Arkansas Freshman Phenom Joscelyn Roberson Eyes Elite Comeback

By Nate Salsman and Christy Sandmaier

Heading into 2024, World Champion Joscelyn Roberson entered a year filled with uncertainty. Roberson sustained an ankle injury during warmups just prior to competition in the Team Final at the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. The injury brought her back to ground zero, and ultimately pushed her to dig deep to find the resolve to regain all of her skills before the biggest year of her life. With her Olympic dream in the balance, Roberson not only persevered, she built back better than ever and had the competition of her life at the Olympic Trials in June, qualifying to the Olympic Team as a traveling alternate. It was a learning experience that she cherishes. 

“I learned that I need people around me to continue to push me and to help me, and just tell me that I’m still good at gymnastics,” Roberson said. “I feel like I lost a lot of confidence after that, especially getting back because I wasn’t confident in my ankle anymore. Just having those people to tell me, if you’re healthy, you’re going to be fine and we still love you, even if nothing else happens – it helped me realize that I am still so young, and that was such a fast turnaround, but it also taught me that I love gymnastics. And, I worked really hard to get to where I was in 2024 to make the alternate spot.”

Star-Studded Freshman

Following the Games, and the incredible opportunity to tour with her teammates and gymnastics stars from around the globe on Simone Biles’ Gold Over America Tour, Roberson set off for a new journey as a student-athlete at the University of Arkansas, and embraced the next chapter of her life. As a Gymback, she immediately found a love for NCAA Gymnastics and for her teammates. She also found herself adjusting to a new way of living and training, and honing a balance she had yet to experience.

“My freshman year was not what I expected at all! I expected to have more free time than I did in the Elite world. I didn’t realize everything behind the scenes that’s going on,” she said. “Yes, you only practice 20 hours a week, but you also have school, we’re traveling, so you have no free time. But, I love the grind and competing every week was so much fun, especially with the team.”

Roberson set records across the board in what was a truly stellar freshman campaign. During the regular season, she set and broke the Arkansas freshman All-Around record three times, earned 12 event or All-Around titles and claimed All-Around victories in five of 10 appearances, finishing No. 25 nationally. She was named a regular season All-American on beam, as well as All-SEC on the event. 

In Fort Worth, she only got better, thriving once again on the biggest stage. Roberson posted a score of 39.425, finishing 13th in the All-Around with the highest-ever freshman All-Around score at NCAAs in Arkansas history. She earned Second Team All-American honors on beam, making her a WCGA and NCAA All-American on the event. Roberson is also Arkansas’ first freshman NCAA All-American since 2012, and the first-ever freshman NCAA All-American on beam.

Her success is already inspiring her for the 2026 season and Roberson plans to be back in Fort Worth next season, this time with her team competing for the National Championship. “Having the team aspect was amazing, and I really didn’t like not having them there at Nationals,” she told us. ”I’m so excited for next year. I know we’re going to get in the gym and work really hard, and I believe we’ll be there next year as a team, and I just can’t wait!”

With Cami Weaver, Frankie Price (who was injured during the Regional Semifinal), and Leah Smith all returning for a fifth season, along with a healthy Lauren Williams hopefully back in the lineups, the future for the Razorbacks remains as bright as ever as they chase a trip back to Nationals, where they finished 7th in 2024.

Roberson believes the untimely injuries in 2025 only made the team closer, and hungrier, for 2026. “We had so many girls go down with, like, freak accident injuries, and it was so tough on them,” she said. “It was tough on the team, but I feel like it made us so much stronger and closer as a team, and we really gave it everything we had.”

Known for much of her Elite career as a powerhouse who excelled on floor and vault, Roberson became a clutch performer on beam for the Gymbacks in the most pressure-packed moments. She excelled and she loved it, which may have surprised everyone but Roberson herself, who always had a NCAA dream of sorts when it came to beam.

“So, when I was younger, when I first fell in love with gymnastics, I always did really well on beam,” she said. “Then I got older and I became more of the floor and vault girl, which is fine. I love that, too. But, I always had a dream of doing really well on beam in college. That was always my dream was to go to college and have the best beam for the team I could possibly have. It was just amazing being able to perform, hit it as often as I could, and I just love both.”

In the Regional Semifinal, Roberson found herself facing another must-hit moment on beam and also found herself doing something a little unusual: looking at the scores. “One thing about me is I don’t like to watch the girls going before me. I clap and hear, but I try not to watch them because I don’t want to give myself any reason to be nervous. But at Regionals, I noticed the scores, and I was like, ‘oh, my goodness, my score is going to have to count.’ I thrive on that kind of pressure.

