda and Rivera could contend for floor.
As for bars and beam, the team doesn’t have the strength we’ve seen from others throughout this year. Plus, they’re in the first subdivision. But a few members of this team have the potential to qualify.
Errata
Of course, we didn’t know much of this during the fact because the feed broke partway through and scores weren’t available until the end of the competition.
The feed quality was also very poor, which is unacceptable for this level of competition. I asked my husband, who likes baseball, what would happen if during a playoff game, there was no indication what the score was, which inning it was, or even which players he was watching? What if it wasn’t clear whether they were playing for real, or just warming up? What if it took the ref several minutes to make each call?
Meanwhile, the press release announcing the team features a broken link and mislabeled file. As per usual, no one is expected to be on top of their shit except the gymnasts themselves.
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Paris Challenge Cup
As it turns out, Izzy Stassi had a great excuse to bow out of trials, because she brought two silvers home from Paris, on vault and floor.
Lisa Vaelen of Belgium brought home gold on vault, Elena Colas won bars with a 14.300, and compatriot Maiana Prat won floor with a 13.766.
Upcoming: World Championships (Rotterdam)
Oct. 17-25
The pieces are coming together for Rotterdam, which kicks off in less than a month. We have a Nominative registration, and The Gymternet is keeping track of team announcements. Also, if you want to know who’s competing when, check out the qualifications draw.
Five at the IX: Team USA
Gymnastics Now was on site at trials and interviewed some of the members of Team USA. Check them out on their Instagram.
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