Us Gymnastics Member Gets 100% Real About Medical Setback That Almost Ended Her Career: “Lost Hope”

“Day 2 beam… goal accomplished🫶🏽 First time aerial layout, Arabian🥹,” captioned a US gymnastics star in a recent Instagram post. This was no ordinary update from the gymnast, as it wasn’t just her Paris dreams that collapsed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials—her entire career was put at risk due to a serious injury. With a resume boasting silver medals in the all-around and uneven bars at the 2022 World Championships, and bronze medals in both events at the 2023 World Championships, along with high hopes from her fans, everything was on the line. How are things a year later?

“7 weeks post shoulder surgery ✨ Just three months ago, I had completely lost hope in my recovery. No matter how hard I worked, it felt like I wasn’t making any progress. After two knee surgeries and countless setbacks, I never imagined I’d be tumbling again for the first time since June 28, 2024 🫶🏽” wrote Shilese Jones in her Instagram post today. It was the vault where she was injured in the first place, a moment that changed everything.

During warm-ups on June 28, 2024, at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Shilese landed awkwardly on vault, suffering a torn ACL and meniscus in her left knee. To make matters worse, she was already battling a persistent shoulder injury, later revealed as a torn labrum. After surgery for her knee in August 2024 and another for her shoulder in April 2025, her plans for Paris were sidelined—yet her spirit was not.

Though away from the mat for months, she returned to the gym in January 2025 and underwent her latest surgery that April, sharing milestone updates ever since, “The journey is still far from over, but I’m learning to celebrate every milestone along the way 🤍 Today was my first cast handstand post-surgery — one day at a time, and so grateful for the progress and the journey ✨“. Attached alongside was a video where she pushed her body into a straight, vertical handstand.

Her arms were fully extended, legs together and straight, and core engaged; in short, her shoulders were taking a lot of weight on them. Of course, these are signs of great recovery. But a cast handstand is the only gymnastics move she is pulling off in addition to being back on the beam.

The Gymnastics Star’s First Aerial Comeback

Earlier this month, Jones did something that had her fans smiling. In an Instagram story, she was seen moving with controlled momentum, stepping in and driving her back leg upward while pushing off her front foot to begin a powerful sideways rotation. Without placing her hands on the ground, she executed a clean aerial cartwheel with straddled legs, maintaining a tight core and upright torso.

She landed smoothly on her front leg, followed promptly by her back leg, finishing with steady balance and arms fully extended. Jones successfully performed an aerial. She wrote, “First denial since my injury 🥹.” But she didn’t stop there. In a separate story, she managed to perform the move on the beam.

The caption read, “Decided to try on the beam🫣 I’m crazy.” She added that it was “not the best, but it’s been a huge accomplishment to be able to do this,” noting that there were still ways to go while she embraced the small victories. These small victories are key milestones on her path to a full comeback on the mat. Fans and experts alike wonder when she will be ready to compete again at her best.