Mormon Teen Wins Two Silver Medals: Aims for Olympics

High school senior, Latter-day Saint, and two-time silver medalist Mykayla Skinner refuses to slow down. This 17-year-old gymnast is twirling full-speed ahead as she continues to progress in preparation for her promising gymnastics future.

Just this last weekend, Skinner competed in the P&G Gymnastics Championships where she was hoping to win a gold medal. Although she came just shy of gold, Skinner received not just one, but two silver medals for her vault and floor routines. For the past seven years, the Arizona gymnast has been training with National Team coordinator, Martha Karolyi, in Houston, Texas and has been selected to represent the United States in Italy last March at the Trophy of Jesolo competition.  Deseret News reports that at this competition, Skinner brought home two individual gold medals for vault and floor and helped the U.S. win the team gold. 

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, religion is a large part of Skinner’s life. She prepares for each competition physically and spiritually:

Before I go to bed, I think about my routines and I pray a lot.

Skinner’s coach, Lisa Spini, told Deseret News that currently Skinner is ranked No. 1 in the world for vault and has the highest start value in the world on floor exercise. Every week Skinner trains for 31 hours at the gym, Monday through Saturday. Also, each month Skinner and Spini take a trip to Houston for a five-day training trip.

Once Skinner graduates, she plans to spend an entire year focusing on gymnastics with the hope of making the 2016 Olympic Team. She has verbally committed to attend the University of Utah after her year off from school.

Read more on Mykayla Skinner at DeseretNews.com.