Courtesy of Mizzou Athletics
It’s the routine that’s been showcased by ESPN and Sports Illustrated. It didn’t come from a name instantly recognized by the casual fan or the top team in the country. It came from a gymnast who realized she still had more to give for her team and the sport.
The first perfect 10 of the NCAA gymnastics season truly could not have been more perfect. Helen Hu’s perfect score on the balance beam was not just the first in the nation this year, but also the first in her career.
Hu’s perfect 10 was the seventh for Missouri gymnastics, the fourth on beam, and she became the fifth Missouri gymnast to score a perfect 10. Hu scored a near-perfect 9.975 on beam three times in her career, and had a goal of finally getting a perfect score. Her career leading up to this moment, though, was less than typical and made this moment even sweeter.
Hu began competing for Missouri in 2020. Her flexibility and elegance, more stylistically reflective of gymnastics in the 1990s, made her an instant fan favorite. Hu competed in the all-around her freshman season, and had her career-best scores of 9.875 on vault and floor, 9.950 on bars, and two 9.975s on beam. She finished the season ranked fifth in the nation on beam and tied for twelfth on bars.
An injury sidelined Hu for her sophomore season in 2021. When she began competing again, she became a bars and beam specialist. In her redshirt sophomore season, she scored a 9.950 three times on beam, and had a shining moment on bars. At the 2022 NCAA Regionals competition, Hu’s bars score of a 9.900 helped Mizzou earn a 197.425, their highest ever team score at regionals, which punched the team a ticket to the NCAA Championship.
Hu was as solid as ever in her redshirt junior year in 2023, posting high scores of 9.950 on bars, notably in the SEC Championship, and 9.975 on beam. She scored a 9.9 or better six times on bars and ten times on beam.
Hu announced her retirement at the end of the 2023 season. And so, Hu’s journey to perfection included a journey around the world last year, as she spent 2024 backpacking across Europe, Asia, and South America.
Hu realized she wasn’t done with gymnastics, and felt she had more to give to Missouri, and decided to use her final year of eligibility.
She said in an article for the Missouri Tigers, “When weighing my options, I couldn't shake the feeling that I have more to give, and that belief that I could do more. I wanted to continue helping the program grow and be a part of this really special sport. It felt like I would be missing out on a special opportunity that people don't get or can't achieve. So, I felt like I owe it to myself, the sport and the team to come back for a year because I knew that I could.”
Hu had a goal in her return to finally earn her long-awaited perfect 10, and she did so in just the third meet of the season against #1 ranked Oklahoma. This was a special moment for Hu and her team. It was also a rare moment in which every NCAA gymnastics fan agreed that a routine was, in fact, perfect.
Catch Hu and the Missouri Tigers in their next meet on Sunday, Jan. 26 against the Kentucky Wildcats at 6PM EST on SEC Network, SEC+, and ESPN+.
Courtesy of Mizzou Gymnastics (@mizzougym)
Edited by Giana Robertaccio
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