2023 Nastia Liukin Cup: Kailin Chio, Avery Neff tie for senior crown, 12-year-old Addy Fulcher wins junior title

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For the second-straight year, the Nastia Liukin Cup senior competition ended in a tie, but this time, it wasn’t broken – and apparently, last year’s wasn’t either, after all.

Level 10 standouts Kailin Chio (GymCats) and Avery Neff (Olympus) shared the senior crown a year after Jamison Sears (World Class) and Nikki Smith (Euro Stars) tied for the top spot, just for Sears to win by tie break – or so we thought.

While the USA Gymnastics official results from last year’s competition denote Sears as the winner and her and Smith’s bio, as of publishing, say they were first and second, respectively, USAG told Gymnastics Now that the 2022 contest was also a tie. Nastia Liukin, the competition host and namesake, doesn’t want there to be tie breaks for the event, and the incorrect results that are currently listed on the USAG website will be corrected. Smith can be seen holding the second place trophy in the photo to the right.

Chio and Neff ended the night with matching 39.075s.

Chio, who stepped down from elite this season due to nagging injuries, has been enjoying a successful season in the USA Gymnastics Development Program, formerly known as the Junior Olympic program. Her best routine of the night came on floor, where she earned a 9.950 – the highest score of the night – for a set including a full-twisting double back, stuck 1.5 twist to half twist to split jump, and a stuck double pike.

“I just realized that it’s better for my body to come back to level 10 and just continue doing what I love, because I was losing a little bit of passion for it just because I was always injured,” Chio said after the meet. “… I know I definitely made the right decision [stepping down from elite] because my health does come first, and I really want to make it to NCAAs.”

Neff, who finished third last year and second the year before as a junior, was consistent across the board, earning three scores of 9.825 or better. Her best marks – both 9.875 – were on vault and floor. On the former, she competed a powerful Yurchenko 1.5 and double-twisting Yurchenko (9.875), and on the latter, she hit a front double full to half twist to stag jump, 2.5 twist to arabesque, and a Rudi to layout stepout. It was Neff’s first time ever competing the double on vault.

“This has been a dream of mine for so long. I’ve been here. This is my third Nastia season, and I think it’s just a huge accomplishment,” Neff said. “And it was even funner to share the podium, like that’s just crazy and that there was a tie last year, too, just makes it 10 time better. It just shows how much talent is out here, and it’s just such a fun meet.”

Both Chio and Neff are high school juniors and have one more season at level 10 before heading to college where they will compete at LSU and Utah, respectively, starting in the 2025 season.

Twelve-year-old Addy Fulcher (Bull City) won the junior all-around title with a 37.900 total, including the top mark of the day on bars (9.700) – her signature event.