Two years ago, Skye Blakely was one of the nation’s top all-around gymnasts, finishing second only to Simone Biles at the 2024 U.S. Championships.
A few weeks later, instead of hearing her name called as a member of the U.S. Olympic team, she found herself on the sidelines with a ruptured Achilles.
Blakely took a measured approach to her comeback, competing only on bars and beam during the 2025 elite season. Now, she’s back on all four events and preparing to compete all-around on the elite stage for the first time since her injury, with a legitimate chance to capture her first U.S. all-around title.
But if you ask Blakely, she has nothing to prove.
“I feel like with expectations, it’s really just to go out there and have fun,” she told the media ahead of podium training in Phoenix for the 2026 U.S. Championships. “It’s been a process; I’ve come back from a really big injury. So it’s not really trying to prove anything, it’s just trying to get my toes wet again and get back in the swing of things.”
During her sophomore season at the University of Florida, Blakely competed all-around four times, an experience she said gave her the confidence to return to competing all-around at the elite level. She became a fixture in the Gators’ bars, beam and floor lineups, earning career highs with perfect 10s on bars and beam and a 9.975 on floor.
Just a few weeks ago at the U.S. Classic, she made another statement, winning the bars (14.100) and beam (14.250) titles. She was the only gymnast in the competition to score above a 14.000 on either event.
Bringing floor back into the mix — the event on which she suffered her injury — proved to be the biggest challenge.
There were days, she said, when she doubted she would ever return to this level. But by modifying her routines, she found a path forward.
“What’s really cool about gymnastics is you can play to your strengths and you can work around things, so I made a change: I’m doing more front tumbling because I feel like that’s worked for me and it’s better for my feet,” Blakely said.
Trusting herself, especially on floor, has been a process. But Blakely’s journey may serve as proof that trusting the process can pay off.
“You just have to go with the flow … even when you see it’s not coming how you want it to yet, you just have to follow the process and you’ll see how far you’ve come,” she said.
Blakely will compete in Day 1 of the U.S. Championships at 10 p.m. EDT on Aug. 7. The competition will stream on Peacock and NBC Sports. Day 2 is scheduled for 6 p.m. EDT on Aug. 9 and will air on NBC and Peacock.