“I never thought this could happen — ever,” McClain said. “Just looking back at last year and being where I was last year, this is just so crazy to me.”
McClain, in second place after the first day of competition, jumped into the lead when Jones fell on beam during the first rotation. Jones responded with standout performances on floor and vault, trimming her deficit to five-tenths of a point. In the final rotation, with Jones on bars and McClain on floor, Jones would have prevailed if both gymnasts repeated their routines from Friday. After McClain had an imperfect but solid floor routine, her gold medal hopes depended on how well Jones executed her usually excellent bars routine.
Jones floated through the air on her release elements with exquisite technique throughout, hitting vertical handstands and keeping her legs glued together. But on her final element, a double front tuck dismount, the 20-year-old sat to the ground, a major error that cost her the top spot on the podium. In an effort to stick the landing, Jones said, she opened from her tucked position “a tad bit early.” Jones won the silver with a 112.000, landing just ahead of Tokyo Olympian Jordan Chiles, who had a 111.900 in her impressive return to elite competition.
For McClain, a sudden decision to move from West Virginia to Texas propelled her to this moment. As she struggled last spring, she realized she needed a change and abruptly left her longtime club for World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Texas — with about 12 hours between the decision and her departure. She trains under Valeri and Anna Liukin, the parents of 2008 Olympic all-around champion Nastia Liukin, with a handful of other elite gymnasts. Since then, her mind-set has shifted and her confidence has grown.
After the switch, McClain had a difficult road here. Her dad, Marc, died in December from the coronavirus, and her grandmother died soon after — back-to-back devastating losses for the teenager.
“It’s been really a hell of a year,” Anna Liukin said. “This kid’s matured so much. You don’t wish it on anybody, but she really prevailed.”
McClain recently dealt with stress fractures in both shins, then a concussion and an illness. McClain said she felt “70, 75 percent” ready for this meet, with her primary focus on world championships selection this fall.
But at the U.S. championships, she looked prepared and confident. She flipped high above the beam on her difficult tumbling series, securing the top score on that apparatus in addition to her all-around crown. Her improved showing on bars, scoring a 14.050 compared with a 13.300 on Friday, gave her a boost. And in the end, her floor routine, with precise leaps and tumbling passes and only small hops on the landings, helped secure the title. She stumbled out of her wolf turn — a dance element done in a squatted position with one leg extended — but after Jones’s mistake, that lapse no longer mattered.
Once Anna Liukin realized the final result, she whispered to McClain: “Guess what? You won.” There’s no grand celebration, not when others are still competing, but McClain smiled amid her surprise.
McClain had a difficult time explaining what this meant to her, adding that it might take time to soak in. But when asked about the thoughts inside her head, she had a quick answer: “Honestly, I wish I could talk to my dad right now.”
Without Simone Biles here, this competition featured a cluster of gymnasts in a tight race for that top spot on the all-around podium. Entering Sunday, only 1.55 separated the top five gymnasts — Jones, McClain, Chiles, Kayla DiCello and Jade Carey — who all made it through the first day without major errors. DiCello placed fourth with a 110.950, just ahead of Carey in fifth with a 110.900. The 1.85 margin between first and fifth place is the smallest it has been at U.S. nationals since the open-ended scoring system was introduced in 2006.
“They’re going to continue to improve and be where they want to be for worlds,” said Chellsie Memmel, the technical lead of the women’s high performance team. “This isn’t necessarily the meet, especially for the seniors, the meet you want to peak at. I think there’s room for improvement for everyone, and they’re in a good spot.”
Another top American gymnast, Leanne Wong, scratched from the competition after two events Friday and performed only on bars and beam again Sunday. Wong, the world all-around silver medalist last year, won the U.S. Classic a month ago and would have been squarely in the mix for a medal here.
Despite the disappointing end for Jones, she had a weekend with plenty of highlights. Jones tied with Wong for the bars title, and her floor routines were filled with powerful tumbling, excellent technique and secure landings. Jones’s two-day total on the apparatus bested Carey, the Olympic gold medalist on floor, to win the title.
“Two falls and second place is really only the beginning for me,” Jones said.
Jones didn’t think she would be here. She had planned to contend for the U.S. Olympic team just once, even though her father, Sylvester, would try to convince her she was nowhere near the end of her elite career and that her dream could live on.
But everything has changed. Her entire life is different now. Jones’s dad died in December after a battle with kidney disease. The date of his death, written in Roman numerals, shined in rhinestones down her left sleeve as she delivered standout performances during both days of competition, despite a toe injury. Her dad’s words inspired her to keep going, to hold on to that Olympic dream he always believed she could achieve.
After missing out on even an alternate spot for the Tokyo Games, she’s back in the mix, nearing what could be her first world championships berth this fall. In Tampa, she proved she’s one of the nation’s best gymnasts, standing on the podium next to the other athlete who could understand the grief that pervaded her path to this accomplishment.