Morgan Hurd

Morgan Elizabeth Hurd (born July 18, 2001) is an American artistic gymnast and a five-time member of the United States women's national team (2016–21). She is the 2017 World all-around champion and balance beam silver medalist and the 2018 World all-around bronze medalist and floor exercise silver medalist. She has won four medals at the USA Gymnastics National Championships during her senior career and is a two-time American Cup champion. She was a member of the gold-medal winning American teams at the 2018 World Championships and the 2019 Pan American Games.

Morgan Hurd
Full name	Morgan Elizabeth Hurd
Country represented	United States
Born	(2001-07-18) July 18, 2001 (age 21) Wuzhou, China
Hometown	Middletown, Delaware, U.S.
Residence	Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
Height	4 ft 9 in (145 cm)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Years on national team	2016–21 (USA)
Club	First State Gymnastics
College team	Florida Gators (2021–25)^[1]
Head coach(es)	Slava Glazounov
Assistant coach(es)	Brooke Parker
Music	Earth Song (2017) Music World (2018)
Medal record Representing the  United States Women's artistic gymnastics Event 1st 2nd 3rd World Championships 2 2 1 Pan American Games 1 0 0 Pacific Rim Championships 1 0 0 Total 4 2 1 World Championships 2017 Montreal All-Around 2018 Doha Team 2017 Montreal Balance Beam 2018 Doha Floor Exercise 2018 Doha All-Around Pan American Games 2019 Lima Team Pacific Rim Championships 2018 Medellín Team 2018 Medellín All-Around FIG World Cup Event 1st 2nd 3rd All-Around World Cup 3 0 1

Personal life

Hurd was adopted from Wuzhou, China when she was 11 months old.^[2] At age 3, she was enrolled in gymnastics.^[3] Hurd started training at First State Gymnastics when she was in fifth grade.^[4] She currently resides in Middletown, Delaware with her mother, Sherri.^[5] She is one of the rare elite gymnasts to wear glasses during competition.^[6]

Junior career

2014

Morgan Hurd competed in the Nastia Liukin Cup in 2014, where she placed 14th as a level 10.^[7] She tied for 8th place at the American Classic in July.^[8] At the U.S. Classic, Hurd placed 18th behind future fellow National Team member Victoria Nguyen.^[9] At the P&G National Championships Hurd finished 29th in the all-around for Juniors.^[10]

2015

In 2015, Hurd started with the U.S. Classic where she finished 9th on All-Around and 2nd on Uneven Bars. She competed at the P&G National Championships, where she placed 8th in the All-Around, 7th on Floor Exercise, and tied for 4th on the Uneven Bars.^[11]

2016

In 2016, Hurd competed at the American Classic where she finished 1st in the All-Around. She competed next at the U.S. Secret Classic where she placed 5th in the All-Around, 1st on Floor Exercise, and 2nd on the Uneven Bars. She competed at the P&G National Championships again and placed 5th in the All-Around, 3rd on Uneven Bars, and 7th on Vault; these results qualified her to the junior national team.^[12]

Senior career

2017

In 2017, Hurd turned senior. She made her international debut at the 2017 Stuttgart World Cup, where she finished third in the all-around behind Tabea Alt of Germany and Angelina Melnikova of Russia.^[13] In April, Hurd competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy and helped the United States finish first. In July, Hurd competed at the U.S. Classic where she placed 6th on balance beam and 2nd on floor, behind Jade Carey.^[14] In August, she competed at the P&G National Championships where she placed 6th in the All-Around, eight on Uneven Bars, fifth on Balance Beam, and tenth on Floor Exercise. Since she finished in the top six in the All-Around, she was named to the national team.^[15]

In September, Hurd was selected to represent the United States at the 2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Montreal alongside Ragan Smith, Jade Carey, and Ashton Locklear.^[16][17] At the World Championships in Montreal, Morgan started out on the vault in qualifications, receiving a 14.466. On her next event, the uneven bars, she scored 14.333. On the balance beam, she scored 13.500 after upgrading to a full-twisting double tuck dismount, qualifying 2nd into the beam finals. She ended qualifications on floor, where she showed great skills and artistry, but fell on her double full for a score of 12.533. Her total all around score was 54.832, and she qualified 6th into the all-around final. In the all-around final, Hurd won a surprise victory with a total score of 55.232,^[18] 0.1 ahead of silver medalist Ellie Black of Canada and 0.4 ahead of bronze medalist Elena Eremina of Russia.^[19] Two days later in the balance beam final, she matched her ranking from qualifications and won the silver medal, behind Pauline Schäfer of Germany.^[20]

