Skye Blakely caps remarkable injury comeback with world gymnastics all-around title

American, 21, wins world all-around title in RotterdamBlakely ruptured achilles before 2024 Olympic trialsFirst US champion since Simone Biles three years agoSkye Blakely completed a sensational comeback from a ruptured achilles tendon to win the women’s all-around title at the World Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam on Friday, claiming the biggest individual prize in the sport outside the Olympics.The 21-year-old American scored 55.733 points across four apparatus to finish ahead of Russia’s Liudmila Roshchina (55.199), with China’s Ke Qinqin taking bronze (55.032). Continue reading…

The 21-year-old American claimed the world all-around title in Rotterdam, two years after a devastating injury ended her hopes of reaching the Paris Olympics Skye Blakely completed a sensational comeback from a ruptured achilles tendon to win the women’s all-around title at the World Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam on Friday, claiming the biggest individual prize in the sport outside the Olympics. The 21-year-old American scored 55.733 points across four apparatus to finish ahead of Russia’s Liudmila Roshchina (55.199), with China’s Ke Qinqin taking bronze (55.032). Blakely’s triumph came little more than two years after her Olympic ambitions were shattered when she ruptured her right achilles during floor exercise training, just two days before the US trials for the 2024 Paris Games.

The injury required surgery and ended a season in which she had finished runner-up to Simone Biles at the national championships. It was the second major setback of her career after she tore an elbow ligament while warming up for the Tokyo Olympic trials. “I already cried, but it just means the world to me,” Blakely said