Aleah Finnegan
Finnegan in 2024
Personal information
Full name	Aleah Cruz Finnegan[fn 1]
Born	(2003-01-04)January 4, 2003 (age 22)[2][3] St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.[2]
Height	5 ft 4 in (163 cm)[4]
Gymnastics career
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Country represented	Philippines
Years on national team	2019–21 (USA) 2022–present (PHI)
Former countries represented	United States
College team	LSU Tigers (2022–25)
Gym	Great American Gymnastics Express
Headcoach(es)	Al Fong
Assistantcoach(es)	Armine Barutyan
Medal record Women'sartistic gymnastics Event 1st 2nd 3rd Pan American Games 1 0 0 Asian Championships 0 0 2 Southeast Asian Games 2 2 0 Total 3 2 2 Representing United States Pan American Games 2019 Lima Team Representing Philippines Asian Championships 2023 Singapore Vault 2023 Singapore Balance beam Southeast Asian Games 2021 Vietnam Team 2021 Vietnam Vault 2021 Vietnam All-around 2021 Vietnam Balance beam RepresentingLouisiana State Tigers NCAA Championships 2024 Fort Worth Team 2024 Fort Worth Floor exercise 2023 Fort Worth Floor exercise

Aleah Cruz Finnegan (born January 4, 2003) is a Filipino-American artistic gymnast. Born in the United States, she represents the Philippines internationally and competed for her country of birth in the past. She was a member of theUnited States' women's national gymnastics team from 2019 to 2021 and was part of the team that won gold at the2019 Pan American Games. She is the first Filipina gymnast in over 60 years to qualify and represent thePhilippines at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She is the2023 Asian Championships vault and balance beam bronze medalist and the2021 Southeast Asian Games team and vault champion. She also currently competes for theLSU Tigers gymnastics team and is the2024 NCAA floor exercise champion.

Finnegan was born inSt. Louis, Missouri, to Don and Linabelle Finnegan. She has three sisters, includingSarah, Hannah, and Jennah.^[5] Their mother was born in the Philippines and was a resident of Caloocan City before moving to the United States at age 19 as a college student.^[6]

Finnegan began gymnastics in 2005 and moved with her family to Kansas City in 2008 to train atGreat American Gymnastics Express.^[7]

Finnegan was a Junior Olympic athlete and competed at the 2016 and 2017J.O Nationals. In 2016, she placed 29th in the all-around and seventh on the balance beam.^[8] In 2017, she won gold in the all-around for the Junior-B division.^[9]

In 2018, Finnegan qualified to junior elite at Brestyan's National Qualifier.^[10] She made her elite debut at the American Classic in July where she finished sixth in the all-around but won bronze on the balance beam.^[11] Later that month, she competed at the2018 U.S. Classic where she placed seventh in the all-around.^[12] In August, she competed at her firstNational Championships where she placed 14th in the all-around, fourth on vault, 18th on uneven bars and balance beam, and 15th on floor exercise.^[13][14]

Finneganturned senior in 2019. In February, she was named to the team to compete at theInternational Gymnix inMontreal alongsideAlyona Shchennikova,Sloane Blakely, and GAGE teammateKara Eaker.^[15] While there, she won gold in the team final and on vault; she received the fifth highest score in the all-around but did not place due to teammates Eaker and Shchennikova placing higher.^[16] In June 2019, Finnegan was named as one of the eight athletes being considered for the team to compete at the2019 Pan American Games.^[17] At the2019 GK US Classic, Finnegan placed seventh in the all-around. She also placed second on vault behindJade Carey, twelfth on uneven bars, tenth on balance beam, and seventh on floor exercise. After the competition, she was named to the team to compete at the Pan American Games alongside Eaker,Morgan Hurd,Riley McCusker, andLeanne Wong.^[18]

At the2019 Pan American Games Finnegan competed on vault and floor, with both her scores contributing towards the USA'sgold medal winning performance. Individually, Finnegan qualified to the vault final in fourth, behindEllie Black of Canada,Yesenia Ferrera of Cuba, andMartina Dominici of Argentina. She also posted the fourth highest floor exercise score in the competition, but because teammates McCusker and Eaker scored higher than her, she was unable to compete in the final due to the two-per-country rule.^[19][20] On the first day of event finals, it was announced that Finnegan had withdrawn from thevault final due to injury.^[21][22]

At the2019 National Championships, Finnegan finished thirteenth in the all-around. She also placed fourth on vault, thirteenth on uneven bars, fifteenth on balance beam, and sixth on floor exercise.^[23] She was not named to the national team, but it was announced that she would receive an invite to the Worlds selection camp.^[24] Finnegan competed at the U.S. World Championship trials on only the balance beam, receiving a score of 13.200, finishing twelfth on the event.^[25] She was not named to the World Championship team after the trials.^[26]

After the postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games, Finnegan had surgery to fix a fracture in thenavicular bone.^[27] In November 2020, she signed herNational Letter of Intent withLouisiana State University.^[28]

In May 2021, Finnegan competed at the2021 GK U.S. Classic, finishing fifth in the all-around behindSimone Biles,Jordan Chiles,Kayla DiCello, andGrace McCallum. Additionally, she placed seventh on both the balance beam and floor exercise.^[29] The following month, she competed at the2021 National Championships. She finished twenty-third in the all-around after falling during three of the four apparatuses on the first night of competition. As a result, she was not selected to compete at theOlympic Trials.^[30] Finnegan announced her retirement from elite gymnastics on June 11, intending to continue competing at the NCAA level with theLSU Tigers.^[31]