2018

On December 11, 2017, Hurd was selected to represent the United States at the 2018 American Cup.^[21] She competed alongside first-year senior Maile O'Keefe^[22] and finished first overall with a score of 56.599.^[23] On April 8, Hurd was named to the team to compete at the 2018 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships which included fellow seniors Grace McCallum and Jordan Chiles.^[24] There she won team gold and placed second in the all-around behind McCallum after a mishap on her balance beam dismount.^[25] Due to her balance beam accident, she withdrew from the uneven bars and floor exercise event finals as a precaution.^{[citation needed]}

On July 28, Hurd competed at the 2018 U.S. Classic where she finished third in the all-around behind Simone Biles and Riley McCusker, despite falling off the balance beam. She also finished third on uneven bars and floor exercise.^[26] In August, Hurd competed at the National Championships where she placed second in the all-around behind Biles, third on uneven bars behind Biles and McCusker, and third on floor exercise behind Biles and Jade Carey. She also placed fourth on balance beam, making her and Biles the only competitors to place in the top four on every event they competed.^[27][28] She was named to the national team for the third year in a row.

In October, Hurd participated in the Worlds Team Selection Camp. During the competition a shaky performance caused her to place fourth in the all-around behind Biles, McCusker, and McCallum, fourth on uneven bars, fifth on vault, sixth on balance beam, and seventh on floor exercise.^[29] The following day she was named to the team to compete at the 2018 World Championships alongside Biles, McCusker, Grace McCallum, Kara Eaker, and alternate Ragan Smith.^[30][31] During qualifications, Hurd qualified to the all-around final in second place behind Biles, the floor exercise final in fourth place, and the uneven bars final in fifth place. The US also qualified to the team final in first place.^[32] During the team final, Hurd competed on vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise. She contributed scores of 14.633, 14.433, and 12.966 respectively towards the USA's team total. USA won gold with a score of 171.629, 8.766 points ahead of second place Russia,^[33] beating previous margin of victory records set in the open-ended code of points era at the 2014 World Championships (6.693) and the 2016 Olympic Games (8.209).^[34]

In the all-around final, Hurd put her hands down on her side aerial cartwheel on beam and was in fourth place entering the final rotation. She recovered with a strong floor exercise performance to win the bronze medal behind Biles and Mai Murakami of Japan.^[35] In a very close podium finish, Hurd finished 0.066 points behind Murakami, 0.033 points ahead of fourth-place finisher Nina Derwael of Belgium, and 0.034 points ahead of fifth-place finisher Angelina Melnikova of Russia. During event finals, Hurd placed sixth on uneven bars. She then won the silver medal on floor exercise behind Biles and ahead of 2017 World champion Murakami and 2017 European champion Melnikova.^[36] With five world championship medals, Hurd became the seventh-most decorated American female gymnast in world championship history, tied with Kim Zmeskal and Kyla Ross.

On November 5, Hurd made her music video debut, appearing in Shawn Mendes' Youth.^[37] In December Hurd underwent her third elbow surgery to have two chips removed.^[38][39]

2019

In February, USA Gymnastics announced that Hurd was selected to compete at the Tokyo World Cup in April.^[40] There she won gold ahead of Ellie Black of Canada and Asuka Teramoto of Japan.^[41]

In June, after the conclusion of the American Classic, Hurd 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, Aleah Finnegan, Shilese Jones, Sunisa Lee, Riley McCusker, and Leanne Wong.^[42]

On July 9, it was announced that Hurd would be featured in a year-long documentary series on the Olympic Channel titled All Around, alongside Angelina Melnikova of Russia and Chen Yile of China, which will follow their journeys and training leading up to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.^[43]

