In a sport where routines can often seem repetitive, the classes of 2024, 2025, and 2026 are breaking the mold with a refreshing array of unique skills and daring combinations. We scoured the latest recruits to bring you a list of standout gymnasts whose innovative performances are sure to captivate and inspire. From rare elements to bold new twists, these athletes are redefining what it means to compete at the collegiate level. Dive in and discover the recruits with unique skills that you won’t want to miss!
Vault
Madison Boston
College: Uncommitted
Class: 2025
A Yurchenko double twist is rare in college, so it would be wonderful if Boston could bring hers to the NCAA. While her default vault is a Yurchenko full (she debuted her double only at nationals in May), we would love to see her landing the more difficult version more frequently next season.
Anna Flynn Cashion
College: Kentucky
Class: 2024
A handspring front pike half is not that rare in college, but it’s always nice to see front-entry vaults popping up amongst the more common Yurchenko entries. Kentucky has recently relied more heavily than most teams on this kind of vault, so Cashion will fit right in.
Guilianna Fiorillo
College: Oregon State
Class: 2024
Who doesn’t love an Omelianchik? Fiorillo competes one of the best ones, thanks to her block, amplitude, straight legs, and ability to find the landing. It earned her two consecutive 9.9s at regionals and nationals this year. With Esposito, Carey, and Fiorillo anchoring vault, Oregon State’s back half of the lineup will be fire.
Bars
Addison Fatta
College: Oklahoma
Class: 2024
Fresh from competing at the U.S. national championships, Fatta is capable of a plethora of difficult skills and combinations. Both her Church to Pak salto and her Maloney to Gienger could find their way to college.
Ava Johnson
College: San Jose State
Class: 2025
It’s a Deltchev! Johnson performs a rare Detchev into a bail. We can’t wait to see it in college!
Ella Murphy
College: Oklahoma
Class: 2025
Murphy, a former elite, has brought some of her world-class difficulty to level 10, including a rarely competed Komova II. We would love to see her competing it in college. Similarly to Audrey Davis’s eagle grip, it would add a touch of elite virtuosity to the NCAA.
Beam
Skye Blakely
College: Florida
Class: 2024
One of the top beam workers in the world, Blakely competes a rare acrobatic series: a front handspring to front tuck. The series could be changed in college for consistency’s sake, but we would love to see it stick around.
Amelia Disidore
College: Florida
Class: 2025
Disidore is a master of unusual combinations on beam. She competes a roundoff to layout to two feet and a unique handstand to back handspring. This elite season she was limited to bars, but we hope to see her back in action on beam next year.
Levi Jung-Ruivivar
College: Stanford
Class: 2024
Jung-Ruivivar, who qualified to the Olympics for the Philippines, can compete a lot of difficult skills and combinations on beam. Our favorites are an illusion turn and a side aerial to layout step-out. We would love to see at least one of these skills make their way to college.
Olivia Kelly
College: Missouri
Class: 2024
A former Barbados national team member, Kelly is capable of plenty of elite-level skills, including a double Arabian both off bars and on floor. It’s on beam, though, that we can find the rarest skill of her repertoire: an illusion. Will we see it in college? Missouri has a history of embracing unique beam routines—both alumna Helen Hu and fifth-year Mara Titarsolej competed unusual sets in the past. Will Kelly be next in line?
Avery King
College: Arkansas
Class: 2025
King is another former elite who, similar to Disidore, competes imaginative combinations. She performs a unique switch leap to layout step-out and a front handspring to front full dismount. We hope to see both of them in Fayetteville.
Emma Mason
College: Georgia
Class: 2024
Mason will bring a unique acrobatic series to Athens: a front handspring to side somi. She scored a career high 9.700 earlier this season, so expect her to debut on beam as a freshman.
CaMarah Williams
College: Uncommitted
Class: 2026
Wiliams is capable of a lot of unusual skills across the events, but the current talk of the town is her transverse back tuck. Will it become consistent enough to stick around in college? We certainly hope so!
Floor Exercise
Kamila Pawlak
College: Oklahoma
Class: 2025
A full-twisting double pike first pass is not extremely rare, yet when’s the last time you saw one in college? Pawlak’s is consistent enough that Oklahoma head coach KJ Kindler may deem it worth of competing. Although the Sooners have recently been resorting to a lot of “easier” twisting passes, they have never shied away from sound difficulty. Alumna Brenna Dowell’s eponymous front double pike comes to mind.
Avery Neff
College: Utah
Class: 2024
With a total of seven in her routine, Neff is a twisting extraordinaire. Her most unique and difficult pass is her first: a front full twist to front double twist. The most famous gymnast to compete this unusual pass was Nastia Liukin on her way to Olympic glory in 2008.
Tiana Sumanasekera
College: UCLA
Class: 2025
We tend not to list any twisting double layouts here because they tend to get downgraded to a “simple” double layout in college. Sumanasekera’s new full-twisting double layout, though, is so good that it may very well stay. It would be a surprise, but who doesn’t love that?
READ THIS NEXT: Next Stop Olympic Trials: Which Gymnasts Made a Case for Themselves in Fort Worth?
Article by Talitha Ilacqua
