Konnor McClain
Konnor McClain (born February 1, 2005) is an American artistic gymnast and a member of the United States women's national gymnastics team. She is the 2019 City of Jesolo Trophy and the 2019 U.S. Classic Junior All-Around Champion.
Konnor McClain | |||||||||||
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![]() McClain at the 2019 Junior World Championships | |||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||
Full name | Konnor McClain | ||||||||||
Country represented | ![]() | ||||||||||
Born | Las Vegas, Nevada USA | February 1, 2005||||||||||
Hometown | Cross Lanes, West Virginia USA | ||||||||||
Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||
Level | Senior International Elite | ||||||||||
Years on national team | 2018–present (USA) | ||||||||||
Club | WOGA | ||||||||||
College team | LSU Tigers (verbal commit) | ||||||||||
Head coach(es) | Valeri Liukin | ||||||||||
Former coach(es) | Susan Brown | ||||||||||
Medal record
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Early life
McClain was born to Marc and Lorinda McClain in 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada. She has three siblings.[1] Her family moved to West Virginia when she was three years old.[2] She trains at WOGA in Plano, Texas under coach Valeri Liukin. [3]
Gymnastics career
2015–16
In 2015 McClain was part of the Junior Olympic Program and competed at various HOPEs competitions. She competed at the 2015 HOPES Championships where she placed second on balance beam, behind Ciena Alipio, fourth in the all-around, fifth on vault, and seventh on floor exercise.[4] In 2016 she competed the 2016 Hopes Championships where she placed first in the all-around, on vault, balance beam, and uneven bars, and second on floor exercise.[5]
2017
In 2017 McClain qualified for junior elite status at the Brestyans National Qualifier.[6] She also competed at the KPAC National Qualifier and the Parkettes National Qualifier. She made her elite debut at the American Classic where she place 21st in the all-around.[7] In late July she competed at the 2017 U.S. Classic where she placed 24th in the all-around, tying with Kayla DiCello.[8]
2018
In early 2018 McClain competed at the Buckeye National Qualifier and International Gymnix, where she won silver on floor exercise behind Irina Alexeeva. In early July, she competed at the American Classic where she placed second in the all-around behind Kayla DiCello.[9] Later that month she competed at the 2018 U.S. Classic where she only competed three events but won bronze on the uneven bars behind DiCello and Jordan Bowers.[10] In August McClain competed at the 2018 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships. She finished in fifth place in the all-around and won gold on balance beam. As a result she was added to the national team for the first time.[11]
2019
In February, McClain was named to the team to competed at the 2019 City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy, alongside Kayla DiCello, Ciena Alipio, and Sophia Butler.[12] While there she helped the USA win team silver behind Russia and individually she gold in the all-around, ahead of Russian Vladislava Urazova, and on vault ahead of Russian Viktoria Listunova and teammate Alipio. She also won bronze on uneven bars, behind Urazova and Russian Elena Gerasimova and on floor exercise behind Listunova and Urazova.[13]
In June McClain competed at the Junior World Championships Trials where she placed fourth in the all-around and was named as the alternate for the inaugural Junior World Championships.[14] In July she competed at the U.S. Classic where she won gold in the all-around, on vault, and on balance beam.[15]
In August McClain competed at the U.S. National Championships. After the first day of competition she recorded a score of 56.500 and was in first place.[16] During the second day of competition scored a 56.100, giving her a total combined score of 112.600 which won her the silver medal in the all-around behind Kayla DiCello. McClain won gold on balance beam, silver on vault behind DiCello, and silver on uneven bars behind Olivia Greaves, and placed sixth on floor exercise. She was added to the junior national team.[17]
2020
In March McClain was selected to compete at International Gymnix, taking place in Montreal alongside Skye Blakely, Kaliya Lincoln, and Katelyn Jong.[18] While there she helped the USA win team gold and individually she won silver in the all-around behind Blakely and gold in all four event finals.[19]
2021
McClain made her senior debut at the 2021 Winter Cup, in which she competed on vault and beam. She earned the third highest score on vault behind Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey, and also finished fourth on beam behind Skye Blakely, Chiles, and Sunisa Lee.[20] McClain was one of five gymnasts featured on the Peacock docuseries Golden: The Journey of USA's Elite Gymnasts.[21] After a subpar performance at the U.S. Classic McClain had announced she was switching gyms to train at WOGA with Valeri Liukin as her coach.[22] In August McClain verbally committed to compete for the LSU Tigers gymnastics team.[23]
In October McClain was selected to compete at the 2021 World Championships alongside Leanne Wong, Kayla DiCello, and eMjae Frazier. As a result she was re-added to the national team.[24] At the World Championships McClain finished eighth on balance beam during qualifications; however she did not advance to the event final due to teammates Wong and DiCello scoring higher.