At the 2019 GK US Classic in July, Hurd finished sixth in the all-around behind Simone Biles, McCusker, Grace McCallum, Eaker, and Wong. She placed first on bars, tied for eighth on beam with Sunisa Lee, and placed eleventh on floor. After the competition, she was named to the team to compete at the Pan American Games alongside Eaker, Finnegan, McCusker, and Wong.^[44]

At the Pan American Games Hurd competed on all four events, contributing counting scores on vault and bars to USA's gold medal-winning performance in the team final. Despite posting high enough scores to qualify to the all-around and all individual event finals except for vault, she was unable to compete in finals because at least two of her teammates outscored her on each event; a maximum of two gymnasts per country may participate in each event final. On bars, Hurd tied Wong's score of 14.250, but Wong qualified for the final because she had a higher execution score.^[45][46]

At the 2019 U.S. National Championships, Hurd competed on all four events on the first day of competition but fell while performing on floor exercise and ended the night in eighth place in the all-around.^[47] On the second day of competition she was able to perform cleanly on each apparatus and finished fourth in the all-around behind Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, and Grace McCallum. Additionally, she won silver on the uneven bars behind Lee and placed fifth on balance beam and thirteenth on floor exercise. As a result, she was added to the national team.^[48]

In September Hurd competed at the World team selection camp and placed ninth with a score of 54.100 after mistakes on both floor exercise and uneven bars. On the second day of competition, Hurd competed on uneven bars and balance beam where she recorded the fourth and third highest scores respectively. Following the two-day camp, Hurd was named as a non-traveling alternate for the Worlds team along with Leanne Wong.^[49][50]

In November Hurd signed her National Letter of Intent with the Florida Gators, deferring until after the 2021 World Championships and starting in the 2021–22 school year.^[51]

2020

In late 2019 Hurd was selected to represent the USA at the American Cup in March 2020 in Milwaukee.^[52] She was joined by first year senior Kayla DiCello.^[53] Hurd finished in first place ahead of DiCello and Hitomi Hatakeda of Japan, with a score of 55.832 in the all-around; she recorded the highest score on bars, the second-highest score on floor exercise, and the third-highest score on vault and balance beam. She debuted some new skills, such as the Downie on uneven bars, and brought back skills which she had previously stopped performing, most notably her tucked full-in dismount on beam.^[54]

In August 2020, she had surgery on both elbows.^{[citation needed]}

2021

Hurd underwent elbow surgery in mid-March.^[55] She later announced that she would be joining Simone Biles' upcoming Gold Over America Tour.^[56] She returned to competition at the U.S. Classic where she competed downgraded routines on balance beam and floor exercise where she finished 11th and 10th respectively.^[57] Hurd was one of five gymnasts featured on the Peacock docuseries Golden: The Journey of USA's Elite Gymnasts.^[58] At the National Championships Hurd once again only competed on balance beam and floor exercise where she finished 26th and 23rd respectively. She was not added to the national team nor did she qualify to compete at the upcoming Olympic Trials.^[59]

NCAA

2021–2022 season

Hurd was officially added to the Florida Gators roster in January. Prior to making her debut Hurd announced that she had undergone surgery on her right knee to repair a torn ACL. She redshirted her freshman year.^[60]

2022–2023 season

Hurd made her collegiate debut on January 6, 2023 in a meet against West Virginia, Ball State, and Lindenwood University. Hurd competed on two events – uneven bars (8.750) and balance beam (9.775).^[61]

Competitive history

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
Junior
2014	Nastia Liukin Cup		14	14	12	15	10
	American Classic		8	14	13	13	13
	U.S. Classic		18	29	31	15	13
	P&G Championships		29	24	23	24	28
2015	Buckeye Elite Qualifier		4	13	8		11
	WOGA Classic		7	8	7		7
	American Classic			21			5
	U.S. Classic		9	26		9	17
	P&G National Championships		8	19	4	13	7
2016	American Classic			4		5	4
	U.S. Classic		5	9		26
	P&G National Championships		5	7		16	9
Senior
2017	Stuttgart World Cup
	City of Jesolo Trophy		10
	U.S. Classic					6
	P&G National Championships		6		8	5	10
	World Championships
2018	American Cup
	Pacific Rim Championships^[a]				WD		WD
	U.S. Classic					7
	U.S. National Championships					4
	Worlds Team Selection Camp		4	5	4	6	7
	World Championships				6
2019	Tokyo World Cup
	U.S. Classic		6			8	11
	Pan American Games
	U.S. National Championships		4			5	13
	Worlds Team Selection Camp		9	7	12	7	10
2020	American Cup
2021	U.S. Classic					11	10
	U.S. National Championships					26	23

