PHOENIX — Skye Blakely is in her first elite all-around competition in two years. Claire Pease was 10th at last year’s national championships.
They’re tied for the lead halfway through the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships, each seeking her first U.S. all-around title.
Blakely, 21, and Pease, 17, both scored 55.6 points on Friday.
Charleigh Bullock, a 16-year-old in her senior nationals debut, is in third place, trailing by two tenths going into the second and final day of competition on Sunday (6 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock).
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Blakely, a rising University of Florida junior, is competing in her first elite all-around since rupturing her right Achilles two days before the Olympic Trials in 2024, when she was poised to make her Olympic debut.
Blakely, the 2024 U.S. all-around runner-up to Simone Biles, competed strictly on balance beam and uneven bars at the 2025 U.S. Championships. She did return to tumbling on floor and vaulting this past winter during the NCAA season.
On Friday, she tied for the highest single vault score (14.2), plus tied for second on uneven bars (14.2) and was third on balance beam (13.75).
She said she almost cried over her return to full elite competition from the major injury.
“It was an adjustment,” she said. “I wasn’t really knowing exactly what to expect, but to go out there and compete how I did, I’m happy. I’m really proud of myself. It’s not easy, but I feel like I handled each moment to the best of my ability.”
Blakely can become the oldest first-time U.S. women’s all-around champion since 1971 (Linda Mulvihill) and just the second woman in her 20s to win it in the last 55 years after Biles.
The Texan Pease is looking for a bounce-back nationals.
In 2025, she won the U.S. Classic, the primary tune-up meet for U.S. Championships, then placed 10th at nationals and missed a selection competition for the 2025 World Championships due to a sprained ankle.
“That would definitely be like a dream to be on top,” said Pease, who was second on beam, uneven bars and vault on Friday.
The last time two women tied for the U.S. all-around title was 2004 (Carly Patterson, Courtney Kupets).
Bullock, 16, can become the first woman to win it in her senior debut season since Biles won the first of her record nine titles in 2013.
She had the top score on uneven bars (14.25), an event she won at her last five domestic competitions dating to the start of the 2025 season in the junior division.
“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.
Hezly Rivera, a 2024 Olympic team gold medalist and the 2025 U.S. all-around champion, is in fourth place. She was in contention for the day-one lead until she fell off the uneven bars in the third of four rotations.
Jade Carey, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who took 2025 off from elite competition, stands fifth in her hometown. Carey, who is still ramping up with an eye on 2028, had the highest vault average among the gymnasts who performed two of them.
Everyone is jockeying for spots on the five-woman team for October’s World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the first global championship with a team event since the Paris Games.
The U.S. roster will be chosen after a selection competition in early autumn in Crossville, Tennessee, though results from nationals will also factor in.
The U.S. Championships continue Saturday with the last day of men’s competition, live at 7:30 p.m. ET on Peacock and NBCSN.
