Florida junior Skye Blakely is returning home from the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships with the most hardware of any female competitor, including an all-around gold.
In her fourth world championships, Blakely became the first gymnast to win a world all-around title and compete in the NCAA in the same calendar year.
“Balancing NCAA and elite is different,” Blakely said. “It is a lot, but it’s also extremely beneficial. I feel like I’ve learned a lot about myself and how I handle pressure and nerves. And my coaches definitely build up my confidence and just learning how to be more steady. So I think there is a lot of benefits from it, and I’m super thankful, and I think it’s starting to really express and show itself throughout my gymnastics.”
She hit all 14 of her routines in Rotterdam, Netherlands, winning four medals and further making her case for a spot on the 2028 Olympic team. She is the fourth American to win four or more medals at a single world championships, following Simone Biles (six times), Rebecca Bross (2010) and Nastia Liukin (2005).
“I was joking that week saying, ‘This is the most gymnastics I’ve ever done,’” Blakely said. “It definitely is a lot, especially with podium training, qualifications, team final, all-around final and two days of event finals. It’s a lot of competition, and it’s a lot mentally. And even that night of all-around final, I was still at the arena at 12:15 a.m. because I was getting drug tested.”
In qualifying, Blakely was one of the top all-around competitors in the field, expected to finish just behind Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour.
But a balked vault for Nemour gave room for Blakely to accept the all-around title with tears in her eyes. Blakely completed a comeback for the ages, returning better than ever from an Achilles tear at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.
“If you would’ve told me at the beginning of the year that I would be here, I don’t know if I would fully believe you,” Blakely said. “Each time I compete I’m strengthening my foundation, and I want to continue to build off it.”
Her first medal came in the team finals, when Team USA. qualified for the Los Angeles Games with a silver-medal finish to China, snapping a 15-year title streak at the world competition. Future Gator and traveling alternate Dulcy Caylor also competed on that team, filling in for 2024 Olympian Hezly Rivera, who was out with an ankle injury.
Blakely said that qualifying the country to its home Olympics was the biggest goal, but U.S.A. Gymnastics now knows what it needs going into the next two years.
“Of course we wanted to go out there and win, but at the end of the day, I’m extremely, extremely proud of the team,” Blakely said. “We fought, we didn’t give up. There were some ups, there were some downs, but we handled each moment. To even end on the podium is huge, and I want everybody on that team to know that having a silver world medal means everything, and it’s so much to be proud of.”
But that wasn’t it for Blakely. After winning her first individual world medal with the all-around win, she still had three opportunities to make the podium. And he achieved it two more times, winning bronze on vault and bars before finishing the meet with a sixth-place finish in the balance beam finals.
Blakely said her 100% hit rate gives her the foundation she needs over the next two years of elite, with her sights set on making the 2028 Olympic team after missing the last two with severe injuries. As the journey continues, she shifts her focus to Florida’s season, which begins Jan. 9.
“It’s really hard just as a college student just in general to be able to balance the training that’s required to be competitive at this level,” Gators general manager and associate head coach Owen Field said. “You stack on top of that a full college season from January to April, just full of challenges, but I think the people who really want it can definitely make it happen.”
