Like her inspiration Nastia Liukin, Elena Arenas also calls her dad (Pete Arenas) her coach. Elena trains at Georgia Elite, the gym her parents outside of Athens, home of the University of Georgia where mom Kim was an All-American all four years and earned back-to-back NCAA national all-around titles and Honda Awards in 1997 and 1998.

Twelve-year-old Elena made her level 10 debut partway through the 2013 season, making it all the way to J.O. nationals on her first time out. During the J.O. season, Elena qualified to Hopes, making an appearance at the 2013 U.S. Challenge where she earned a silver medal on the uneven bars, her favorite event, in addition to placing 6th on beam and 7th in the all-around, where she earned a 50.65.

In 2014, Elena again made it to J.O. nationals, placing 10th in the junior A division with a 37.55. She also earned her junior international elite qualifying score at SCEGA in March, placing 5th among the junior competitors and becoming the first elite to come from her parents’ gym.

At the American Classic at the ranch earlier this summer, Elena qualified straight to the P&G Championships after posting a 52.1 and placing 6th on bars with a 13.35. At the Secret U.S. Classic a month later, she added onto her score, bringing in a 52.45 and competing nicely across all four events.

Making it to U.S. Championships in your first elite year is no easy feat, and Elena should showcase great routines this week, especially on bars, where she competes a great Tkatchev, pak salto, and double layout dismount. She also shows a knack for fluid movement on beam and floor.

Her difficulty isn’t enormous but she has some of the best execution you’ll see – her beam execution at the American Classic was one of the highest in the competition, as was her bars execution at the Secret Classic. Definitely watch for this as a highlight this week!

We talked to Elena right as she was getting ready to leave for Pittsburgh to catch up with her about her thoughts on her performance in Chicago, how her training has been going in the past couple of weeks, and her goals for this week and beyond!

How did you feel about your performance at Classics? What was the highlight of your competition?

I am happy with my performance at Classics, although I did have a few errors. I think that I could’ve done much better on beam and floor, but overall I’m happy with how I did. My highlight of the competition was my vault because at the American Classic it wasn’t very strong. I knew it was important to show a good vault at the U.S. Classic to redeem myself!

What was your favorite thing about the experience of being at Classics in general?

It was really cool meeting all of the famous gymnasts and being on the podium competing with all the awesome junior international gymnasts.

What was one thing that you came away from knowing you had to work on the most?

I knew I had to arch my double layout off bars in order to get credit for a double layout and not a double pike. I’ve worked on that and can’t wait to compete it!

How has training been going for you leading up to nationals?

Training has been awesome! I’ve been hitting most every routine and feel very confident going into nationals.

What are your expectations or goals for nationals?

My expectations are to hit all my routines and my goal is to get a medal.

Similar to some other top gymnasts, your dad is one of your coaches. What is the biggest benefit do you think you get from having a parent in the gym with you?

I feel that my dad is always going to want what is best for me and he wants me to always do my best. He has high expectations for me and I think that’s really important.

What are your favorite events and skills? Do you have any dream skills you’d like to someday compete?

My favorite event is bars and my favorite skill is a Tkatchev! In the future I’d like to have an inside stalder, a double full on vault, and a three part series on beam.

What gymnast past or present is your biggest inspiration in the sport and why?

My favorite gymnast/inspiration is Nastia Liukin!!! She was so pretty to watch and super flexible! I love watching videos of her doing bars, too. My goal is to meet her someday! 🙂

What are three words you can use to describe yourself as a gymnast?

Focused, hard worker, dedicated

If you could have your perfect gymnastics career in the future, what would this look like to you?

In the future I’d like to make a World or Olympic team!

Article by Lauren Hopkins