MyKayla Brooke Skinner Harmer (born December 9, 1996) is an American former artistic gymnast. She was the 2020 Olympicvault silver medalist, competing as an individual, and was an alternate for the 2016 Olympic team. Skinner competed at the 2014 World Championships, where she contributed to the U.S. team's gold medal, also winning an individual bronze medal on vault. She won 11 total medals at the USA National Championships during her senior career. She also competed for the University of Utah's gymnastics team and was a two-time NCAA champion while also setting Pac-12 records for conference honors.[3]
Elite gymnastics career
2011–2012: Career beginnings
Skinner was the junior individual all-around champion of the 2011 American Classic.[4][5] She was named to the junior U.S. national team after finishing 10th in the all-around and second on vault at the National Championships.[6][7][8]
Skinner competed at the Fiesta Bowl in 2013, winning every individual event except for the floor exercise, where she tied for eighth place.[15] At the 2013 P&G Championships, she placed third on vault and floor, and finished sixth in the all-around.
In 2014, Skinner competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy, helping the U.S. win gold as a team. She won the gold medal for individual vault and floor exercises and placed fourth in the all-around. Skinner competed at the Pan American Championships in Mississauga, Canada. She helped the U.S. team place first in the team competition. She placed first in the individual all-around competition with a score of 56.850, including first on vault, scoring 15.037, seventh on balance beam, scoring 13.475, and first on floor exercise, scoring 14.750.[16][17]
Skinner won a gold medal with the U.S. in the team competition at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China, contributing a score of 15.775 on the vault and 14.666 on the floor. In the event finals, Skinner won a bronze medal in the vault, with a score of 15.366, and placed fourth in the floor exercise final, scoring a 14.700, losing a second bronze medal to Aliya Mustafina, who had a score of 14.733.
At the U.S. Classic on July 25, 2015, Skinner finished 7th in the all-around, scoring 55.500. She finished 12th on the balance beam, scoring 12.800. ninth on the balance beam, scoring 13.500, second with a 15.100 on vault, and placed 10th on bars with a score of 14.100.[19]
As a senior national team member, Skinner was invited to the 2015 Worlds Selection Camp in September and October. On October 8, she was named an alternate to the USA team for the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.[citation needed]
2016: Olympic alternate
Skinner finished 10th in the all-around and won a silver medal on vault and a bronze medal on floor exercise at the 2016 U.S. National Championships, earning her an invitation to the U.S. Olympic Trials.
At the Olympic Trials, Skinner finished fourth in the all-around and was named an alternate to the 2016 Olympic team.[citation needed]
2019: Elite comeback
On April 25, 2019, Skinner returned to elite gymnastics to attempt to compete at the 2020 Olympics.[20] She was invited to attend the June national team training camp.[21]
Skinner returned to elite competition at the 2019 U.S. Classic. With a score of 14.900, she tied for second with Carey on vault behind Biles. She placed 11th on balance beam and 14th on floor exercise.[22]
In January 2021, Skinner revealed that she was hospitalized with pneumonia that resulted from COVID-19.[29] In March, Skinner attended at a national team camp and was named to the national team.[30]
Skinner competed at the U.S. Classic in May 2021, where she finished first on vault and 10th in the all-around.[31] Skinner was one of five gymnasts featured on the Peacock docuseries Golden: The Journey of USA's Elite Gymnasts.[32]
Skinner finished fifth in the all-around at the Olympic Trials and was selected to represent the U.S. in the non-nominative spot at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, meaning she would compete as an individual instead of on the four-member U.S. team.[34]
The decision to include Skinner was controversial because Carey's strengths in vault and floor exercise matched those of Skinner, instead of having the second gymnast be proficient on bars and beam. As a result of the decision, Carey and Skinner would compete against each other and cause the U.S. to be eligible for fewer medals.[35]
At the Olympic Games, Skinner performed the all-around during qualifications, hitting all four of her routines. Despite finishing 11th place in the all-around and fourth place on the vault, she did not qualify for either final due to two-per-country limitations. Biles, Lee, and Carey finished ahead of her in the all-around and on vault.[36]
Skinner took Biles' place in the vault final when Biles dropped out due to mental health issues. Skinner finished second, winning the silver medal with an average score for her, Cheng and Amanar vaults of 14.916.[37]
On July 3, Skinner announced that she would retire from competitive gymnastics after the Olympics. She returned to the University of Utah to complete her degree in broadcast journalism.[38]
Collegiate gymnastics career
In November 2014, Skinner signed a National Letter of Intent for the University of Utah and the Utah Red Rocks program.[39] Utah coach Greg Marsden said that Skinner was "one of the top gymnasts in the world" with "the potential to get even better as a result of her passion for the sport. She loves to flip and twist."[40] In April 2015, Skinner announced that she would defer enrolling at Utah by a year to concentrate on making the 2016 Olympic team.[41]
2016–2017 season
Skinner enrolled at the University of Utah in 2016 as an NCAA women's gymnastics team member and competed in the all-around.[42] During her freshman season Skinner won 43 total events. She was the PAC-12 champion in the individual all-around and on vault and floor exercises. At the NCAA Championships, Skinner finished second in the individual all-around with a score of 39.6125, behind Alex McMurtry of Florida. She was a national champion on floor exercise with a 9.9625 alongside Ashleigh Gnat of LSU and was also fifth on vault and eighth on balance beam.[43] The following day, she led Utah to fifth place in the team competition finals. She is one of the only gymnasts in NCAA history to do a Silivas, which is a Double Twisting Double Back.