In March 2022, it was revealed that Finnegan had decided to represent thePhilippines in international competitions.^[32] The nationality change was approved by theInternational Gymnastics Federation in May of that year.^[33] At the2021 Southeast Asian Games (postponed to 2022), she led the Filipino team to first place in the team competition. Individually she placed second in the all-around behindRifda Irfanaluthfi of Indonesia. She also won gold on vault and silver on balance beam and placed fifth on the uneven bars.^[34]

Finnegan competed at the2023 Asian Championships. On the first day of competition, she helped the Philippines finish fifth as a team, and individually she finished sixth in the all-around. As a result, she qualified as an individual to compete at the2023 World Championships.^[35] During event finals, she won bronze on both vault and balance beam and finished fourth on floor exercise.^[36][37] At the World Championships, Finnegan finished 32nd in the all-around, making her the second reserve for the all-around final. Additionally, shequalified for the 2024 Summer Olympics as an individual.^[38][39]

Finnegan competed at the2024 Olympic Games alongside fellow Filipina-AmericansLevi Ruivivar andEmma Malabuyo. They were the first female Filipina artistic gymnasts to compete at the Olympics sinceEvelyn Magluyan competed at the1964 Games.^[40] During qualifications Finnegan finished 47th in the all-around. Additionally she finished seventeenth on vault, the highest vault placement for a Filipina gymnast at the Olympics.^[41][42]

Competing for the LSU Tigers, Finnegan made her collegiate debut on January 28 in a meet against Georgia. She only competed on the balance beam where she scored a 9.875.^[43] She competed on balance beam at theSEC Championships, finishing seventh with a score of 9.925.^[44]

On February 3, 2023, in a meet againstGeorgia, Finnegan earned her first career perfect 10 for the LSU Tigers on the floor exercise.^[45] The following week, she earned her second perfect 10 on vault againstAuburn, winning the all-around ahead ofSunisa Lee with a score of 39.8.^[46] On February 17, Finnegan scored a perfect 10 for the third week in a row, this time on the balance beam, helping LSU upset the No. 2Florida Gators.^[47] At the SEC Championships, she scored 9.950 on the floor exercise and finished in second place.^[48] She also finished second on floor exercise at theNCAA Championships.^[49]

On February 16, Finnegan earned her fifth career perfect 10 on floor exercise in a meet againstAuburn. The following week, she scored another perfect 10 on the event in an away meet againstFlorida.^[50] At the SEC Championships, Finnegan contributed scores on vault, balance beam and floor exercise, helping LSU win the SEC conference title.^[51] During theNCAA Championship semifinals, she won an individual national title on floor exercise with a score of 9.9625 and helped LSU advance to the final.^[52] During the championship final, Finnegan scored a 9.9125 on floor exercise followed by a 9.8375 on vault. In the last rotation, she anchored the Tigers on the balance beam with a 9.950, clinching LSU's first national championship title in program history.^[53][54]

Aleah Finnegan's sisters would also become competitive gymnasts. Sarah was an alternate for the2012 U.S. Olympic Team, and Hannah competed for the Philippines at the2011 Southeast Asian Games.^[5] Their father died in August 2019.^[55]

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
Level 10
2016	J.O. National Championships		28			7
2017	J.O. National Championships				13		5
Junior elite
2018	Brestyan's National Qualifier
	American Classic		6	5	15		5
	U.S. Classic		7	5	16	7	7
	U.S. National Championships		14	4	18	18	15
Senior elite
2019	International Gymnix
	U.S. Classic		7		12	10	7
	Pan American Games			WD
	U.S. National Championships		13	4	13	15	6
	Worlds Team Selection Camp					12
2021	U.S. Classic		5		15	7	7
	U.S. National Championships		23		23	18	14
NCAA &Senior elite
2022	SEC Championships	5				7
	Southeast Asian Games				5
2023	SEC Championships		4	7	28	6
	NCAA Championship	4	5
	Asian Championships	5	6				4
	World Championships		R2
2024	SEC Championships			13		20	41
	NCAA Championship					24
	Olympic Games		47
2025	SEC Championships			6	5		11

^[49]

• Nationality changes in gymnastics

• Aleah Finnegan at theInternational Gymnastics Federation
• Aleah Finnegan atUSA Gymnastics
• Aleah Finnegan atOlympics.com

• 2003 births
• Living people
• Filipino female artistic gymnasts
• American female artistic gymnasts
• Filipino people of American descent
• American sportspeople of Filipino descent
• Sportspeople from Missouri
• U.S. women's national team gymnasts
• Gymnasts at the 2019 Pan American Games
• Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games
• Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in gymnastics
• LSU Tigers women's gymnasts
• 21st-century American sportswomen
• Competitors at the 2021 SEA Games
• SEA Games gold medalists for the Philippines
• SEA Games medalists in gymnastics
• SEA Games silver medalists for the Philippines
• Gymnasts at the 2024 Summer Olympics
• Olympic gymnasts for the Philippines

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from April 2023
• Use Philippine English from August 2024
• All Wikipedia articles written in Philippine English
• Articles using sports links with data from Wikidata