Katelyn Ohashi: “I feel relaxed and just kind of taking it one step at a time.”
The floor she will compete on is not the one she wanted. It is down to two tumbling passes.
“I don’t love a two-pass routine, but this is where I’m at now,” Ohashi said. “So we’re working with it.”
She spent the week with Valorie Kondos Field – Miss Val, her coach at UCLA – the first time the two had worked together in person during this comeback. They cut the floor from three passes to two, added dance, and worked beam.
“I love perspective, so having a third eye on my gymnastics just helps all that much more,” she said. “We’re really comfortable with each other, so she can kind of get me in check. She knows what I’m capable of, so she can push me there.”
The goal this weekend is a score good enough to qualify for the U.S. Championships, set for early August in Phoenix.
“I still have a decent start value [despite the changes],” she said. “So hoping to create some room on beam to be able to hit that mark.”
The past few months have not left much room to think past the next day.
“My life has been very hectic the past few months, so I have no choice but to take it one day at a time,” Ohashi said. “I can’t really get ahead of myself right now. Just trying to live in the moment, breathe as much as I can, and enjoy where I’m at.”
She could have kept training and waited another year to compete. She needed 2026 to set the tone for the future.
“Everything comes a lot faster than you ever imagined,” she said. “If I would have started any later, or tried to compete next year for the first time, I just would have felt a lot more like the need to do something. This year, I feel relaxed and just kind of taking it one step at a time.”
