Aleah Finnegan

Aleah Finnegan (born January 4, 2003) is an American artistic gymnast. She is a member of the United States' women's national gymnastics team and was part of the team that won gold at the 2019 Pan American Games. She is the younger sister of 2012 Olympic alternate Sarah Finnegan.

Aleah Finnegan
Full name	Aleah Finnegan
Country represented	United States
Born	(2003-01-04) January 4, 2003 St. Louis, Missouri
Residence	Lee's Summit, Missouri United States
Height	5'4
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Years on national team	2016 - Present (US)
Gym	Great American Gymnastics Express
College team	LSU Lady Tigers
Head coach(es)	Al Fong
Assistant coach(es)	Armine Barutyan
Medal record Representing  United States Women's artistic gymnastics Pan American Games 2019 Lima Team

Early life

Finnegan was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Don and Linabelle Finnegan. She has three sisters, Sarah, Hannah, and Jennah, who are all also gymnasts. She began gymnastics in 2005 and moved to Kansas City in 2008 to continue her gymnastics career.

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 balance beam.[1] In 2017 Finnegan won gold in the all-around for the junior-b division.[2]

Junior Elite

2018

In 2018 Finnegan qualified to junior elite at Brestyan's National Qualifier.[3] 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.[4][5] Later that month she competed at the 2018 U.S. Classic where she placed seventh in the all-around.[6]

In August Finnegan competed at her first National Championships where she placed fourteenth in the all-around,[7] fourth on vault, eighteenth on uneven bars and balance beam, and fifteenth on floor exercise.[8]

Senior Elite

2019

Finnegan turned senior in 2019. In February she was named to the team to compete at the 2019 International Gymnix in Montreal alongside Alyona Shchennikova, Sloane Blakely, and GAGE teammate Kara Eaker.[9] 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.[10]

In June, after the conclusion of the American Classic, Finnegan was named as one of the eight athletes being considered for the team to compete at the 2019 Pan American Games along with Sloane Blakely, Kara Eaker, Morgan Hurd, Shilese Jones, Sunisa Lee, Riley McCusker, and Leanne Wong.[11]

At the 2019 GK US Classic, Finnegan placed seventh in the all-around. She also placed second on vault behind Jade Carey, twelfth on uneven bars, tenth 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, Hurd, McCusker, and Wong.[12]

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.[13][14] On the first day of event finals it was announced that Finnegan had withdrawn from the vault final due to injury.[15][16]

At nationals, Finnegan finished thirteenth in the all-around. She also placed fourth on vault, thirteenth on bars, fifteenth on beam, and sixth on floor.[17] She was not named to the national team, but it was announced that she would receive an invite to the Worlds selection camp due to her participation on the Pan American team. Finnegan competed at the U.S. World Championship trials on only balance beam, receiving a score of 13.200, finishing eleventh on the event.[18] She was not named to the World Championship team after the trials.

Competitive History

Level 10

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2016	J.O. National Championships		28			7
2017	J.O. National Championships				13		5

Junior

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2018	Brestyan's National Qualifier
	American Classic		6	5	15		5
	U.S. Classic		7	5	16	7	7
	U.S. National Championships		14	4	18	18	15

Senior

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2019	International Gymnix
	U.S. Classic		7		12	10	7
	Pan American Games			WD[lower-alpha 1]
	U.S. National Championships		13	4	13	15	6
	Worlds Team Selection Camp					12

1. Finnegan qualified to the vault final but had to withdraw due to injury

References

1. https://usagym.org/PDFs/Results/w_16jo_jra.pdf
2. https://usagym.org/PDFs/Results/w_17jo_jrbind.pdf
3. "2018 Brestyan's National Qualifier Results". The Gymternet. June 26, 2018.
4. "2018 American Classic Results". The Gymternet. July 16, 2018.
5. https://usagym.org/PDFs/Results/w_18amerclassic_jr.pdf
6. https://usagym.org/PDFs/Results/w_18classic_jr.pdf
7. https://usagym.org/PDFs/Results/w_18uschamps_jraa.pdf
8. https://usagym.org/PDFs/Results/w_18uschamps_jrevents.pdf
9. "USA Gymnastics announces women's spring international team assignments". USA Gymnastics. February 24, 2019.
10. "USA wins four junior, senior event titles at 2019 Gymnix International". USA Gymnastics. March 10, 2019.
11. "USA Gymnastics names eight women eligible for 2019 U.S. Women's Pan American Games Team". USA Gymnastics. June 23, 2019.
12. "Biles, McClain win all-around titles at 2019 GK U.S. Classic". USA Gymnastics. July 20, 2019.
13. Lauren (2019-07-28). "2019 Pan American Games Live Blog | Women's Qualifications, Subdivision 3". The Gymternet. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
14. "USA wins women's team final at 2019 Pan Am Games". USA Gymnastics. July 27, 2019.
15. @USAGym (July 30, 2019). "Aleah Finnegan has withdrawn from today's vault final due to injury" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
16. "Neff, McCusker, Wong win event medals at 2019 Pan Am Games". USA Gymnastics. July 30, 2019.
17. "USA Gymnastics | USA Gymnastics". www.usagym.org. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
18. "2019 U.S. Worlds Trials Results". The Gymternet. September 24, 2019. The Gymternet. https://thegymter.net/2019/09/26/2019-u-s-worlds-trials-results/

External links

• Aleah Finnegan at the International Gymnastics Federation