1. After crashing her BB dismount in Team Finals, Hurd withdrew from Event Finals

Filmography

Streaming

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2019–21	All Around	Herself	Olympic Channel docuseries
2020	Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Women's Gymnastics		YouTube docuseries
2021	Golden: The Journey of USA's Elite Gymnasts		Peacock docuseries

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist(s)	Role	Ref.
2018	"Youth"	Shawn Mendes featuring Khalid	Herself (cameo)	^[62]

References

1. "Morgan Hurd Commits to Florida - FloGymnastics".
2. "Morgan Hurd's path to gymnastics gold began with 6-hour bus ride". NBC Sports. August 14, 2018.
3. "Morgan Hurd On The Rise With 2020 Olympics In Sight". Flo Gymnastics. March 10, 2017.
4. Roenigk, Alyssa. "Meet Morgan Hurd, the 16-year-old surprise world all-around champion in gymnastics". espn.com. October 27, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
5. "Morgan Hurd". USA Gymnastics.
6. Owens, Cassie. "Morgan Hurd, Delaware's unique (and bespectacled) gymnastics world champion". philly.com. January 1, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
7. "2014 Nastia Liukin Cup Meet Results – Juniors" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. February 28, 2014.
8. "American Classic 2014 Meet Results" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. July 5, 2014.
9. "2014 Secret U.S. Classic Meet Results" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. August 2, 2014.
10. "2014 P&G Championships – Women Day 2" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. August 23, 2014.
11. "2015 P&G Championship – Women Day 2" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. August 15, 2015.
12. "2016 P&G Championships – Women Day 2" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. June 26, 2016.
13. "Morgan Hurd Ready For International Debut At 2017 Stuttgart World Cup". Flo Gymnastics. March 16, 2017.
14. "2017 U.S. Classic – Seniors". FloGymnastics.
15. "2017 U.S. Women's National Team Named At P&G Championships". FloGymnastics. August 20, 2017.
16. "Meet The 2017 U.S. Women's World Championships Team". FloGymnastics. September 20, 2017.
17. "USA Gymnastics names U.S. Women's Team for 2017 World Championships". USA Gymnastics. September 20, 2017.
18. Price, Karen (October 6, 2017). "In Her World Championship Debut, Morgan Hurd Steps Up To Win Gymnastics All-Around Title". Team USA. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
19. AFP (October 6, 2017). "Hurd captures surprise all-around World gymnastics gold". yahoo.com. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
20. "Comaneci, J.K. Rowling applaud Hurd as U.S. women end Worlds with pair of silvers". USA Gymnastics. October 8, 2017.
21. "Hurd, Moldauer will represent USA at 2018 AT&T American Cup". USA Gymnastics. December 11, 2017.
22. "Bower, O'Keefe added to American Cup roster". USA Gymnastics. February 6, 2018.
23. "American Cup, Morgan Hurd push gymnastics forward amid sexual abuse scandal". USA Today. March 3, 2018.
24. "USA Gymnastics names women's 2018 Pac Rim, Junior Pan Am Championships Teams". USA Gymnastics. April 8, 2018.
25. "USA brings home 29 medals from men's, women's individual event finals". USA Gymnastics. April 29, 2018.
26. "Biles, Wong win all-around titles at 2018 GK U.S. Classic". USA Gymnastics. July 28, 2018.
27. "Biles wins fifth senior women's all-around title at 2018 U.S. Gymnastics Championships". USA Gymnastics. August 19, 2018.
28. "The Simone Biles Hype Is Real, But Don't Sleep On Morgan Hurd". Retrieved 2018-09-02.
29. "Biles wins U.S. women's World Team Selection Camp competition". USA Gymnastics. October 11, 2018.
30. "USA Gymnastics announces 2018 U.S. Women's World Championships Team". USA Gymnastics. October 12, 2018.
