Jordan Chiles

A roundup of this week’s news, competitions, social media gossip, and more!

In the News

Jordan Chiles gets another chance for bronze. It’s been 84 years, but we finally have an update in Jordan Chiles‘ fight to reclaim her Olympic bronze medal! The jury in the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s hearing held immediately following the 2024 Olympic Games determined that the inquiry that raised Chiles’ score by a tenth was submitted four seconds too late, and her score was reverted back, taking her from third to fifth place. But now, Switzerland’s supreme court said its judges are going to examine new evidence that should prove Team USA made a timely appeal on behalf of Chiles, which could overturn the previous ruling and return the bronze to Chiles.

It could take another year for the court to review the evidence before a verdict is ready, but the court agreeing that the new video evidence could conclusively show that Chiles is the rightful winner of the bronze medal is a big step for her. In a statement to the media, USA Gymnastics said that they are pleased the court “recognized the flaws in the initial process” and that they “look forward to a fair arbitration that includes the clear evidence proving the inquiry…was filed well within one minute as required by FIG rules.”

I personally hope at this stage that if the court does decide to return the bronze medal to Chiles, they at least also let Ana Barbosu of Romania keep hers and just call it a tie. The inefficiencies, errors, and miscalculations throughout this entire 16-month process have been entirely at the hands of the competition judges and the courts, and both athletes have suffered enough. Even if one is determined to be the “rightful” medalist over the other, both should be recognized as medalists both in the history books and in terms of keeping physical medals.

Denelle Pedrick and Aline Friess announce retirements. Two top-level elite WAG athletes announced their retirements from the sport this past week, including Denelle Pedrick of Canada and Aline Friess of France.

Pedrick is notable in her career for having her biggest elite successes coming after she finished her collegiate career at Central Michigan University. She represented Canada internationally at the World University Games twice whlie a student, and then went full steam ahead back to elite afterwards, making her world championships debut in 2022 at the age of 23, helping Canada to the bronze medal, its first world medal in the team competition in history. She went on to win medals on vault and floor at the challenge cup in Osijek in 2023, and helped Canada to the silver medal at Pan Ams in 2024, wrapping up her international career.

Though Friess was one of France’s strongest juniors in her generation, she began to make a name for herself when she became a senior in 2019 and debuted a rudi on vault, making her impossible to leave behind on major international teams. She qualified to the all-around final at her first world championships that year, and she essentially made herself a lock for the Olympic team in 2021 thanks to her improved consistency and reliability across all four apparatuses. Though she competed at worlds once more in 2022, again making the all-around final, injuries heavily limited her throughout that quad, and she said in her Instagram post that while it’s difficult to leave the sport she’s devoted her life to, her body has been in so much pain and she can’t find any new goals to motivate her to continue.

Best of luck to both of these phenomenal athletes on the next steps in their journey!

Viktoria Listunova appeals for neutral status. Russian gymnast Viktoria Listunova, who was denied neutral status by World Gymnastics and is not eligible to compete internationally under the AIN designation, has appealed to CAS to reverse the decision.

The decision to not allow Listunova to compete after she was photographed during a Victory Day celebration wearing a “Z” on her jacket in 2022 is a controversial one, especially given that Angelina Melnikova – who trains at a military-funded sports club and briefly ran for local office for the pro-government United Russia party in addition to expressing pro-war views on social media – was approved.

World Gymnastics set the criteria for neutral status themselves, but don’t seem to be following it consistently, so I can see the CAS ruling in Listunova’s favor here, especially given that her sole infraction occurred when she was a minor. I’m personally not a fan of these muddy middle-ground bans on behalf of the IOC and World Gymnastics – the “bans” against Russia for drug offenses in 2020 and now for being an aggressor nation in its war against Ukraine show that Russia is more powerful than international governing bodies and that they’ll never have to follow a single rule and because they’ll never actually be punished. It’s weak and embarrassing, so my feeling here is either ban everyone, which is my preference in this case out of respect for the wishes of Ukrainian athletes, or ban no one, but since they’re already letting most Russians compete, I don’t see why Listunova needs to be the sole WAG scapegoat. If Melnikova’s allowed, Listunova should be as well.

Competition Updates

Handful of elites qualify at Biles Invitational. Senior Greta Krob and juniors Paisley Ritger, Ansley Stevens, Alexis Reiner, and Sydney Williams became the newest crop of gymnasts to earn their elite qualification scores at last week’s Biles Invitational, where an additional two athletes qualified at the Hopes level. [Recap] [Results] [Elite Tracker]

Eight athletes qualify to Winter Cup. USA Gymnastics announced that five men have been added to the all-around field at this year’s Winter Cup, including Zach Green, Cooper Kim, Max Odden, Jesse Pakele, and David Ramirez, with Ramirez and Kim added last week’s Stanford Open and the others via a combination of the four qualifiers held this month. Additionally, Arun Chhetri, Aaronson Mansberger, and Kaleb Palacio have qualified as specialists based on D-score cut-offs and finishing in the top two at various meets. [Stanford Open Results]

Shane Wiskus returns to competition. In the most crucial step since announcing his plans for an elite comeback, 2020 Olympian Shane Wiskus returned to competition at last weekend’s Sam Mikulak Invitational, where he posted an 80.550 in the all-around. I know the data is limited right now, but if you’re keeping track, that’s the highest score of the MAG season thus far! [Results coming soon!]

Upcoming Meets

Top 12 Series 1. The first regular season Top 12 meets for the MAG competitors kicks off on January 31 with four matches held throughout France, including Monaco at Sotteville, Elbeuf at Franconville, Oullins at Noisy le Grand, and Kingersheim at Bourges. A change to the MAG format this year includes the regular season getting cut from six meets to four meets, and each meet will now include all six apparatuses instead of three. Keep an eye out on the French federation’s event page for results.

Next Era National Qualifier. The third U.S. national elite qualifier for the WAG program takes place tomorrow, January 31, at the Next Era meet in Seattle, Washington, with the first session at 8:00 am and the second at 12:30 pm local time. No news about live scores yet, but we’ll keep you updated when we find them!

Houston National Invitational. This annual invitational got underway with the lower levels today, but the senior elites will compete tomorrow evening, and you always see a handful of U.S. and international competitors showing up to get a little warm-up in before the elite season gets underway. Live scores should be available via Meet Scores Online.

Must-See Content

Shane Wiskus – “The Comeback.” If you want to follow every step in Shane Wiskus’ elite comeback, you need to check out his YouTube series, where he chronicles his journey starting with getting back to basics six months ago. There are four episodes out right now, including a new one posted earlier this week, which focuses on him preparing for competition.

Article by Lauren Hopkins