Aleah_Finnegan

Aleah Finnegan

Aleah Finnegan

Filipino-American artistic gymnast


Aleah Finnegan Cruz (born January 4, 2003)[2] is a Filipino-American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the United States' women's national gymnastics team from 2019 to 2021 and was part of the team that won gold at the 2019 Pan American Games. She is currently representing the Philippines in international competition and will represent the Philippines at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She is the 2023 Asian Championships vault and balance beam bronze medalist and the 2021 Southeast Asian Games team and vault champion. She also currently competes for the LSU Tigers gymnastics team and is the 2024 NCAA floor exercise champion and 2023 silver medalist.

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Early life

Finnegan was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Don and Linabelle Finnegan. Her mother was born and raised in the Philippines. She has three sisters, Sarah, Hannah, and Jennah. Sarah was an alternate for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team, and Hannah competed for the Philippines at the 2011 Southeast Asian Games.[3] She began gymnastics in 2005 and moved with her family to Kansas City in 2008 to train at Great American Gymnastics Express.[4] Her father died in August 2019.[5]

Junior gymnastics career

Level 10: 2016–2017

Finnegan was a Junior Olympic athlete and competed at the 2016 and 2017 J.O Nationals. In 2016, she placed 29th in the all-around and seventh on the balance beam.[6] In 2017, she won gold in the all-around for the Junior-B division.[7]

Junior elite: 2018

In 2018, Finnegan qualified to junior elite at Brestyan's National Qualifier.[8] She made her elite debut at the American Classic in July where she finished sixth in the all-around but won bronze on the balance beam.[9] Later that month, she competed at the 2018 U.S. Classic where she placed seventh in the all-around.[10] In August, she competed at her first National Championships where she placed 14th in the all-around, fourth on vault, 18th on uneven bars and balance beam, and 15th on floor exercise.[11][12]

Senior gymnastics career

Representing the United States

2019

Finnegan turned senior in 2019. In February, she was named to the team to compete at the International Gymnix in Montreal alongside Alyona Shchennikova, Sloane Blakely, and GAGE teammate Kara Eaker.[13] While there, she won gold in the team final and on vault; she received the fifth highest score in the all-around but did not place due to teammates Eaker and Shchennikova placing higher.[14] In June, Finnegan was named as one of the eight athletes being considered for the team to compete at the 2019 Pan American Games.[15] At the 2019 GK US Classic, Finnegan placed seventh in the all-around. She also placed second on vault behind Jade Carey, 12th on uneven bars, 10th on balance beam, and seventh on floor exercise. After the competition, she was named to the team to compete at the Pan American Games alongside Eaker, Morgan Hurd, Riley McCusker, and Leanne Wong.[16]

At the Pan American Games Finnegan competed on vault and floor, with both her scores contributing towards the USA's gold medal winning performance. Individually, Finnegan qualified to the vault final in fourth, behind Ellie Black of Canada, Yesenia Ferrera of Cuba, and Martina Dominici of Argentina. She also posted the fourth highest floor exercise score in the competition, but because teammates McCusker and Eaker scored higher than her, she was unable to compete in the final due to the two-per-country rule.[17][18] On the first day of event finals, it was announced that Finnegan had withdrawn from the vault final due to injury.[19][20]

At the National Championships, Finnegan finished 13th in the all-around. She also placed fourth on vault, 13th on bars, 15th on beam, and sixth on floor.[21] She was not named to the national team, but it was announced that she would receive an invite to the Worlds selection camp.[22] Finnegan competed at the U.S. World Championship trials on only the balance beam, receiving a score of 13.200, finishing 12th on the event.[23] She was not named to the World Championship team after the trials.[24]

2020–2021

After the postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games, Finnegan had surgery to fix a fracture in the navicular bone.[25] In November 2020, she signed her National Letter of Intent with Louisiana State University.[26]

In May 2021, Finnegan competed at the GK U.S. Classic, finishing fifth in the all-around behind Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Kayla DiCello, and Grace McCallum. Additionally, she placed seventh on both the balance beam and floor exercise.[27] The following month, she competed at the National Championships. She finished 23rd in the all-around after falling during three of the four apparatuses on the first night of competition. As a result, she was not selected to compete at the Olympic Trials.[28] Finnegan announced her retirement from elite gymnastics on June 11, intending to continue competing at the NCAA level with the LSU Tigers.[29]

Representing LSU (NCAA) and the Philippines

2022

Competing for the LSU Tigers, Finnegan made her collegiate debut on January 28 in a meet against Georgia. She only competed on the balance beam where she scored a 9.875.[30] She competed on balance beam at the SEC Championships, finishing seventh with a score of 9.925.[31]

In March, it was revealed that Finnegan had decided to represent the Philippines in international competitions.[32] The nationality change was approved by the International Gymnastics Federation in May.[33] At the 2021 Southeast Asian Games, she led the Filipino team to first place in the team competition, and individually, she placed second in the all-around behind Rifda Irfanaluthfi of Indonesia. She also won gold on vault and silver on balance beam and placed fifth on the uneven bars.[34]

