We’re back from the 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships with thoughts on Hezly Rivera’s second consecutive national all-around title, Fred Richard’s victory, the newly selected U.S. men’s World Championships team, the women’s road to Worlds selection, and exactly why those domestic execution scores had everyone talking.
Plus, Shannon Miller surprised us at the GymCastic live show, European Championships started with immediate drama, and we parse the latest comeback comments from Suni Lee, Shilese Jones and Jordan Chiles.
GYMCASTIC LIVE AT U.S. CHAMPIONSHIPS WITH SURPRISE GUEST SHANNON MILLER: REPLAY TICKETS HERE
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2026 U.S. GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS COVERAGE
All GymCastic 2026 U.S. National Championships Coverage — Find all of our podcasts, meet reports, Behind The Scenes episodes and coverage from Phoenix in one place.
GYMCASTIC LIVE PODCASTS FROM PHOENIX
- Wednesday, August 5 — Senior Women’s Podium Training Report
- Friday, August 7 — Senior Women’s Day One Meet Report
- Saturday, August 8 — Senior Men’s Final Meet Report
- Sunday, August 9 — GymCastic Live Show: Senior Women’s Final with surprise guest Shannon Miller
- Watch replays on Peacock, NBC Sports, FlipNowTV and outside the U.S. on USAG YouTube
- Results: XfinityChampionships.com
HEADLINES
- European Championships: Croatia reversed its visa decision for four of the nine Russian delegation members initially denied entry. Angelina Melnikova, Anna Kalmykova, Leyla Vasilieva and Alexei Usachev received visas, while denials remained in place for five members of the delegation at the time of recording. Read more.
- 2026 European Championships Live Results
- GymCastic Live Show Replay: Surprise guest Shannon Miller, judges with feelings, and our post-Championships debrief. Get replay tickets here.
U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Hezly Rivera is a two-time U.S. all-around champion after a 56.950 on Day Two. We discuss why all four events look team-final ready and why her floor execution scores had the gymternet spinning.
- National Team Lead and Brevet judge Chellsie Memmel weighs in on the domestic scores: confidence boosts versus realistic international scoring.
- Claire Pease went 8-for-8 to win silver.
- Charleigh Bullock went 8-for-8 to win bronze.
- Jade Carey won vault with her DTY/Lopez combination.
- Claire Pease won bars.
- Hezly Rivera won beam.
- Reese Esponda won floor with a 14.450 and 8.450 E-score both days.
WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM AND WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS SELECTION
- Thirteen seniors and 14 juniors were named to the U.S. national team, with Zoey Molomo added despite finishing outside the top 12 in the all-around.
- Why keeping more athletes in the national-team system could pay off later in the quad.
- Worlds selection camp takes place Sept. 29–Oct. 1 at Flip Fest.
- Two athletes will earn automatic spots based 60% on Selection Camp Day One all-around and 40% on their U.S. Championships all-around total.
- We run the current highest-scoring-team math using recent 2026 domestic scores and the vault bonus.
MEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM
World Team: Richard, Wiskus, Leykin, Nelson and Hoopes
Traveling alternate: Moldauer
Non-traveling alternate: Kim
- Shane Wiskus won the all-around when the results are calculated using FIG scoring without the domestic difficulty bonus.
- Fred Richard won both days under the U.S. bonus system despite a out-of-uniform AKA “pajama” deduction and an accidental salute with his butt.
- And this leads us, naturally, to the important question: Why do gymnasts need to salute anyway?
GYMTERNET NEWS: COMEBACK WATCH
- Suni Lee: “I pretty much have almost all my skills back on bars and beam.” Read more.
- Shilese Jones: “The story still continues.” She says the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics remain her goal. Read more.
- Jordan Chiles: “The wait is still on.” For now, she says she’s focusing on herself mentally and personally. Read more.
MORE SHANNON MILLER ON GYMCASTIC
- 148: Shannon Miller — Shannon joins us to discuss It’s Not About Perfect, her gymnastics career, compulsories, coaching, cancer and life after gymnastics.
- 168: Shannon Miller, Belarusgate, NED vs GB — Shannon returns to talk about body commentary, adult gymnastics, Worlds, Chusovitina, her famous back-extension rolls and more.
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GYMCASTIC TOOLS, GAMES AND RESOURCES
- GymCastic tools:
- LA 2028 Roster Lab — Now with auto-fill highest-scoring team, team comparisons and updated roster briefs.
- Elite Score Explorer — U.S. Championships scores are in, plus new charting options and the vault bonus toggle.
- International Gymnastics Calendar
- GymCastic Games
- GymCastic Newsletters
- The Balance Beam Situation: Spencer Barnes’ GIF Code of Points
- Gymnastics History: Gymnastics history and Code of Points archive from Uncle Tim
- Resistance Resources
Cover art and photographs © GymCastic / Steve Cooper. All rights reserved.
