Hezly Rivera wins 2nd straight U.S. women's gymnastics title - ESPN

PHOENIX — Hezly Rivera listened more than she talked two summers ago in Paris when she was the «wait, who?» member of the star-laden U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics team.

Those days are over. Long over.

The wide-eyed newcomer is gone, replaced by a poised and professional 18-year-old who is embracing her role as the leader of the sport's next wave as the 2028 Olympics approach.

The proof was on display during the final round of the U.S. gymnastics championships on Sunday, when Rivera — still not quite 100% while recovering from a hamstring injury sustained at the Pan Am Games in June — won her second straight national title with a poised and polished performance that solidified her status as the current face of a women's program two years out from the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

Rivera's two-day total of 111.950 was more than a point clear of runner-up Claire Pease, making Rivera the first American woman not named Simone Biles to go back-to-back since former world and Olympic champion Jordyn Wieber did it in 2011 and 2012.

Heady company to be sure, but company in which Rivera increasingly feels like she belongs. It might not have seemed like it in the summer of 2024 when she ceded the spotlight to her more accomplished teammates, but the relentlessly upbeat Texan has no problem admitting these days she wants to lead from the front.

«I am comfortable with it,» she said. «And I just love kind of being a leader in a way.»

Anna Liukin, who coaches Rivera alongside her husband Valeri, called Rivera «motherly.» Rivera laughed when the description was passed along because well, it's strange to hear as a teenager. Yet in many ways, it's applicable.

Lee and Jade Carey helped Rivera navigate her way through the sport's biggest