--- title: "Skye Blakely to contest all four events at the U.S. Championships in Phoenix; first elite all-around since Achilles tear" sdDatePublished: "2026-08-06T10:07:00Z" source: "https://www.olympics.com/en/news/2026-us-gymnastics-championships-skye-blakely-all-around-return-phoenix" topics: - name: "sport" identifier: "medtop:15000000" - name: "sport event" identifier: "medtop:20001108" - name: "sport achievement" identifier: "medtop:20001301" - name: "human interest" identifier: "medtop:08000000" - name: "injury" identifier: "medtop:20000456" locations: - "Los Angeles" - "Phoenix" - "Île-de-France" - "Indonesia" --- Skye Blakely to contest all four events at the U.S. Championships in Phoenix; first elite all-around since Achilles tear 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships: Skye Blakely eyes an all-around return in Phoenix 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships: Skye Blakely eyes an all-around return in Phoenix The two-time world team gold medalist will contest all four events at the U.S. Championships for the first time in elite competition since the Achilles injury that ended her Paris 2024 dream. Skye Blakely is whole again. Two years after an Achilles tear ahead of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials ended her Paris dream, Blakely will contest all four events at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Phoenix this week – her first elite all-around since the injury. "I'm just excited, most of all – just happy to be back," she said ahead of the meet, which runs 6-9 August at the Mortgage Matchup Center. "It's been a very measured return, slow and mindful of my body. So, for it all to come together, and for it to be [this week] that I get to fully return to doing what I love at the level that I love, I'm really excited and proud of the journey I've been on." The rebuild has been deliberate. Blakely moved to the University of Florida and coach Jenny Rowland , came back to elite last year on bars and beam alone, and made the 2025 world team, finishing fourth in the uneven bars final in Jakarta. At last month's U.S. Classic, she swept the titles on bars and beam – the only gymnast to top 14 on two events. Now comes the full return. "Even doing bars and beam has been a blast," she said, "but to be back on everything again, I just feel truly free, like released from some of the past." "Nothing in life is ever easy, and with an injury at the level of an Achilles tear, coming back for a normal person is not easy, much less for an elite athlete competing at the highest level," Rowland said. "This weekend isn't really that she is proving she can do four events. I look at it as she gets to celebrate how far she's come." Wednesday (5 August) in Phoenix, Blakely unveiled her floor routine composition. Her routine included three tumbling passes: a back one-and-a-half to front full, a double front, and a front double full, punch front. Vault will stay conservative. Blakely plans to compete her Lopez and hold the Yurchenko double back until she feels ready. The urgency is gone. She frames 2026 as a foundation for what she really wants, a place at the Olympic Games LA28 . "This is a foundational year to build back into all-around and doing all my events again," she said. "It's not only about how many medals I can win. It's how can I get back and learn and build off what I do this year, so I can be ready for next year, and then 2028." The college season, she said, taught her how to compete under pressure, and Rowland has seen the difference. "I can say it's a little easier seeing her so free, seeing her compete with confidence and a sense of maturity that Skye didn't really have before her injury," Rowland said. One event carries more weight than the rest. Blakely tore her Achilles on floor, and floor is where she most wants to be. "I really love dancing, and for it to be the event I got hurt on, I just want to get back on it and show myself that it's OK and I'm still capable of doing it," she said. "I am not afraid of it at all." Picture by Melissa J. Perenson