U.S. all-around champion Konnor McClain posted that she will miss the world gymnastics championships that start in three weeks due to a back injury, writing that her season is “officially over.”
McClain, 17, was due to vie for a spot on the five-woman world team at a selection camp in two weeks.
“Although this is very upsetting after such a successful year,” she posted. “I’m ready to come back next year stronger and healthier!”
At the U.S. Championships in August, McClain edged Shilese Jones by .75 of a point after Jones fell on the last skill of her last routine of the competition.
McClain became the sixth woman to win the all-around in her senior nationals debut since 2000. The other five later won Olympic and/or world all-around titles, the most recent Simone Biles.
McClain, the 2019 U.S. junior all-around silver medalist, was originally too young for the Tokyo Olympics but became age-eligible when the Games were postponed one year to 2021. She skipped last year’s nationals (and a shot at Olympic Trials) to focus on 2024 after moving from West Virginia to Texas to train under Anna and Valeri Liukin, the parents of 2008 Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin.
A committee will choose the five-woman world team after the selection camp. The top all-around scorer on the first day of the two-day camp is guaranteed to be on the six-woman traveling team, with one of those six being designated an alternate.
McClain and Jones were followed in the U.S. Championships all-around standings by Tokyo Olympic team silver medalist Jordan Chiles, University of Florida freshman Kayla DiCello (who said at nationals that she did not plan to go for the world team) and Tokyo Olympic floor exercise champion Jade Carey.
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