Beneath the glare of the gym lights, this 17-year-old gymnast poured every ounce of her passion into those last tumbling passes, dreaming of wearing red, white, and blue at the U.S. Olympic Trials. But when the final scores came in, her all‑around ranking fell just short of the strict cut‑off. Despite her brilliance at events like Pacific Rim, the numbers in key national meets simply didn’t earn her a spot. That moment, so close to the opportunity every athlete cherishes, crushed her, yet sparked a fire in her soul. She walked away heartbroken, but with the hunger to do better. So when the opportunity knocked, she made sure she was making headlines in the 2025 Pan American Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Who and how did she perform?

The 2025 Pan American Artistic Gymnastics Championships took place from June 12 to June 15, 2025, at the Centro de Convenciones Atlapa in Panama City, Panama, and the U.S. men’s and women’s delegations swept team titles. And the big name that helped the USA dominate the championship? Jayla Hang – the very same athlete whose Parisian dream was crushed because she fell short of scores for the Olympic team trials. USA Gymnastics made sure they thanked her well enough. Taking to their official X account, they uploaded a video of the young gymnast performing on the vault. But the twist here was, she kept transitioning into her three days at the Pan Am. 

They wrote, “Can we take a minute for Jayla Hang doing three straight days of All-Around at the Pan American Championships 🤯All-Around Final ➡️ 55.300 Team Finals ➡️ 55.666 Event Finals ➡️ 54.332.” On June 13, Jayla began the competition in top form, delivering an outstanding all-around score of 55.300. She topped all qualifiers on uneven bars (13.867) and floor exercise (13.767), was No. 2 on balance beam (13.733) and third on vault (13.700; 13.933, 13.067).

The very next day, the 17-year-old took the floor again, this time as part of Team USA. She contributed a score of 55.666, helping power the U.S. women to the team gold. She closed out the championships with a statement. She claimed silver on beam with a steady 13.233. On vault, she delivered a 14.133 and 13.167 for a 13.850 average and the bronze. Then came bars—sharp, clean, confident. A 13.533 earned her another silver, standing beside gold medalist Gabrielle Hardie. Three events, three medals. 

This performance at Pan Am gymnastics is her answer to her past self, who could not make it to the Olympics, though the banner is not as big as the grandest stage of all, it is still a great start after her 2024 Paris Olympics heartbreak. After that, she stood up tall to all the statements she had made.

A setback wasn’t going to define her gymnastics career

“I’m definitely more confident in just knowing that I’m meant to be here,” Hang told Olympics.com in an interview in April 2025 “What I work so hard for, it’s paying off in these smaller milestones – and it’s pushing me to take these accomplishments and use it for motivation to get to my higher goals.” What were these smaller milestones? These included a second-place finish all-around at the Winter Cup in mid-February and gold medals at the World Cups in Antalya, Turkey, and Osijek, Croatia.

Her coach, Cale Robinson, said her amazing start this season really began at a national training camp in February, where she got to compete twice in the all-around. He explained that they used that camp to help her stay calm under pressure and focus on her work in a more thoughtful, steady way. Instead of stressing about results, she’s now more focused on how to get there. “She’s created a process for herself, and I think she just carried that into the World Cup environments,” he said.

Agreeing with him, the 17-year-old said, “I’ve been really nervous getting back out there [in international competition],”. She said that her nerves still get the best of her at times, but she is learning to deal with and trying not to overthink it.  “[I have to] just trust my training,” Hang continued, “because I realized that if I do too much to prepare myself, it doesn’t help me in a sense. It gets me more anxious, so I’ve learned different techniques, and I think it’s helped me as I’ve gotten more experience.” Well, we are all witnesses to how good it all turned out to be in the end for the young gymnast. What are your thoughts on her Pan Am performance?