2023

On February 3, in a meet against Georgia, Finnegan earned her first career perfect 10 for the LSU Tigers on the floor exercise.[35] The following week, she earned her second perfect 10 on vault against Auburn, winning the all-around ahead of Sunisa Lee with a score of 39.8.[36] On February 17, Finnegan scored a perfect 10 for the third week in a row, this time on the balance beam, helping LSU upset the No. 2 Florida Gators.[37] At the SEC Championships, she scored 9.950 on the floor exercise and finished in second place.[38] She also finished second on floor exercise at the NCAA Championships.[39]

In June, Finnegan competed at the Asian Championships. On the first day of competition, she helped the Philippines finish fifth as a team, and individually, she finished sixth in the all-around. As a result, she qualified as an individual to compete at the World Championships.[40] During event finals, she won bronze on both vault and balance beam and finished fourth on floor exercise.[41][42] At the World Championships, Finnegan finished 32nd in the all-around, making her the second reserve for the all-around final. Additionally, she qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics as an individual.[43][44] She was the first Filipina female gymnast to qualify for the Summer Olympics since 1964.[45]

2024

On February 16, Finnegan earned her fifth career perfect 10 on floor exercise in a meet against Auburn. The following week, she scored another perfect 10 on the event in an away meet against Florida.[46] At the SEC Championships, Finnegan contributed scores on vault, balance beam and floor exercise, helping LSU win the SEC conference title.[47] During the NCAA Championship semifinals, she won an individual national title on floor exercise with a score of 9.9625 and helped LSU advance to the final.[48] During the championship final, Finnegan scored a 9.9125 on floor exercise followed by a 9.8375 on vault. In the last rotation, she anchored the Tigers on the balance beam with a 9.950, clinching LSU's first national championship title in program history.[49][50]

Competitive history

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Collegiate stats

Career perfect 10.0

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[39]

Regular season rankings

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References

  1. "Aleah Finnegan". LSU Gymnastics. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  2. "Aleah Finnegan". USA Gymnastics. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  3. Bregman, Scott (October 27, 2023). "Opportunity knocked, Aleah Finnegan answered". Olympic Channel. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  4. Wijangco, Ashley (June 26, 2019). "Olympic hopeful Aleah Finnegan takes aim at Tokyo with sister Sarah's expert guidance". Dat Winning. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  5. "2016 JO Nationals Level 10. Meet results" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. May 11, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 21, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  6. "2017 Women's JO Nationals. Meet results" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. May 6, 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  7. "2018 Brestyan's National Qualifier Results". The Gymternet. June 26, 2018. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  8. "American Classic Hopes Classic. Meet results" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 21, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  9. "2018 GK U.S. Classic. Meet results" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 21, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  10. "2018 U.S. Championships - Women Day 2. Meet results - Multi" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 20, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  11. "2018 U.S. Championships - Women Day 2. Event results - Multi" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 20, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  12. "USA Gymnastics announces women's spring international team assignments". USA Gymnastics. February 24, 2019. Archived from the original on August 12, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  13. "USA wins four junior, senior event titles at 2019 Gymnix International". USA Gymnastics. March 10, 2019. Archived from the original on November 8, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  14. "Biles, McClain win all-around titles at 2019 GK U.S. Classic". USA Gymnastics. July 20, 2019. Archived from the original on April 20, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  15. Lauren (July 28, 2019). "2019 Pan American Games Live Blog | Women's Qualifications, Subdivision 3". The Gymternet. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  16. "USA wins women's team final at 2019 Pan Am Games". USA Gymnastics. July 27, 2019. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  17. Reed, Becca (September 13, 2019). "15 Invited To U.S. Women's World Championships Selection Camp". FloGymnastics. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  18. Reed, Becca (September 23, 2019). "USA Gymnastics Announces 2019 U.S. Women's World Championships Team". FloGymnastics. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  19. Wijangco, Amanda (November 20, 2020). "Aleah Finnegan Discusses Deltchevs And Diversity". FloGymnastics. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  20. Berrio, Brandon (November 11, 2020). "Gymnastics Announces 2021 Signing Class". LSU Sports. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  21. "Gymnastics Finishes Fifth at SEC Championships". LSU Tigers. March 19, 2022. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  22. Malanum, Jean (March 17, 2022). "Yulo banners SEA Games squad". The Manila Times. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  23. "Aleah Finnegan". LSU Tigers. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  24. "Finnegan Qualifies For World Championships In Antwerp". LSU Sports. June 16, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  25. "Finnegan cops bronze in Asian Championships". The Manila Times. June 17, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  26. Dioquino, Delfin (October 3, 2023). "'Dream come true': PH gymnast Aleah Finnegan books Paris Olympics ticket". Rappler. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  27. "Teams". Road to Nationals. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
  28. "Bryant, Finnegan Named NCAA Champions". LSU Sports. April 19, 2024.

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