2022
McClain competed at the 2022 Winter Cup and won the all-around competition ahead of Skye Blakely and eMjae Frazier. As a result she was selected to compete at the upcoming DTB Pokal Team Challenge in Stuttgart alongside Blakely, Frazier, Nola Matthews, and Ashlee Sullivan.[25] At the DTB Pokal Team Challenge McClain helped team USA win gold. Individually she won gold on balance beam and silver on floor exercise behind Angela Andreoli. In April McClain competed at the 2022 City of Jesolo Trophy alongside Frazier, Shilese Jones, Zoe Miller, and Elle Mueller. Together they won the team event with score 164.065. Individually McClain won all-around title with a score of 54.999 and also took the gold medal on balance beam (13.850) and floor exercise (13.900).[26]
Selected competitive skills
Apparatus | Name | Description | Difficulty[lower-alpha 1] | Performed |
---|---|---|---|---|
Vault | Baitova | Yurchenko entry, laid out salto backwards with two twists | 5.4 | 2021–22 |
Uneven Bars | Church | Pike sole circle (toe-on circle) backward - counter piked reverse hecht | E | 2021–22 |
Piked jaeger | Reverse grip swing to piked salto forwards to catch high bar | E | 2021 | |
Van Leeuwen | Toe-on Shaposhnikova transition with ½ twist to high bar | E | 2022 | |
Balance Beam | Layout | Laid out salto backwards with legs together (to two feet) | E | 2021–22 |
Double Pike | Dismount: Double piked salto backwards | E | 2021–22 | |
Shishova | Salto bwd tucked with 1/1 twist | F | 2021–22 | |
Floor Exercise | Double layout | Double layout salto backwards | F | 2021–22 |
Chusovitina | Full-twisting (1/1) double laid out salto backwards | H | 2022 |
- Valid for the 2017-2020 Code of Points
Competitive history
Year | Event | Team | AA | VT | UB | BB | FX |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Junior | |||||||
2017 | American Classic | 21 | 11 | 6 | 34 | 17 | |
U.S. Classic | 24 | 26 | 43 | 12 | 27 | ||
2018 | International Gymnix | 14 | 4 | ![]() | |||
American Classic | ![]() | 7 | ![]() | ![]() | 7 | ||
U.S. Classic | 11 | ![]() | 23 | ||||
U.S. National Championships | 5 | 9 | 4 | ![]() | 9 | ||
2019 | City of Jesolo Trophy | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | 6 | ![]() |
Jr. World Championships Trials | 4 | ||||||
Junior World Championships | ![]() | ||||||
U.S. Classic | ![]() | ![]() | 12 | ![]() | 4 | ||
U.S. National Championships | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | 6 | ||
2020 | International Gymnix | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Senior | |||||||
2021 | Winter Cup | ![]() | 4 | ||||
U.S. Classic | 34 | 29 | |||||
World Team Trials | 4 | ||||||
2022 | Winter Cup | ![]() | 17 | ![]() | ![]() | ||
DTB Pokal Team Challenge | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||||
City of Jesolo Trophy | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
- McClain was the team USA alternate
References
- "Konnor McClain". USA Gymnastics.
- "Konnor McClain, rising U.S. gymnast, focuses on 2024 Olympic cycle". NBC Sports. June 2, 2021.
- "From Plano to world championships: Elite gymnast Konnor McClain's abrupt move to WOGA 'all worth it'". Dallas News. 2021-10-15. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
- https://usagym.org/PDFs/Results/w_15susc_hopes10-11.pdf
- https://usagym.org/PDFs/Results/w_16hopeschamps.pdf
- "2017 Brestyan's National Qualifier Results". The Gymternet. February 16, 2017.
- "2017 American Classic Results". The Gymternet. July 9, 2017.
- "2017 U.S. Classic Results". The Gymternet. July 31, 2017.
- "American Classic Hopes Classic Meet Results" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. July 7, 2018.
- "2018 GK U.S. Classic Meet Results" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. July 28, 2018.
- "2018 U.S. Championships - Women Day 2 Meet Results - Multi" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. August 19, 2018.
- "USA Gymnastics announces women's spring international team assignments". USA Gymnastics. February 24, 2019.
- "USA wins senior team title at 2019 Jesolo Trophy, captures 14 other medals". USA Gymnastics. March 3, 2019.
- "2019 U.S. Junior Worlds Trials Results". The Gymternet. June 15, 2019.
- "Biles, McClain win all-around titles at 2019 GK U.S. Classic". USA Gymnastics. July 20, 2019.
- "Biles leads women's all-around at mid-point of 2019 U.S. Championships". USA Gymnastics. July 9, 2019.
- "Biles soars to sixth U.S. women's all-around title at 2019 U.S. Championships". USA Gymnastics. August 11, 2019.
- "U.S. women to compete in 2020 Gymnix International". USA Gymnastics. March 3, 2020.
- "USA wins senior and junior team titles, 10 individual titles at 2020 Gymnix International". USA Gymnastics. March 9, 2020.
- "2021 Winter Cup Senior Women Results" (PDF). USA Gymnastics.
- "Peacock Lays Out Olympics "Destination" With Live Shows, Five New Channels, Original Programming". Deadline Hollywood. June 23, 2021.
- "Konnor McClain, rising U.S. gymnast, focuses on 2024 Olympic cycle". NBC Sports. June 2, 2021.
- "Five-Star Konnor McClain Commits to LSU for 2024 Season". College Gym News. August 14, 2021.
- "Olympic alternates DiCello, Wong headline U.S. team for 2021 Women's Artistic World Championships". USA Gymnastics. October 9, 2021.
- "World team members Frazier, McClain headline women's contingent for upcoming DTB Pokal Team Challenge and Mixed Cup in Stuttgart". USA Gymnastics. March 1, 2022.
- "U.S. athletes earn 14 medals, six gold, on final day of 2022 City of Jesolo Trophy". USA Gymnastics. April 10, 2022.