Since Simone Biles’s former coach Cecile Canqueteau-Landi joined Georgia as co-head coach in 2024, her vision was to put the GymDogs back to the domination they had had in 2005-2009. She believed in rebuilding Georgia, and it looked like she might finally push them into NCAA finals contention for the first time since 2019 as they entered the 2026 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships, but it seems luck was not on their side again.

According to USA Gymnastics updates, Florida and LSU advanced to the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships. Florida led the session with 197.7875, while LSU followed closely on 197.4375 to secure the second qualifying spot and keep their championship hopes alive.

Georgia, meanwhile, put together a strong and competitive performance of their own, finishing with 197.2625 points. But despite the solid score, they fell just 0.175 behind LSU, missing out on the top two spots needed to advance. Stanford finished fourth with 196.9375.

Even at the start of the match, it looked like Georgia might have a moment as Georgia started on bars with solid scores above 9.8 from Csenge Bacskay and Ady Wahl, but a difficult routine from Kelise Woolford, which included an extra swing on the low bar, resulted in a 9.5875 that added pressure early in the lineup.

After the first rotation, LSU led with 49.475, just ahead of Florida on 49.4625, while Stanford and Georgia sat slightly behind at 49.25 and 49.15, respectively. The gap remained tight through Rotation 2, with Florida moving into the lead at 98.900, LSU at 98.6625, Georgia at 98.40, and Stanford at 98.125.

The gap between the top three remained extremely tight, with nothing separating the teams by more than a few tenths. But at the same time, Georgia responded well in Rotation 3, especially on the floor.

They delivered a standout set of routines with multiple 9.9-plus scores. At one point, they even edged ahead of LSU by the narrowest of margins. LSU, however, entered its strongest event, floor, in the final rotation, while Georgia moved to vault, ranked lower in comparison. LSU responded with a clean and powerful finish, while Georgia opened the vault with solid scores, including 9.85 and 9.8375, but could not fully close the gap.

In the end, Florida finished first, LSU second, Georgia third, and Stanford fourth. And yet, the outcome was just a part of the tale, as the path of Georgia to get this far had its own weight.

Georgia’s long road back to NCAA contention

Georgia was once ranked as the most successful program in the history of NCAA women’s gymnastics, with 10 national championships as its record. The GymDogs established a legacy under the legendary coach Suzanne Yoculan, as they dominated the sport over several different eras and won in 1987, 1989, 1993, 1998, 1999, and then from 2005 to 2009.

However, in 2009, when Yoculan retired, the program moved out of that elite tier. The championships stopped coming. Sure, flashes of strength were there; however, they were not of the same consistency. But the 2015 season brought a No. 9 finish and a regional championship, and in 2016, Georgia finished in 6th place at the NCAA Championships. Nevertheless, this wave waned once again in the following years.

From 2017 through 2019, Georgia remained competitive but inconsistent. By early 2020, the GymDogs were no longer a regular presence in the final rounds. It was then that Cecile Canqueteau-Landi, the former coach of Simone Biles, became a co-head coach in Georgia in 2024.

Her coming heralded a fresh effort to revive the program’s identity. During the 2025 season, the indications of improvement started to emerge. Georgia had several 197+ scores. By the 2026 cycle, that progress turned into something more meaningful when Georgia reached the NCAA Championships path again—their first appearance in that stage since 2019.

After they secured their place, Landi became emotional. “I started seeing the senior class tearing up, and I think everything just came out,” Canqueteau-Landi told Olympics.com. “It was just a relief. Because I knew we could do it, and after day one, where it wasn’t the best meet, part of me was a little worried. But I just didn’t want to miss out. I wanted to be [at NCAAs] with the team. So everything just been released.”

But once they reached the 2026 NCAA Championships stage in Fort Worth, Texas, things got tight again.

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