“In college gymnastics, you never have the same amount of pressure as the Olympic Trials – no amount of pressure will ever amount to that. At Regionals, I got that little sense of the same amount of pressure, and I thrived under that. When I got up there and I hit my first skill, it’s like, ‘oh, this is going to be a good routine!’ And I nailed it.”

As she reflected on her season, Roberson noted several more memorable moments with her teammates and on the competition floor. Sliding arm in arm to Starbucks in the snow on their first road meet, and sticking her dismount at Regionals remain at the top of her list. As does rotating with the Utah Red Rocks at Nationals. 

“They took me in with open arms. I mean, they called the Hogs during my beam routine, which I wasn’t expecting them to do,” she said with a huge smile. “That was awesome. I was in all of their huddles, and they just really took me in as one of their teammates, even though I couldn’t have my team. I was really grateful that they did that and just to be in as one of their own for the weekend.”

Fire Still Burning

With the success of her Elite season in 2023 and 2024 and an incredible freshman debut at Arkansas driving her, Roberson is hungry for more. Much more. The experience in Paris further fueled the fire Roberson has for gymnastics and for competing at the highest level.

“It was an amazing experience,” Roberson said. “I loved every part of it, but I definitely wanted to be on the other side, because we had two weeks where we were with the team, and then a week and a half where we were separate from the team. It just lit a new fire in me, like, I want to be on the other side of that four years later. I’m just so excited to get back to that kind of competition.” 

Fans won’t have to wait long to see Roberson back in Elite competition. Originally, she expected to take it slow this year and see how her body felt, but halfway through the NCAA season she realized she still had the desire and the ability to compete in Elite gymnastics in 2025. 

“I really miss the grind of it all. So I’ve been so excited to get back,” Roberson said. “I’m going to stay here at Arkansas and train with Chris [Brooks], who’s going to be my main head coach for the elite season. He was so excited about it. He’s so pumped. I just love having that in the gym every day, just the same excitement that I have about Elite gymnastics. He has the exact same excitement and is ready to go on this journey with me.”

Roberson is currently targeting her return to competition at the U.S. Classic on July 19. She’s unsure whether or not she will compete in the All-Around at that meet, but plans on being fully back for 2025 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships. For Roberson, 2025 is simply for herself. 

“This year is more just for me and just getting back out there more than anything else,” Roberson said. “Just to have fun with it and see how the transition works more or less than anything else.”

From a young age Roberson has always been a natural talent, capable of competing the most challenging skills in the code. These skills have been easy for her to maintain even in the midst of a busy college gymnastics season. 

“I would try to do all of my bigger skills, at least once a week,” Roberson said. “Vault was where I didn’t do it as much. That’s been a little bit trickier coming back and I’ve been more nervous to do it, more antsy. For tumbling, it’s just like riding a bike. I’ve been doing full Elite workouts for two weeks now and it’s back to normal. It’s just so much fun. I forgot how fun super super hard gymnastics was. I’ve just been loving being in the gym because I’ve been training way more like I went from 20 hours, and now I’m back up to 28 and I just love being in the gym. Some people call me crazy for that, but I just love it!” 

LA2028 

For so many U.S. athletes, the allure of a home Olympic Games is powerful. Roberson is no different, though she acknowledges that she’s not quite ready to make the total commitment to trying for the Games just yet, noting what it takes, and just how much can happen during the journey. She wants to focus on this year first and see where it takes her.

“I don’t know if I want to commit to LA2028 just yet, just because really anything can happen,” she said. “I mean, I can get hurt. I can fall out of love with gymnastics. So many things. I like to take it one thing at a time, one year at a time. I mean, that’s helped me before. Even when I was [training at World Champions Centre], we never thought about the Olympics until 2024 hit. We were focused on getting to my first-ever international assignment. And then it was, ‘how many assignments can I do? Could I make Worlds?’ And then after that, it was, ‘could I get healthy enough to compete again?” Only after that was it, “okay, let’s see if we can make the Olympics.’ So, it’s just taking it one step at a time. I feel like just keeping my head down, staying humble, and working hard is what’s going to get me there and keep me healthy.”

In a letter to herself after her 2023 injury, Roberson said she’d tell herself to get healthy, focus on her rehab, and that everything is going to work out. “Everything’s going to work out and life is about to become so crazy, but so amazing. So just get ready for the ride. And to my younger, younger self, I would just tell her to stay in love with the sport and don’t let anything get in the way of that.”

Look for all the stars and storylines from the 2025 Season in our upcoming NCAA Commemorative Issue of Inside Gymnastics magazine!!!

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