MyKayla Skinner

Skinner was the junior individual all-around champion of the 2011 American Classic.[9][10]

She was named to the Junior US National Team after finishing tenth in the all-around and second on vault at the National Championships.[11][12][13]

Skinner became a member of the U.S. senior national team in 2012.[5] She was a member of the winning U.S. squad at the City of Jesolo Trophy in March. In June, she finished 15th all around at the U.S. Nationals and third on vault.[14][15] She had hoped to make the 2012 US Women's Olympic Team but was not selected to compete at the Olympic Trials.[2][16][17]

Skinner competed at the Fiesta Bowl in early 2013, winning every individual event except for the floor exercise where she tied for eighth place.[18] At the 2013 P&G Championships she placed third on vault and floor. She finished sixth in the all-around.

Skinner was a member of the winning U.S. squad at the City of Jesolo Trophy in March, where she won the gold on vault and floor exercise and placed fourth in the all-around.

In August and September, Skinner competed at the Pan American Championships in Mississauga, Canada. She helped the American team place first in the team competition. Individually, she placed first in the all-around competition with a score of 56.850.[19] In the event finals, she placed first on vault scoring 15.037, seventh on balance beam scoring 13.475, and first on floor scoring 14.750.[20]

Skinner was selected to compete at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China.[21] She won a gold medal with the U.S. in the team competition, contributing a score of 15.775 on vault and 14.666 on the floor.[22] In the event finals, Skinner won a bronze medal in the vault, with a score of 15.366,[23] and placed fourth in the floor exercise final, scoring a 14.700, losing out on a second bronze medal to Aliya Mustafina who had a score of 14.733.[24][25]

Skinner competed at the 2015 AT&T American Cup, held in Arlington, Texas, on March 7, 2015.[26] She placed second to Simone Biles in that event with a score of 57.832.

On July 25, at the U.S. Secret Classic, competing on a recently injured ankle, Skinner finished 7th in the all-around with a score of 55.500. On beam, she had a fall on her back-handspring tuck full series. She had a stable routine the rest of the way and scored a 12.800, placing 12th on the event. On floor exercise, one of her best events, she threw in her Moors (double twisting double layout) and her Silivas (double twisting double tuck), but she watered down her last two tumbling passes to protect her ankle from further injury. She fell on her double tuck and scored a low 13.500 from a 6.3 start value, placing 9th on the event. She scored a 15.100 on her Cheng vault and a 14.800 on her double-twisting Yurchenko, for an average of 14.950 and placed second. She ended on bars with a more difficult routine and scored a respectable 14.100, placing her 10th.[27]

Skinner was named to the Senior National Team once again and was invited to the 2015 Worlds Selection Camp in September, followed by another camp in early October. On October 8, she was named as an alternate to the USA team for the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, and she did not compete or participate in qualifications.

At the 2016 U.S. National Championships, Skinner finished 10th in the all-around and won a silver medal on vault and a bronze medal on floor exercise. She finished her senior career with nine total medals at the U.S. National Championships.

Skinner then competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials, where she finished fourth in the all-around. On July 10, Skinner was named as an alternate to the 2016 Olympic team alongside Ashton Locklear and Ragan Smith.

In November 2014, Skinner signed a National Letter of Intent for the University of Utah and the Utah Red Rocks program.[28] Skinner was recruited along with[29] Shannon McNatt, MaKenna Merrell, and Erika Muhaw as Utah looked to fill gaps left by the graduation of four of its seniors, including Georgia Dabritz and Tory Wilson. Utah coach Greg Marsden said that Skinner was "one of the top gymnasts in the world" with "the potential to get even better as a result of her passion for the sport. She loves to flip and twist."[30] In April 2015, Skinner announced that she would defer enrolling at Utah by a year to concentrate on making the 2016 Olympic team.[31]

Skinner enrolled at the University of Utah in 2016, as a member of its NCAA women's gymnastics team and competed in the all-around.[32] During her freshman season Skinner won 43 total events. She was the Pac-12 champion in the individual all-around and on vault and floor exercise. At the NCAA Championships, Skinner finished second in the individual all-around with a score of 39.6125, behind Alex McMurtry of Florida. She was the co-national champion on floor exercise with a 9.9625 alongside Ashleigh Gnat of LSU and was also fifth on vault and eighth on balance beam.[33] The following day, she led Utah to fifth place in the team competition finals.

In the 2018 season Skinner hit all 54 of her routines without a fall. At the PAC-12 Championships, she helped Utah finish in second place. Individually Skinner tied for first in the all-around alongside Kyla Ross of UCLA and tied for first on floor exercise alongside Katelyn Ohashi of UCLA and Elizabeth Price of Stanford.[34] At the 2018 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championship Skinner won silver in the all-around behind Maggie Nichols of Oklahoma and finished first on vault alongside Brenna Dowell of Oklahoma and Alex McMurtry of Florida.[35]

At the PAC-12 Championships Skinner scored her third career perfect 10 on floor exercise. She finished second in the all-around and in the team finals but won gold on floor and vault.[36] During the Regional Finals, Skinner fell on her uneven bars routine, ending her 161 routine streak without a fall, but setting a new record.[37] At the NCAA Championships Skinner placed seventh in the all-around after a subpar beam routine. She recorded the second highest vault and floor exercise scores but placed fifth due to four gymnasts tying for the title. Utah ended up finishing fourth in their semifinal and did not advance to Four on the Floor.[38]

On April 25, 2019, Skinner officially confirmed her intention to return to elite gymnastics to make a run at the 2020 Olympics.[39] She was invited to attend the June national team training camp, which was her first training camp since coming back to the elite level.[40]

In July 2019, Skinner made her return to elite competition at the GK US Classic. She performed on vault, beam, and floor. On vault, she scored a 14.900 for her Amanar, the second highest single vault score behind Simone Biles and tied with Jade Carey. On beam and floor, she placed eleventh and fourteenth, respectively.[41]

At the 2019 U.S. National Championships, Skinner competed all four events on the first day of competition and ended the night in ninth place, tied with Grace McCallum.[42] On the second day of competition, she fell off the balance beam and placed eighth in the all-around and won bronze on vault behind Simone Biles and Jade Carey. As a result, she was added to the national team.[43]

In September Skinner competed at the US World Championships trials where she placed fourth in the all-around behind Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, and Kara Eaker. The following day she competed on bars and beam, posting the fourth highest beam score behind Biles, Eaker, and Morgan Hurd. Due to her performance, she was named to the worlds team to travel to the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart alongside Biles, Lee, Eaker, Jade Carey, and Grace McCallum.[44] She was named as alternate subsequently after podium training, with the US women then qualifying in first to the team final and securing the gold medal.[45]

In March Skinner was selected to compete at the International Gymnix meet in Montreal alongside Emily Lee, Lilly Lippeatt, and Faith Torrez.[46] While there she helped the USA win team gold and individually she placed second in the all-around behind Lee. Moreover, Skinner won the vault, uneven bars and floor titles in the event finals,[47] despite her Cheng being downgraded to a Khorkina.[48]

On March 26, 2020, following the postponement of the 2020 Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Skinner posted on Instagram that she is "still training for the Olympics but taking things one day at time!"[49]

In January 2021 Skinner revealed on Instagram that she was hospitalized with pneumonia that resulted from COVID-19.[50]