In the competitive world of gymnastics, where aspirations of Olympic success frequently begin at a young age, a Missoula athlete has attracted the attention of none other than two-time Olympian Aly Raisman. The young gymnast’s career took a leap forward when she won Junior International Elite designation with USA Gymnastics at the Vegas Cup and followed by a junior position on the United States National Team.

The 15-year-old gymnast is now setting sight on global meets, while she gets casually spotted by the two-time Olympian on the internet,  making for an overwhelming show of support from Raisman herself.

Aly Raisman spots gymnastics talent online

Raisman has remained an active personality after retiring from gymnastics after the Rio Olympic Games in 2020. She stumbled across a shared TikTok video of the 2023 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships’ 6th all-around Reese Esponda on Twitter. Retweeting the post captioned, “SHES 15?!?!??,” Raisman wrote, “Wow!!!!!!”

Esponda’s floor practice recording compilation was the highlight of the video, underlining her electric pace. Notably, floor and bars are her favorite routines, also seen by her successes so far. In addition, she is the first Montanan to achieve Elite status in almost four decades, according to Chris Bushard, one of her instructors at Roots Gymnastics in Missoula.

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Bushard highlighted, “Probably less than 1% of kids ever achieve Elite status in gymnastics. And probably less than 1% of clubs ever have a gymnast make it that far.” Esponda comes off victorious post a prime gymnastics year last season, with junior division successes.

Reese Esponda’ 2023 records surmised

Following her success at the 2023 Core Hydration Classic, Reese’ secured first place in the floor exercise and second place in both the all-around and uneven bars in the Junior Division at the 2023 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships.

Earlier, she also won first place in floor exercise, fourth place in all-around, fifth place in balancing beam, and seventh place in uneven bars at the 2023 American Classic in Katy, Texas.

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Esponda’s outstanding performance in the 2023 Winter Cup, saw her place fourth in floor exercise in the Junior Division. Despite her remarkable victories, the gymnast stays focused on her objective, as her promise reads, “My current goal is to compete internationally.” And this young phenom has a lot of hope and expectations riding on her coattails and she looks fervent in fulfilling them.

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