Two-time national champion Brody Malone is leading after the first two nights at the 2024 Xfinity U.S. Championships. The gymnast returned to his winning way in the 2024 season, earning bronze at the Winter Cup. However, his performance at the ongoing Xfinity Games looked like a distant dream about a year ago when he suffered a horrific leg injury. Thankfully, the Team USA gymnast had someone who never lost faith in him.

On 18th March 2023, Brody Malone suffered a horrific injury after falling during a high bar dismount. The Olympian suffered a right tibial plateau fracture, a meniscus tear, a partially torn PCL, and a fully torn LCL. However, the 24-year-old’s fiancée, Serena Ortiz, never doubted Brody’s ability to turn around as his career hung in the balance.

Brody Malone and Serena Ortiz: A love story that stood the test of time

As the Gymnastics World Championships gold medalist (horizontal bars) underwent three surgeries, Serena Ortiz stood by him as she had done for years. “My fiancée Serena, she’s amazing. She basically worked from home for two weeks flew out and took care of me,“ Brody Malone said on The Last in Line podcast.

Coincidentally, the couple grew up in Georgia, born a day apart from one another in January 2000. Serena Ortiz and Brody Malone met sometime in 2017 and started dating the same year. The gymnastics star’s 24-year-old girlfriend grew up in  Georgia. In fact, Ortiz graduated from Cherokee High School which is situated about an hour away from Malone’s Trion High School.

The Georgia resident graduated from Kennesaw State University in May 2022. “Even though I spent more time in the ATL airport than on campus, it’s been fun KSU,“ she wrote on Instagram. While Ortiz grew in her life and career, you could always find her cheering on Malone from his NCAA days, all the way to Tokyo and beyond.

Serena Ortiz has always been Brody Malone’s rock

Brody Malone and Serena Ortiz started dating when they were only 17. Since then, the couple has grown in aspects of their lives. However, despite the changes and challenges that life brought, they stuck together. Serena Ortiz cheered the gymnast during his medal-winning performances on the national and international stage. She was also there when the future looked bleak.

In 2023, Brody Malone underwent three back-to-back surgeries to extensively repair his leg. While it was the darkest time in his gymnastics career, Ortiz helped Malone from falling apart. After everything they went through, the couple got engaged on 31st December 2023. Brody expressed his gratitude toward Ortiz during the Last in Line Podcast.

“She waited for me hand over foot… I’m super, super grateful to have her in my life,“ Brody Malone said about his wife-to-be. So it’s safe to assume that no matter what direction Malone’s career takes, Serena Ortiz will be there to support him.