Two Gymnasts, Two Stories: Reese Esponda Wins, Katelyn Ohashi Finds Joy

Reese Esponda: "They’ve definitely made me so much more confident in myself"

Reese Esponda is a gymnast known for doing really powerful flips and jumps on the floor and on the vault (a vault is like a springboard where gymnasts leap over a table-like object).

Here is what happened with her:

• She won a big competition on Saturday.
• Before that, she got hurt and had to stop competing after doing really well at a contest called the Jesolo Trophy in Italy in late March.
• Her injury was to a ligament in her foot. A ligament is like a rubber band that connects bones. She had to wear a special boot to protect it.
• While she was healing, she used the time to practice the uneven bars (those are two horizontal bars at different heights).
• She started her competition in Hartford (a city) on the uneven bars and scored 13.050.
• Then she got 13.750 on the balance beam (a narrow beam to walk and flip on).
• She got 13.950 on the floor exercise (where gymnasts do dances and flips on a soft floor).
• The all-around title (a prize for the best total score across all events) was decided in the last round. She did a double-twisting Yurchenko (a fancy vault where you flip and twist twice) and scored 14.150.
• She was already ahead by 0.25 points before the last event, and her vault stretched her lead so she won by 0.850 points total.
• She said her coaches helped her believe she belonged there.

Important Point: Esponda said: "They definitely made me so much more confident in myself, [because] every day [they’re] telling me I’m good enough. I’m competitive out here, and I think what they’re saying is working."

Katelyn Ohashi: "Honestly, I couldn’t ask for anything more"

Katelyn Ohashi has a different kind of story.

• Until three weeks before this meet, she had not competed at the "elite level" (the top, most serious level of gymnastics) since 2013.
• In 2013, she won the American Cup (a big gymnastics contest) before a 16-year-old Simone Biles did. Simone Biles is now a super-famous gymnast.
• After that, Ohashi got injured and went to UCLA (a university) to do gymnastics there instead.
• In 2019, at UCLA, her floor routine got a perfect score of 10 and was watched hundreds of millions of times online.
• Before Hartford, she changed her floor routine from three tumbling passes (sequences of flips) to two, and focused more on dance and pretty movements—the stuff that made her famous.
• Her old UCLA coach, Valorie Kondos Field, came to the gym to help her that week.
• Ohashi said she felt she had a really solid meet (competition) and was proud of what she did this year.
• She loved the love from fans online and in person, especially hand-made signs people held up.
• She did not get a high enough score to qualify for the U.S. Championships (a bigger national contest), but she is not done.
• She is going back to the gym to add harder skills and try again for 2027.
• She said gymnastics makes her happy and that is what it is all about.

Important Point: Ohashi said: "It just makes me happy. And I think that’s what my gymnastics is about, is being happy and bringing the joy in."

What This Means in Simple Steps

1. Reese Esponda got hurt, practiced bars, came back, and won the all-around title in Hartford.
2. Katelyn Ohashi returned to elite gymnastics after many years, performed well, but missed the score to go to Nationals.
3. Both gymnasts showed that confidence and joy matter as much as medals.

Summary

Reese Esponda won the all-around at the Hartford meet after recovering from a foot injury and leaning on her coaches for confidence. Katelyn Ohashi returned to elite gymnastics for the first time since 2013, brought back her joyful style, but fell short of qualifying for the U.S. Championships. She plans to keep training for 2027. Both stories show different kinds of success: winning and finding happiness.

FAQ

Q: What is an all-around win in gymnastics?
A: It means a gymnast got the best total score after competing in all the events (like bars, beam, floor, and vault).

Q: Why did Reese Esponda wear a boot?
A: She hurt a ligament in her foot, and the boot helped it heal by keeping it safe.

Q: Who is Simone Biles?
A: She is a very famous American gymnast who was 16 when Ohashi beat her at the 2013 American Cup.

Q: Why did Katelyn Ohashi not go to the U.S. Championships?
A: Her score at Hartford was not high enough to qualify, but she will keep practicing for 2027.