2017–2018 season
In the 2018 season, Skinner hit all 54 of her routines without a fall. At the PAC-12 Championships, she helped Utah finish in second place. Individually, Skinner tied for first in the all-around with Kyla Ross of UCLA and tied for first on floor exercise with Katelyn Ohashi of UCLA and Elizabeth Price of Stanford.[44] At the 2018 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championship Skinner won silver in the all-around and tied for first on vault with Brenna Dowell of Oklahoma and Alex McMurtry of Florida.[45]
2018–2019 season
At the PAC-12 Championships, Skinner scored her third career perfect 10 on floor exercise. She finished second in the all-around and the team finals and won gold on floor and vault.[46] During the regional finals, Skinner fell on her uneven bars routine, ending her 161 routine streak without a fall, but setting a new record.[47] At the NCAA Championships Skinner placed seventh in the all-around after a subpar beam routine. She recorded the second-highest vault and floor exercise scores but placed fifth due to four gymnasts tying for the title. Utah finished fourth in their semifinal and did not advance to the finals.[48]
Career perfect 10.0
Season
Date
Event
Meet
2017
March 3, 2017
Floor Exercise
Utah vs Stanford
March 18, 2017
PAC-12 Championships
2019
March 22, 2019
Personal life
MyKayla Skinner was born to Cris and Kym Skinner on December 9, 1996, in Gilbert, Arizona. She has three older siblings, Jeremy, Chelsea and Katie, two former gymnasts.[12] Skinner is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[49] She grew up in Gilbert, Arizona, and said that her role model was Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson.[50]
Skinner trained at Desert Lights Gymnastics in Chandler, Arizona, under head coach Lisa Spini.[51] She attended Higley High School in 2011 as a freshman and was homeschooled starting in 2012.[51][9]
On October 16, 2019, Skinner announced on Instagram that she was engaged to Jonas Harmer, whom she met while studying at the University of Utah.[52] Skinner and Harmer were married on November 14, 2019.[53] On September 22, 2023, Skinner and Harmer announced the arrival of their daughter, Charlotte Jane, through Instagram.[54]
Controversies
Following being named an alternate to the 2016 Olympics, Skinner retweeted a photograph of the U.S. team with her picture edited over that of Gabby Douglas and included emojis deemed racist. She later apologized; "I'm sorry if I offended anyone....".[55]
In a since-deleted YouTube video, Skinner criticized the 2024 Olympic team, stating that the talent and work ethic was lacking compared to previous teams. She attributed this reduced work ethic to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an organization set up to reduce sexual abuse in Olympic sports in the wake of the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal, and to the retirement of controversial women's team coordinator, Márta Károlyi.[56] Skinner also stated that Sunisa Lee did not have a gymnast body and mispronounced Hezly Rivera's name.[57] These comments resulted in many members of the gymnastics community speaking out against Skinner.[58] After the 2024 U.S. Olympic team won the team gold medal, Simone Biles referenced Skinner's comments in an Instagram post. Skinner subsequently blocked Biles on social media.[59] Several prominent current and past American gymnasts expressed support for Biles's post and criticized Skinner's comments.[60]
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