Shrey Parikh, 14, wins Scripps National Spelling Bee in lightning round - ESPN

WASHINGTON — Shrey Parikh felt the pressure of arriving at the Scripps National Spelling Bee as a favorite, but his confidence showed every time he got a word he knew. And when it all came down to a lightning-round tiebreaker against Ishaan Gupta, Shrey left no doubt.

Shrey turned a tense, high-quality final into a blowout Thursday night, racing through the 90-second «spell-off» and getting 32 words right to be crowned the best young speller in the English language. Ishaan spelled 25 words correctly in the tiebreaker.

A 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California, Shrey finished third in 2024 but lost his school bee last year when he was battling a fever. He has dominated the bee circuit since, winning several online competitions against many of the same kids he outlasted this week in the nation's capital. His winning haul includes a custom trophy and $52,500 in cash.

«Right now I'm probably the happiest I've ever been. I'm just so happy and relieved, and just such a flood of emotions,» Shrey said. «At my school bee last year, I was really dejected and just very upset. It didn't even sink in until the next day. I had a really tough time, but I'm glad I was able to bounce back.»

Ishaan, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from Jersey City, New Jersey, was a semifinalist last year, outperformed some veteran spellers in the finals and has another year of eligibility left.

Sarv Dharavane, a 12-year-old sixth-grader from Dunwoody, Georgia, finished third for the second consecutive year and has two more years to improve that placement.

For the first time in the bee's history, second- and third-place finishers from the same year have gone on to win. Faizan Zaki won last year, and two years ago he was the runner-up, just ahead of