Hezly Rivera wins second straight U.S. gymnastics national title

Hezly Rivera turned a shaky opening day into a second straight U.S. women’s gymnastics all-around title at the 2026 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Phoenix, finishing with a two-day total of 111.950. She had been fourth after Day 1, but closed hard and edged Claire Pease, her WOGA Gymnastics training partner from Sunnyvale, Texas.

Rivera’s rally centered on the same trait that has defined her rise since Paris: recovery under pressure. NBC Sports’ Day 1 coverage showed Rivera, the 2024 Olympic team gold medalist and 2025 U.S. all-around champion, sitting in fourth after a struggle on bars. Reuters-distributed coverage said she had an uncharacteristic fall on uneven bars before coming back to win, a reversal that mattered in a field packed with senior gymnasts chasing future world championship and Olympic team places.

The victory also fit the season Rivera had already built. USA Gymnastics said she won the senior women’s all-around title at Winter Cup in Louisville, and International Gymnast Magazine said she tied for 12th all-around at the 2025 U.S. Classic on July 21, 2025, then was encouraged by regaining her composure after mistakes. In Phoenix, the same pattern held: Rivera absorbed an error, steadied the rest of her work, and separated herself when the final score was posted.

The repeat title gives Rivera a stronger claim as a central figure in the next U.S. women’s cycle. NBC Sports and NBC Olympics identified her as the youngest member of Team USA at the Paris Games, and ESPN’s search snippet noted that she once described herself as an underdog during that Olympic run. Now she has back-to-back national crowns, a résumé that moves her beyond breakout status and into the role of standard-bearer for a program that has long prized difficult routines, clean execution and the ability to deliver when the stakes climb.