MyKayla Skinner
Full name	MyKayla Brooke Skinner Harmer
Country represented	United States
Born	(1996-12-09) December 9, 1996 (age 27) Gilbert, Arizona, U.S.
Hometown	Gilbert, Arizona, U.S.
Residence	American Fork, Utah, U.S.
Spouse	Jonas Harmer ​ ( m. 2019)​
Height	5 ft 0 in (152 cm)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Years on national team	2011–2016, 2019–2021 ( USA)
Gym	Desert Lights Gymnastics
College team	Utah Red Rocks (2017–2019)
Head coach(es)	Lisa Spini Megan Marsden Tom Farden
Assistant coach(es)	Bruce McGehee
Retired	August 1, 2021
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 0 1 0 World Championships 3 0 1 NCAA Championships 2 2 0 Total 5 3 1 Women's artistic gymnastics Representing   United States Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo Vault World Championships 2014 Nanning Team 2015 Glasgow Team 2019 Stuttgart Team 2014 Nanning Vault Pan American Championships 2014 Mississauga Team 2014 Mississauga All-Around 2014 Mississauga Floor Exercise 2014 Mississauga Vault FIG World Cup Event 1st 2nd 3rd All-Around World Cup 1 1 0 Representing Utah Red Rocks NCAA Championships 2017 St Louis Floor Exercise 2018 St Louis Vault 2017 St Louis All-Around 2018 St Louis All-Around Pac-12 Championships 2017 Stanford Team 2017 Stanford All-Around 2017 Stanford Vault 2017 Stanford Floor Exercise 2018 Tucson All-Around 2018 Tucson Floor Exercise 2019 West Valley City Vault 2019 West Valley City Floor Exercise 2018 Tucson Team 2018 Tucson Uneven Bars 2019 West Valley City Team 2019 West Valley City All-Around 2019 West Valley City Uneven Bars 2018 Tucson Vault 2018 Tucson Balance Beam
YouTube information
Channel	MyKayla Skinner
Years active	2020–present
Genre	Vlog
Subscribers	129k [1]
Total views	21,813,706 [1]
Creator Awards 100,000 subscribers 2021
Awards	Collegiate Female Athlete of the Year (2020) [2]
Last updated: July 12, 2024

MyKayla Brooke Skinner Harmer (born December 9, 1996) is an American former artistic gymnast. She was the 2020 Olympic vault 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]

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 became age-eligible for senior-level competition in 2012 and was added to the U.S. senior national team. ^[9] She was a member of the winning U.S. squad at the City of Jesolo Trophy in March. In June, she finished 15th all around at the U.S. Nationals and third on vault. ^{[10] [11]} She competed in the Olympic Trials to attend the 2012 U.S women's Olympic team, but was not selected. ^{[12] [13] [14]}

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 on 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 vault and 14.666 on the floor. In 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.

Skinner placed second to Simone Biles at the 2015 AT&T American Cup in Arlington, Texas in 2015 with a score of 57.832. ^[18]

At the U.S. Classic on July 25, 2015, Skinner finished 7th in the all-around with a score of 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 member of the senior national team, 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]}

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]}

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]

At the 2019 U.S. National Championships, Skinner competed in all events and tied for ninth with Grace McCallum and was added to the national team. ^{[23] [24]}

In September, Skinner competed at the U.S. World Championships trials where she placed fourth in the all-around behind Biles, Sunisa Lee, and Kara Eaker. She placed fourth on the balance beambehind Biles, Eaker, and Morgan Hurd. She was named as an alternate for the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. ^[25]

Skinner competed at the International Gymnix meet in Montreal in March 2020 with Emily Lee, Lilly Lippeatt, and Faith Torrez. ^[26] She placed second in the all-around behind Lee and won gold medals in the vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise titles to help the U.S.A team win gold. ^{[27] [28]}

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]

At the National Championships, Skinner won silver on vault. She was added to the national team and qualified to compete at the Olympic Trials. ^[33]

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 on 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 in 11th place in the all-around and fourth place on the vault, she did not qualify to 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. 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]

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]

Skinner enrolled at the University of Utah in 2016 as a member of its NCAA women's gymnastics team 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 exercise. 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.

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]

At the PAC-12 Championships Skinner scored her third career perfect 10 on floor exercise. She finished second in the all-around and in 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 ended up finishing fourth in their semifinal and did not advance to the finals. ^[48]

MyKayla Skinner was born on December 9, 1996, in Gilbert, Arizona, to Cris and Kym Skinner. She has three older siblings, Jeremy, Chelsea, and Katie, two of whom are former gymnasts themselves. ^[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 home schooled 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]

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 racist emojis. ^[55]

Skinner further generated controversy in 2024 with comments about the newly named Olympic team. 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 the retirement of controversial women's team coordinator, Márta Károlyi. ^[56] Many also believed that Skinner took a subtle dig at 2020 Tokyo all-around champion Sunisa Lee, with comments about her body appearance and second place finish at the 2024 Olympic trials. ^[57] Skinner also continuously mispronounced the name of Hezly Rivera, another member of the 2024 team. This resulted in many members of the gymnastics community, including Olympians and family members, speaking out against her comments. ^[58]

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
Junior elite
2010	U.S. National Championships		25	8	30	22	33
2011	WOGA Classic
	Nastia Liukin Cup		5
	U.S. National Championships		10		20	15	15
Senior elite
2012	City of Jesolo Trophy		10
	US National Championships		15		20	17	11
2013	U.S. Classic		10		13	9	13
	U.S. National Championships		6		9	11
2014	City of Jesolo Trophy		4
	U.S. Classic		5		10	6	6
	U.S. National Championships		5		11	6
	Pan American Championships					7
	Nanning World Championships						4
2015	American Cup
	U.S. Classic		7		10	12	9
	U.S. National Championships		7		16	7
	Glasgow World Championships	[a]
2016	Glasgow World Cup
	City of Jesolo Trophy		5
	U.S. Classic				16	8
	U.S. National Championships		10		17	18
	U.S. Olympic Trials		4		12	5	5
	Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games	[a]
NCAA
2017	PAC-12 Championships				6	7
	NCAA Championships	5		5		8
2018	PAC-12 Championships
	NCAA Championships	5			7	4	5
2019	PAC-12 Championships					9
	NCAA Championships	SF	7	5	6		5
	Senior elite
	U.S. Classic					11	14
	U.S. National Championships		8		9	14	5
	Worlds Team Selection Camp		4		6	8	5
	Stuttgart World Championships	[a]
2020	International Gymnix
2021	U.S. Classic		10		13	25	10
	U.S. National Championships		9		9	16	10
	Olympic Trials		5		9	7	7
	Tokyo Olympic Games

• MyKayla Skinner at the International Gymnastics Federation
• MyKayla Skinner at USA Gymnastics
• MyKayla Skinner at Team USA ( archive February 4, 2022)
• MyKayla Skinner at Olympedia
• MyKayla Skinner at Olympics.com