Two years after winning gold at the Paris Olympics, Hezly Rivera is headed to her first world championships.
Rivera, Skye Blakely and Reese Esponda were named to the U.S. team for the world gymnastics championships Thursday, Oct. 1, after a two-day selection camp. They join Claire Pease and Charleigh Bullock, who automatically qualified following an all-around meet Wednesday, Sept. 30.
Dulcy Caylor will be the traveling alternate with two-time Olympic gold medalist Jade Carey the non-traveling alternate. Worlds are Oct. 17-25 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
"I'm looking forward to competing and being back on world stage," said Rivera, who missed last the last world championships with an ankle injury.
These worlds are the first opportunity countries
have to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics, with the top three teams earning spots at the 2028 Summer Games. While the United States has plenty of world-class individual gymnasts, picking a team for worlds, and the Olympics, isn't as easy as taking the top five.
In the team final, countries put up three gymnasts on each event and have to count all three scores. That means you need a combination of gymnasts who can give you big scores on each of the events and do it consistently.
Though this team is young – Blakely is the only one of the five who's been to a worlds before – Rivera said she has confidence in all of her teammates.
"We're all so strong mentally. All these girls are capable of so much," Rivera said. "We're all in very good spots and this team could be very strong."
Rivera will be a contender for the all-around final, but she made the biggest case for herself on both uneven bars and balance beam.
The two-time U.S. champion had fallen twice on bars during the all-around competition, but she was solid Thursday. Rivera caught her release moves with confidence, and there were no hesitations as she moved from one skill to the next. Her only flaw was needing to take a step to secure her dismount, but that's minor. Her score of 13.45 was fourth-highest behind Blakely, Bullock and Pease.
She was even better on balance beam, needing only a slight balance check on a leap. Her 14.15 was second only to Pease.
"It definitely felt better today, coming out and having a better day overall. I’m proud of how I pushed through," Rivera said.
Blakely, part of the 2022 and 2023 teams that won gold at worlds, delivered an exquisite bars routine that will put her in the mix for a medal on the event. Though she fell on balance beam – she was slightly off on an aerial somersault and couldn't hang on – she has a higher difficulty score (6.2) than any of her teammates.
Esponda made the team on the strength of her vault and floor exercise. Only Pease had a higher score on floor during the two-day meet, and Esponda does high-scoring vaults with consistency. She also can go on balance beam if needed.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Olympic champion Hezly Rivera makes first world championships team
