Skye Blakely and Leanne Wong

21 senior athletes are set to compete at this weekend’s U.S. Classic held in Hartford, Connecticut, including world champions Skye Blakely and Leanne Wong for the first time at the elite level this season.

Both athletes, who represent the University of Florida, are automatically qualified to national championships thanks to their participation in Jakarta last year, and Blakely told us earlier this week that while her ultimate goal is returning to the all-around, we may just see her on two apparatuses this weekend. Wong’s situation is more of a mystery, though if there’s one thing I’ve come to learn from the four-time worlds team member and two-time Olympic alternate, it’s that if she’s going to show up to compete, she’s going to look pretty close to top shape.

Also on the roster is Olympic medalist Jade Carey, who made her post-Paris comeback at the American Classic a couple of weeks ago, finishing second in the all-around with watered down routines, along with American Classic champion Tatum Drusch, who looked excellent in her first time out this year in Minneapolis, 2025 worlds all-around, beam, and floor finalist Dulcy Caylor, and 2026 Pan Am champions Alessia Rosa and Simone Rose, along with teammate Lila Richardson, who ultimately didn’t compete in Rio due to an injury sustained in training.

We’ll also see Katelyn Ohashi‘s second time out since mounting a surprise comeback, and she told us last week that while she has a few additional skills and upgrades she’s considering for beam and floor this weekend, she’s going to take things one day at a time. Given that her difficulty on floor is pretty low with her current modified routine, it likely means that we won’t see her qualify to nationals this year, but she seems pretty okay with that, as this summer is more about getting her feet wet. Despite an overall lack of difficulty, her routines in Minneapolis looked polished and entertaining and though she has LA 2028 in her sights, the present moment seems to be more about having fun and getting comfortable as she tackles elite competition for the first time since 2013.

Notably missing in the senior field are some of this season’s top standouts, including Winter Cup champion Hezly Rivera, Pan Ams champion and runner-up Charleigh Bullock, 2025 worlds medalist Joscelyn Roberson and alternate Jayla Hang, and 2025 junior world vault champion Lavi Crain. Most of these athletes are qualified to nationals already, so we’ll hopefully see most of them in Phoenix, though Crain is not qualified and it looks like might ultimately be skipping her first senior season. My guess is that this could be related to the shutdown of GAGE due to the suspension of her coaches, which led to her training in France for a bit before ending up at World Champions Centre in March, but hopefully all is well and we’ll see her back in action soon.

The junior field includes 2026 Pan Am champions Amia Pugh-Banks, Addalye VanGrinsven, and Sydney Williams, Winter Cup champion Kylie Smith, and American Classic champion Madelyn Eagle.

Podium training will take place today, July 17, at 10 am for the juniors and at 1 pm for the seniors. We’ll be coming to you live from Hartford and will share updates about the field in advance of the competition, which takes place tomorrow, July 18, with the juniors hitting the floor at 2 pm and the seniors following at 7 pm (all times ET). All live streaming and scoring information can be found on the USA Gymnastics event page.

See below for a full list of competitors. Asterisks represent athletes who have not yet qualified to national championships, with this weekend’s competition the final chance for them to do so. For more information, check out our elite tracker!

*Not yet qualified to nationals

*Not yet qualified to nationals

Article by Lauren Hopkins