Leah Smith, Alicia Zhou take crowns at 2021 Nastia Liukin Cup

The 12th-annual Nastia Liukin Cup was one to remember, with Leah Smith taking the senior all-around title and Alicia Zhou winning the junior title.

With just parents (and cardboard cut-outs) in the stands, one would assume the meet might be a bit more toned down, but despite it all, the energy and atmosphere remained.

World Champions’ Leah Smith took home the senior all-around crown, posting a 38.800. Her bars (9.850) and floor (9.775) led the field for both the juniors and seniors.

“I hit my best routine I think I’ve done this year [on beam],” Smith said, when asked about her favorite moment from the meet. “I was just proud of that and proud that I could just go up and hit a good routine on this big platform.”

The Washington commit showed her knack for consistency and big gymnastics throughout the meet, but arguably her best performance just so happened to be the last routine of the day. In that routine, on floor, Smith opened with her trademark piked full-in and stuck her double pike dismount.

Rounding out the podium for the senior women were Arizona State commit Alex Theodorou (Desert Lights) and Alabama commit Lilly Hudson (Florida Elite).

Love Gymnastics’ Alicia Zhou won the junior title with a 38.375, including the top scores for the juniors on bars (9.750) and beam (9.650).

“I had a lot of fun competing today,” Zhou said. “It was a fun experience, and I’m really glad that I got to compete.”

Olympus’ Avery Neff took the junior silver, with her Austin Powers floor routine tying for first on the apparatus with a 9.750. Gym X-treme’s Gabriella Van Frayen rounded out the podium with the bronze.

Other notable performances included junior Nina Ballou’s energetic and powerful floor routine and senior Jocelyn Moore’s Yurchenko 1.5 that earned her the vault win with a 9.925.

Florida commit Sloane Blakely (WOGA) was a favorite to podium but suffered errors on bars and floor, finishing 13 out of 18.

Relive the 2021 Nastia Liukin Cup with Gymnastics Now’s live blog from the meet here. Click here for full senior results and here for full junior results.

You can watch all of the routines from the event here.