The 2025 season was a showcase of clean and breathtaking gymnastics. From stuck Yurchenko one and a halfs to side aerials with perfectly pointed toes, the level of excellence in collegiate gymnastics was on full display. Beyond the typical powerhouses, 2025 also brought a slew of breakout performers on both the individual and team level. While improvement can be gauged by just watching a routine, numbers can be helpful to identify which gymnasts saw the largest improvements. In this Data Deep Dive, the data team sought to identify the most improved gymnasts and teams in the 2025 season.
Methodology
The goal was to identify gymnasts who showed marked improvement on at least two events, added new events, or both. Data editor Emma Hammerstrom calculated three metrics for every gymnast who competed in 2025: events added, highest average increase on an event, and number of events with an improved average. All gymnasts who stopped competing in one or more of their usual events in 2025, as well as gymnasts who did not improve any event averages, were removed. As it was difficult to distinguish between injuries and those athletes not making lineups, gymnasts who did not compete in 2024 were also removed. An index with these three variables was created: events with…
