About a year ago, during her retirement, Helen Hu was nowhere near gymnastics and worked at a hostel in Ecuador. When she decided to come back to the Missouri Tigers for a fifth year, offered by the NCAA’s COVID-19 eligibility extension, it wasn’t merely about getting back on the beam—it was about rebuilding relationships with a team that had changed in her absence. Hu’s path to her return to NCAA gymnastics in 2025 has been as much learning her craft as learning how to coexist with her teammates. Her honest confession speaks to the vulnerability and determination that have characterized her return.

Helen Hu’s return to the Missouri program was not an easy homecoming. Following her retirement in 2023 and a year overseas, she came back to a team with many unfamiliar faces. To prepare, she took every NCAA-allowed trip to Columbia that fall semester, determined to meet her teammates and assess the team’s progress. Her initial visit in October established the tone. On the plane ride, she studied the roster of the team, committing names to memory like a student studying for an exam.

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They all knew my name, but I didn’t know half of theirs,” Hu admitted while talking to ESPN on 29th March 2025. The pressure to fit in weighed heavily. “It was so nerve-wracking; I didn’t want to mess up and call someone the wrong name. Even when we were cheering at practice, I’d wait for others to start just to make sure I wouldn’t yell the wrong one.” Her mindset reflected Hu’s emphasis on team chemistry, a rarely highlighted element of her return tale. Coming off an SEC beam title, and securing perfect 10s at the start of the season, Hu’s gymnastics success as an individual is impossible to deny,

The now ranked No. 2 in the nation on beam’s attempts to bond with her teammates show a deeper level of leadership. She wasn’t merely coming back to play, she was coming back to fit in. But one challenge loomed large: her dismount. After struggling with her previous gainer full, Hu took a bold step, teaching herself a new gainer pike dismount. “

We came up with this idea to try the gainer pike instead, which was intimidating because I haven’t learned a new beam skill in a lot of years,” she said. “It was a new challenge for me.” That willingness to evolve, even after years of mastery, mirrors the adaptability she’s shown off the floor.

Weekly check-ins with head coach Shannon Welker kept her tethered to the Tigers’ fortunes, and her individual training in Chicago, often at off-hours in the empty gyms—was a testament to her commitment to contributing in a significant way to the No. 7-ranked team striving for a spot in the NCAA championships. Working alone in Chicago, she refined her beam routine, sending videos to assistant coach Lacey Rubin—who joined Missouri after Hu’s 2023 exit—and consulting her old club coach for feedback.

Helen Hu earns SEC Event Specialist of the Year gymnastics honors

Helen Hu was named SEC Event Specialist of the Year, solidifying her position as one of the country’s best gymnasts. A balance beam specialist, Hu attained her third All-SEC Team award and her second Specialist of the Year, the first came in 2020. During the season, she broke several national and program records, highlighting her consistency and prowess. Hu spectacularly opened the year, earning the first perfect 10 of the 2025 season on beam during Missouri’s third meet at No. 1 Oklahoma. She followed that performance with consecutive scores of 9.975, maintaining her elite level.

In the Tigers’ final regular season meet at No. 16 Arkansas, she secured her second perfect 10, making her the only gymnast in the country to achieve two flawless scores on beam this season. Her superiority was further illustrated by a historic milestone. Getting five SEC Specialist of the Week awards made her the first gymnast in conference history to achieve such a feat. Hu also won a share of the SEC Beam Championship title and finished the season ranked second nationally on beam. With Hu’s accolades, Missouri Gymnastics continues to assert itself as a force to be reckoned with, having earned the SEC Specialist of the Year award three times in the last four seasons.

Missouri will soon turn its attention to the NCAA gymnastics Regional meet in Seattle as the second seed. They will face No. 10 Georgia (third seed), No. 21 Arizona, and No. 26 Arizona State on Friday, April 4 at 3 p.m. CT at Alaska Airlines Arena. The second quad meet features No. 2 Oklahoma (top seed), No. 15 Auburn (fourth seed), No. 20 Nebraska, and the dual meet winner between No. 29 Illinois and No. 35 UC Davis. The top two squads from each quad will move on to the NCAA Seattle Regional Final on Sunday, April 6 at 7 p.m. Hu’s outstanding campaign not only entrenches her legacy but also gives Missouri added momentum going into the postseason. With her, the Tigers have the potential to make a run deep into the NCAA tournament.