At The 2024 Olympics, She Was A Surprise. In 2026, Hezly Rivera Is Undeniable
At only 18, Hezly Rivera is the back-to-back national champion. Two years after making the Olympic team as an unproven rookie, Rivera rose in Phoenix to become the standard-bearer for U.S. gymnastics.
Hezly Rivera, 18, has won her second consecutive U.S. National gymnastics title. According to Yahoo Sports, she edged out club teammate Claire Pease and Charleigh Bullock in Phoenix, Arizona.
Rivera made a mistake on the uneven bars on the first night of competition, falling from the apparatus and scoring almost two points below her typical output. However, she recovered with the highest beam score of the competition, 14.300, and finished fourth after the first night, seven tenths behind first place.
Rivera joins iconic athletes like Simone Biles, Shawn Johnson, and Nastia Liukin as an Olympic champion who won back-to-back U.S. all-around titles, as reported by Yahoo Sports. Forbes notes that Rivera is the back-to-back national champion and has become the standard-bearer for U.S. gymnastics.
Brief written by urgent.news from Forbes, Yahoo Sports — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
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