Hezly Rivera has withdrawn from the world championships because of a left ankle injury, removing the youngest member of the U.S. women’s 2024 Paris Olympics gold-medal team from the five-woman roster before qualifying.
The U.S. women are scheduled to compete in qualifying Sunday in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and they will do so while chasing their eighth straight world team title.
What changed for the U.S. team
Rivera’s withdrawal comes after she told reporters Thursday that she was “day-to-day” while dealing with ankle pain in training. Two days later, she was out of the lineup altogether, leaving the U.S. women to adjust the roster for the start of competition.
Rivera, an 18-year-old and two-time national all-around champion, was a key part of the team that won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Her absence is a notable change for a U.S. squad that had been counting on her experience despite her age.
The immediate question now is how the U.S. team handles the lineup without her as qualifying begins Sunday. One of the main storylines entering the meet was the pursuit of another world title; that task is still in place, but the roster is now different than expected.
With Rivera out, the focus shifts to the rest of the five-woman team and how the U.S. women navigate the opening round without one of their Olympic gold-medal contributors.
