As Charleigh Bullock stood on the awards podium at the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships a month after turning 16, parents Chad and Lorraine reflected.
“We know the challenges and struggles that she’s gone through to try to get there,” Chad said.
Bullock finished third in the all-around in Phoenix last month, the highest placement for a woman in her senior debut season since Suni Lee’s runner-up finish at nationals in 2019.
Now Bullock, who got her learner’s permit after nationals, has a chance to become the youngest U.S. woman to make a World Gymnastics Championships team since 2018 (Kara Eaker, Grace McCallum).
She’s part of a field of 12 for a competition on Wednesday and Thursday in Crossville, Tennessee, the last event to determine the five-woman team for the Oct. 17-25 Worlds in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The top two women in the all-around combining scores from the U.S. Championships in August (40%) and from day one of the selection competition (60%) automatically make the team.
A committee picks the last three members, plus alternates.
Bullock surprised herself by placing third at the U.S. Championships, though she went into her senior nationals debut as a contender.
Back in February, she took second at Winter Cup in her first senior competition, outscored only by two-time U.S. all-around champion Hezly Rivera. Then in June, she was second again at the Pan American Championships, ahead of more experienced gymnasts from Brazil and Canada.
Bullock had the top uneven bars score at all four of her domestic meets in 2025 as a junior. She has developed on other events, too. She ranked fourth on balance beam and fifth on floor exercise at nationals.
“I’ve definitely been known for my bars, but I think I’m getting everything else better, too, and I want to be known as a really strong all-arounder,” she said.
Bullock, from Spotsylvania, Virginia (halfway between Richmond and D.C.), started learning gymnastics before she could walk. Credit sister Chloe, who is seven years older and taught her younger sibling at home.
Bullock’s parents remember her pulling up and dangling off anything she could -- banisters, tables, even her sister’s mini set of bars at home.
She began tumbling in a gym around 4 or 5. By 6, she earned her first perfect 10 on bars.
Charleigh Bullock got her first perfect 10 on the uneven bars at 6 years old.
Courtesy Bullock family
At 13, she was second in the junior division at the 2024 Core Hydration Classic, a primary tune-up meet for junior nationals.
But a month later came the major challenge that dad Chad referenced. Bullock, after dealing with knee pain for a while, underwent surgery to reattach cartilage that had broken off.
Her parents remember Bullock’s determination through physical therapy and recovery, relying on her faith.
Bullock was separated from gymnastics for the longest stretch since she began mimicking her older sister as a toddler.
In February 2025, she competed for the first time since the surgery eight months earlier. Bullock won the junior uneven bars at Winter Cup, starting that streak of bars titles.
Then in August 2025, she won both the U.S. junior title on bars and five gold medals at the Junior Pan Am Games (team, all-around, bars, beam and floor).
Bullock, who is home-schooled, honed her talent the last eight years at Capital Gymnastics in Virginia. She wakes up at 5:45 and commutes up to two hours
each way (depending on Interstate 95 traffic), up to six days per week.
She passes the time as her parents drive by eating meals, napping and doing leg compression therapy.
Bullock went into her first senior season in 2026 with a goal to make the senior national team of more than 10 gymnasts. She checked that off with the runner-up at February’s Winter Cup.
Now, after stepping on the podium at her first senior U.S. Championships in August, she is in contention to make the five-woman world team.
“It’s like a dream,” mom Lorraine said. “Never would we have ever thought that the first year will go this way.”
Her parents acknowledge there are more short-term aspirations over the next two years. As well as a long-term one.
“Her goal has been 2028 for a long time,” Lorraine said. “Forever, she has wanted to go to the Olympics.”
