UCLA’s Emma Malabuyo reveals plans to compete NCAA and elite gymnastics in 2024

Ahead of UCLA’s opening meet at the Mean Girls Super 16 in Las Vegas, junior Emma Malabuyo shared that she will continue to train and compete in both elite and NCAA gymnastics simultaneously in 2024.
Malabuyo, who represents the Philippines internationally, still plans to compete at the majority of the Bruins’ meets in 2024, but she did announce she will be missing home meets against No. 4 Utah on February 19 and No. 7 Cal on February 25th to compete at two World Cups.
“I’m actually going to be missing a few competitions – a few collegiate competitions – and I’m going to be traveling and doing a few World Cups,” Malabuyo said during a UCLA press conference Tuesday. “I’m a little bit sad that I’m missing the Utah meet and the Cal meet, but I’ll be there for the postseason and everything else.”
Malabuyo will build off her return to elite, which began last June when she competed at the Asian Championships while representing the Philippines. She switched her International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) nationality from the United States to the Philippines in 2023, and helped the Philippines finish fifth as a team. Individually, Malabuyo won silver on floor and finished in fifth place during the beam final.
Malabuyo did not specifically reveal which World Cups she’ll be competing at, but the Cairo World Cup (Feb. 15-18) and Cottbus World Cup (Feb. 22-25) coincide with the Cal and Utah meets. These World Cups offer a chance for Malabuyo to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games as the highest two qualifiers on each of the four women’s apparatus will clinch berths for Paris.
Malabuyo has stated previously that representing the Philippines at the Olympic Games and getting to compete in the Olympics is a dream of hers, making this a prime opportunity assuming she does plan to go for that Olympic goal. If she is able to qualify, she will join Filipina teammate and LSU gymnast Aleah Finnegan in representing the Philippines in 2024.
The Asian Championships marked Malabuyo’s first time competing in elite since she was a U.S. Olympic team alternate for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Prior to switching to represent the Philippines, Malabuyo was a five-time member of the U.S. national team, and represented the United States internationally as a senior at the City of Jesolo Trophy meet twice.
The Bruins will miss Malabuyo during their Cal & Utah meets – especially on beam, where she is an All-American – but Malabuyo is confident in the team’s depth to fill-in for her. Malabuyo credited the “hard work and numbers” her teammates have put in for her belief in them.
Amid her continued return to elite, Malabuyo has shared hopes to bring back her standing arabian on beam and her double layout on floor.
“I’m really hoping to bring back my double layout, but I’d probably wait until later on in the season. Right now, I’m just trying to stick to really clean routines and keeping my body healthy.”
Malabuyo showcased her emphasis on “clean routines” at the Asian Championships as she put up the second-highest execution score during the floor final. While a double layout would add a nice boost to her start value, she primarily added harder dance elements to upgrade her difficulty score at that meet. This, in turn, allowed her to increase her difficulty to be competitive in elite competition while not sacrificing execution.
Outside of execution, her health will be crucial to her success in 2024. Malabuyo mostly competed on beam and floor in 2023 while dealing with a shoulder injury that kept her from competing bars all year. She has called bars her favorite event in the past, and was elated to make her return on the event at the preseason Meet the Bruins exhibition meet.
“It was so fun. I missed competing bars so much, but being out there on that event, I really enjoyed myself. So far, my shoulder is doing really well.”
Having Malabuyo as an option for the bars lineup comes at a crucial time for the Bruins on the event after Jordan Chiles (USA) and Ana Padurariu (Canada) elected to take a gap year this season and pursue their respective Olympic dreams. Malabuyo considered following in her teammates’ footsteps and taking the year off, but felt that she was better off at UCLA because she cannot train alone again, and “feeds off the support from her teammates.”
Along with preferring UCLA’s team environment, Malabuyo doesn’t want to miss out on what she believes could be a “great shot at a national championship” for the Bruins in 2024. Managing both won’t be easy though; Malabuyo noted that she will be keeping up with her classes over Zoom while balancing her elite and NCAA pursuits.
Malabuyo’s 2024 competition season begins with the Bruins Saturday, when UCLA competes in session four of the Mean Girls Super 16 alongside Alabama, Auburn, and Cal.