LSU commitment Hezly Rivera waves from the podium after winning the all-around title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026 in Phoenix.
In the past 20 years under the current scoring system, no woman had come back from fourth place entering the final day of competition to win the U.S. Gymnastics Championships all-around title.
That fact, if Hezly Rivera even knew about it, was the kind of pressure she preferred to keep as far out of her mind as possible as she entered Sunday’s final session in that very spot.
“I just focused on myself and my gymnastics and what I had to do,” she told an NBC reporter. “I took all the pressure I could off myself, because it’s no fun when you’re stressed or nervous.”
Instead of feeling stressed, the LSU commitment and 2024 Olympic gold medalist put the pressure on her opponents, including her training teammate at WOGA Gymnastics in Dallas, first day co-leader Claire Pease.
“I just wanted to be as loose as possible,” Rivera said. “That’s when I do best.”
Rivera’s best was good enough to win a repeat all-around championship in Phoenix to go with the title she won a year ago at the Smoothie King Center. The 18-year-old Oradell, New Jersey, native now joins all-time greats like Simone Biles, Nastia Liukin and Kim Zmeskal as repeat U.S. champions.
Current LSU gymnast Konnor McClain won the all-around title in 2022.
Rivera posted a two-day score of 111.950, handily outpointing Pease (110.800), a Utah commitment, after trailing her after two of Sunday’s four events. Charleigh Bullock finished third (110.550) while fellow LSU commitment, Reese Esponda of Shenandoah, Texas, was fourth (108.900).
A third LSU commitment in the competition, Tatum Drusch of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, was 12th at 105.000. All three are expected to defer the start of their collegiate gymnastics careers until after the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Rivera also finished in first place on balance beam at 28.700. Esponda, who took the all-around title last month in the U.S. Classic meet, won the floor title with a two-day score of 28.900, the best individual score in any event.
Former Oregon State gymnast and 2024 Olympian Jade Carey finished first on vault (28.450) and fifth overall, while Pease won bars (28.550).
After the meet, Rivera, Esponda and Drusch were all named to the 13-member women’s senior national team. Those gymnasts will vie to compete in the 2026 world championships, to be held in October in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
