As of June 15, gymnasts in the class of 2027 are permitted to commit to NCAA gymnastics programs.
While these gymnasts will not be competing for their respective colleges until the 2028 season, a number of them will be busy competing elite through the summer and fall. As we head into the recruiting period for the class of 2027, there is no time like the present to familiarize ourselves with the gymnasts that may be committing to top programs and making up the next class of college gymnastics legends.
Claire Pease – USA
For American fans, Claire Pease will be the most familiar name among the class of 2027 gymnasts. The WOGA standout burst onto the elite scene as a junior in 2024, winning the all-around titles at Winter Cup and U.S. Classic before becoming the U.S. junior all-around champion.
In her first year as a senior, Pease has already started to turn heads, winning the beam title at Winter Cup and the Antalya World Cup. While she has struggled a bit with consistency in 2025, when she hits, her exquisite technique sets her apart from her peers, especially on bars and beam.
Pease is currently qualified to the U.S Championships on vault and beam, but she is still in the hunt for an all-around berth. Look out for Pease’s sky-high Silivas on floor, inbar and Endo work on bars, and her packed-with-connections beam routine. With stars like Simone Biles and Suni Lee on hiatus after the Olympic year, Pease will be looking to challenge for a podium spot at nationals in August.
Lia Monica Fontaine – Canada
Along with Pease, Lia Monica Fontaine is probably the most decorated gymnast of the class, winning every Canadian Championships all-around title she has competed for since 2022.
Fontaine has taken 2025 by storm, winning this year’s Canadian Championship all-around title with a 54.316 – the highest all-around total of her career – while also taking home titles on vault and floor.
Fontaine’s double-twisting Yurchenko is easily one of the best we have seen this year, with a huge block and superb twisting form leading her to one of the best vault scores – 14.150 – that anyone has posted this season. Her power carries over to floor, where she competes a jam-packed routine complete with a Silivas and a front full through to double tuck.
Fontaine was named to the Canadian Pan American Championships team, where she placed second in the all-around and qualified for every event final. She went on to win the floor final with a 13.8 – one of the best international floor scores this season. After Pan Ams, she will come home immediately eligible to commit to a college program should she choose. Barring injury, the young star seems to be all but a lock for the Canadian Worlds team this coming fall.
Alyssa Guerrier Calixte – Canada
Although a rough beam performance during day one of the 2025 Canadian Championships kept her off the overall podium, Alyssa Guerrier Calixte posted the third-highest all-around score of the day on day two of the competition, behind only Fontaine and 2026 Utah commit Gabrielle Black.
Guerrier Calixte’s standout event is floor, where she won a silver medal at both this year’s International Gymnix and Canadian Championships. While she competed hard skills like a full-twisting double tuck and a Gomez turn, the real treat is in her expressive performance and dynamic choreography.
Along with Fontaine and Black, Guerrier Calixte was sent to Panama for Pan Ams, where she earned the sixth-highest all-around score (but the two-per-country rule kept her from officially placing), along with helping Canada win the team silver medal. While the two-per-country rule kept Guerrier Calixte from getting a reserve spot in the final, keep an eye out for her beam routine over the rest of the season – she has struggled to put all of the pieces together so far this year, but with a routine boasting a front handspring to front tuck, double turn, and double tuck dismount, she is due for big scores if she can hit.
Reese Esponda – USA
Reese Esponda gained notoriety among gymnastics fans in 2024 for her difficult floor routine, which included a Silivas, double layout, full-twisting double tuck, and a front tuck to double tuck – but this only scratches the surface of her potential on the event.
The Montana native went viral in early 2024 after posting a video of her performing a triple tuck onto a mat in the pit at a national team camp. The triple back is not the only unique skill Esponda has performed, however. She turned heads earlier this year when she debuted a front layout half to double tuck at an elite qualifier.
Esponda is no stranger to going viral either, with a 2023 video of her performing a side aerial to layout step-out to tuck full series on beam amassing over 14,000 likes. On top of all of this, Esponda originated a skill – the backwards butterfly jump on floor – that was added to the Code of Points after she performed it at the 2024 Baku World Cup (it was not named after Esponda due to its ‘B’ value – skills need to be rated at least ‘C’ to be named).
While Esponda is not currently qualified to nationals, her recent 51.700 all-around score at the Coastal Realm Elite Qualifier has qualified her for the American Classic and U.S Classic, giving her ample opportunity to earn her way there.
Lia Redick – Canada
After starting off her 2025 elite campaign with a bang, placing third in the all-around at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge and winning silver on beam in the accompanying Mixed Cup, Lia Redick had a fairly unsavory Canadian Championships, ending the competition in eighth.
Despite this, she was named to the Pan Ams team for the second year in a row. While a low difficulty score relegated her to sixth place in last year’s junior Pan Am beam final, Redick came back with a new and improved routine to win the event as a senior this year with a personal best international score of 13.267.
While her beam routine – fueled by a back handspring mount and a triple series – has been her highest scoring and most successful event in competition this year, Redick has the makings of a successful NCAA competitor on the other events. Her front layout to back 2.5 twist on floor and solid Yurchenko full look lineup ready for a number of college programs.
Ema Kandalova – Great Britain
Looking back to 2023, Ema Kandalova was a key junior gymnast for Great Britain, finishing third in the all-around at the European Youth Olympic Festival and being named to the British junior Worlds team.
With a British elite season yet to feature a Downie, Gadirova, or Kinsella, Kandalova was picked as part of the DTB Pokal Team Challenge squad in her first year as a senior. She made the most of the opportunity, bringing back bronze medals from the team competition and beam final.
Beam has been Kandalova’s most successful event since she turned senior, adding a silver at the 2025 British Championships to her DTB Pokal medal. She competes a clean, composed routine that features a switch leap mount and a split leap full.
With so many British gymnasts looking like they plan to take the year off, look out for Kandalova to gain some more international experience during her senior debut.
Natalia Jacoby – Serbia
Since switching to compete for Serbia, the Ohio-based Natalia Jacoby has earned numerous international assignments, including a spot on the Serbian team at this year’s European Championships.
Jacoby has close ties to gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, who coached her at Euros. As the only Serbian gymnast to compete at Euros, a spot on their Worlds team seems all but inevitable. If she makes it to Jakarta, watch out for her floor routine, which is performed to the same music as Silvia Mitova’s iconic 1992 Olympic routine (and her daughter Jessica Hutchinson’s 2023 tribute).
When not competing for Serbia, Jacoby trains alongside current elites Kelise Woolford, Avery Moll, and Jazlene Pickens at Buckeye Gymnastics in Ohio. While an ankle injury has hampered her difficulty scores so far this season, Jacoby’s technique has still shone through, particularly on bars and beam – the latter of which she starts off with a back handspring mount.