31. "Qualification line-up for U.S. women is announced for 2018 World Championships". USA Gymnastics. October 25, 2018.
32. "U.S. women qualify for team finals with first-place team qualification ranking at 2018 World Championships". USA Gymnastics. October 28, 2018.
33. "U.S. women win team title at 2018 World Championships, qualify for 2020 Olympic Games". USA Gymnastics. October 30, 2018.
34. "Simone Biles, U.S. gymnastics team win world title by record margin". NBC Sports. October 30, 2018.
35. "Biles wins fourth World all-around title at 2018 World Championships". USA Gymnastics. November 1, 2018.
36. "Biles, Hurd, Mikulak win event medals at 2018 World Championships". USA Gymnastics. November 3, 2018.
37. "Shawn Mendes And Khalid's 'Youth' Video Urges Young People To Embrace Their Power". Uproxx. November 6, 2018.
38. "HURD Morgan - FIG Athlete Profile". www.gymnastics.sport. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
39. "Morgan Hurd Will Make 2019 Debut This Weekend". Olympic Channel. April 4, 2019.
40. "USA Gymnastics announces women's World Cup assignments for Spring 2019". USA Gymnastics. February 7, 2019.
41. "Ginnastica artistica, Coppa del Mondo 2019: Morgan Hurd trionfa a Tokyo, battuta Ellie Black di 67 millesimi!". OA Sport (in Italian). April 7, 2019.
42. "USA Gymnastics names eight women eligible for 2019 U.S. Women's Pan American Games Team". USA Gymnastics. June 23, 2019.
43. "Olympic Channel Announces "All Around" - A Year-long Documentary Series Following Three Gymnasts On The Road To Tokyo 2020". Olympic Channel. July 9, 2019.
44. "Biles, McClain win all-around titles at 2019 GK U.S. Classic". USA Gymnastics. July 20, 2019.
45. Lauren (2019-07-28). "2019 Pan American Games Live Blog | Women's Qualifications, Subdivision 3". The Gymternet. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
46. "USA wins women's team final at 2019 Pan Am Games". USA Gymnastics. July 27, 2019.
47. "Biles soars to top of all-around rankings at 2019 U.S. Championships, performing two new skills along the way". USA Gymnastics. July 10, 2019.
48. "Biles soars to sixth U.S. women's all-around title at 2019 U.S. Championships". USA Gymnastics. July 11, 2019.
49. @USAGym (22 September 2019). "7. Faith Torrez - 54.850 8. Leanne..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
50. "USA Gymnastics announces 2019 U.S. Women's World Championships Team". USA Gymnastics. September 23, 2019.
51. "Two U.S. Gymnastics Standouts Sign With Gators". Florida Gators. November 13, 2019.
52. "USA's Hurd, Mikulak will compete at 2020 American Cup". USA Gymnastics. December 16, 2019.
53. "World, Olympic champions headline field for 2020 American Cup". USA Gymnastics. January 23, 2020.
54. "Hurd, Mikulak win American Cup titles". USA Gymnastics. March 7, 2020.
55. "Simone Biles ready to vault into Olympic year spotlight". International Olympic Committee. May 22, 2021.
56. "Simone Biles Headlines Athleta Presents Gold Over America Tour Visiting 35 Arenas this Fall". Business Wire. May 27, 2021.
57. "Hurd Vows To 'Come Back Even Better' At U.S. Championships". International Gymnast. June 1, 2021.
58. "Peacock Lays Out Olympics "Destination" With Live Shows, Five New Channels, Original Programming". Deadline Hollywood. June 23, 2021.
59. "Biles wins seventh national all-around championship, most in U.S. women's gymnastics history". USA Gymnastics. June 7, 2021.
60. "Florida freshman gymnast, 2017 world champion Morgan Hurd, has surgery for torn ACL". ESPN. January 10, 2022.
61. "Gator gymnastics team posts highest opening night score in program history". WCJB-TV. January 6, 2023.
62. "Shawn Mendes' Debuts Powerful New Longform Music Video For "Youth" (feat. Khalid)". Music Mayhem Magazine. November 5, 2018.

External links

• Morgan Hurd at USA Gymnastics
• Morgan Hurd at the International Gymnastics Federation