NEW ORLEANS -- Hezly Rivera cruised to the lead at the U.S. gymnastics championships on Friday night, putting together four steady and occasionally excellent routines on her way to a 55.600, putting her in strong position to claim her first national title on Sunday.
Rivera, the youngest member of the five-woman team that cruised to gold at the 2024 Olympics, bounced back from a bumpy performance at the U.S. Classic last month. Now 17, she posted the top score on balance beam (14.350) and the second-highest score on floor exercise (14.000) to lead a very young field taking its first tentative steps toward the world championships this fall and -- well down the road -- the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Joscelyn Roberson, an Olympic alternate last summer and a rising sophomore at Arkansas, is second at 55.400. Roberson, who trained alongside two-time Olympic champion Simone Biles, finished with a dazzling floor routine to move past four-time world championship medalist Leanne Wong at 55.100.
Rivera, Roberson and Wong will head into Sunday well ahead of the rest of a field whose average age is just under 18, a significant departure from the run-up to Paris, when Biles and a group of older athletes took center stage.