Laurie Hernandez delays competition comeback to summer 2020

When USA Gymnastics released its 30-woman roster for the U.S. Women’s National Team February training camp, Laurie Hernandez was noticeably absent.

The 2016 Olympic gold and silver medalist was the only senior athlete who did attend January camp that was not listed to attend in February when the National Team camp roster was released Wednesday morning.

In a statement to Gymnastics Now, Tom Forster, the U.S. women’s high-performance team coordinator, said, “Laurie and her coaches have declined her invitation to participate in the February National Team training camp as she will be focusing her training on the second phase of the year, from May through August.”

“The February camp is a selection for international meets in March and April, which Laurie will not participate in. She is invited to the April National Team camp and plans to attend. All National Team camp participation is subject to change up until the date of the training.”

Previously, it was thought Hernandez would try to return to competition in early 2020, but this delay in her comeback is not surprising.

The 19-year-old returned to full-time training toward the end of 2018, when she moved from her New Jersey home to Los Angeles. She now trains at a new gym, Gym-Max, and has focused the past year of her training on conditioning and regaining her skills.

From videos and updates on her social channels, it looks like Hernandez is inching closer to being competition ready.

With this recent development, it seems the Olympian is planning to spend the spring fine-tuning her routines, so she is ready to go for the three biggest U.S. women’s competitions in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics: the U.S. Classic, U.S. Championships, and U.S. Olympic Trials.