"Looking forward to what’s next” - Kayla DiCello on 'amazing’ Pan American Games experience
19-year-old Kayla DiCello is currently celebrating her debut at the 2023 Pan American Games. The Florida Gators gymnast was a part of the American squad that won a gold medal in the team event. DiCello also scored an individual gold medal and a silver medal in two events that contributed to her experience at the games in Santiago, Chile.
Kayla DiCello has been one of the most promising American gymnasts in the recent past. Before competing in the Pan American Games 2023, she was also a part of Team USA competed in the 2023 World Gymnastics Artistic Championships, and won her first world gold medal in the team event.
After concluding the Pan American Games, Kayla DiCello cherished her victorious performances and posted pictures of herself from the event on her Instagram.
She captioned her post:
"and just like that, Pan Ams are over! this experience has been amazing and I’m looking forward to what’s next!🫶🏼"
The team gold medal at the recently concluded Pan American Games was Team USA’s sixth-straight victory, boasting 15 out of 17 women's artistic gymnastics team titles all-time at the Pan American Games.
Besides being part of the historic victory, the 2021 all-around bronze medalist also won a gold medal at the all-around event with 54.699 points, defeating second-placed Flavia Saraiva’s 54.565 points. With this, she became the first the first United States woman to win an all-around gold at the Pan American Games since Bridgette Caquatto in 2011.
Kayla DiCello concluded her wonderful run at the Pan American Games 2023 by competing in the floor exercise event. By scoring 13.733 points, she shared her silver medal with Brazil's Flavia Saraiva. Moreover, her US teammate Kaliya Lincoln won the floor exercise gold with 14.233 points.
Kayla DiCello’s gymnastics journey so far
American gymnast Kayla DiCello began her gymnastics journey at the age of 2. She became a junior elite gymnast after qualifying at the Brestyan’s National Qualifier. By 2018, she became a part of the junior national team that competed in the 2018 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships.
In that event, she impressed everyone by winning gold in the team, vault, and uneven bars and silver in the all-around.
In the same year, she got to compete in the US Classic where she finished second behind Leanne Wong after falling off the balance beam. Eventually, Kayla DiCello got the opportunity to attend the University of Florida on a gymnastics scholarship. In 2019, she competed in a couple of renowned championships like the US Classic and US National Championship which saw the young gymnast delivering decent performances.
In 2021, she won the bronze medal in the all-around event at the world championships. Last year, Di’Cello competed at the Pan American Championships, winning an individual gold in the floor exercise event and a silver in the team event.