University of Utah star gymnast Grace McCallum was injured competing on vault at the Metroplex Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday.
“Devastated for her,” Utah gymnastics head coach Tom Farden said. “... An unfortunate part of sports are the injuries.”
The extent of McCallum’s injury isn’t known yet, with further testing expect in the coming days.
“Our medical staff is going to get to Grace and we will find out exactly what happened after we get thorough testing done,” Farden said. “... It is still unknown. We will find out more with testing, get her in to the docs and find out what is going on.”
McCallum was injured while landing a Yurchenko 1.5, a new vault for her this season.
Nothing leading up to the vault itself gave any sort of indication that there was a risk of injury, Farden said, be it in practice on Friday or in warmups during the meet.
“There was no indication,” Farden said. “It was just not a good landing. It is devastating”
Following the injury, McCallum was spotted by observers in a wheelchair with one of her knees wrapped after receiving immediate treatment from Utah’s medical staff. She then transitioned to crutches and was able to move around, with help.
An Olympic silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, McCallum had really come into her own to start her sophomore season as Utah’s lone all-around competitor (freshman Makenna Smith replaced McCallum in the all-around Saturday).
Entering the Metroplex Challenge — a four team meet that included Georgia, Illinois and Illinois State — McCallum was ranked 13th in NCAA women’s gymnastics in the all-around, 14th on floor, 16th on bars and 24th on beam. She was leading Utah with eight event victories to start the season.
Beyond that, McCallum had endeared herself to gymnastics fans nation-wide by revealing more of her personality this season, specifically on beam, whether it be counting her wolf turns or signing ‘I love you’ to fans.
Utah rebounded well after her injury, finishing with a team score of 197.600, and multiple gymnasts stepped in to fill the void, including Smith and Kara Eaker.
Replacing McCallum, in the event her injury proves season-ending, will not be an easy task, though Farden believes the Red Rocks are up to it.
“Really proud of the team rebounding after that injury and coming back about as strong as they can on three events,” he said. “(McCallum’s) work ethic is just unbelievable. That is something that she brings into the gym every day. And her positive attitude.
“How do we make up for that? We will get to the bottom of what is going on with her and find out but if it is the worst case scenario, but how the athletes rebounded from vault to bars was an indication. It shows me that they still care and want to still max out this year.”