Ella Kate Parker wins second-straight Winter Cup title in dominant showing

By Patricia Duffy | February 27, 2022
Ella Kate Parker wins second-straight Winter Cup title in dominant showing
2022 Winter Cup junior women's all-around champion Ella Kate Parker (Cincinnati). (© Amy Sanderson)

Ella Kate Parker (Cincinnati) won her second-straight Winter Cup title in the junior women’s division on Sunday at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

The 14-year-old junior elite defended her 2021 title in dominant fashion, despite a fall on uneven bars.

Parker bested the field with a 52.450 all-around title and individual wins on beam (13.900) and floor (13.350). Her only mistake of the meet came on bars (11.600) when she held back on her Weiler on the low bar, coming off the apparatus but recovering to finish strong.

“I feel really happy with myself, but I’m going to go back into the gym and work really hard on my mistakes and then come out and not make that mistake again,” Parker reflected after the meet.

Parker donned a specially designed leotard for her win that four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles designed for her after an interaction between the two at last year’s U.S. Championships.

“I couldn’t believe that she’d do that for me,” Parker said. “We saw her at championships last year, and she wanted to do that for us… It was just so exciting. I am in love with my leo, and I felt amazing in it.”

WOGA’s Ella Murphy finished second with a 51.850, just a year after she qualified junior elite for the first time.

Murphy had the chance to capitalize on Parker’s fall in the final rotation, but despite doing an excellent Yurchenko full on vault (13.050), the difficulty wasn’t quite there to play spoiler.

Rounding out the top three was Murphy’s WOGA teammate Hezly Rivera (50.650).

Rivera jumped into podium position after Azaraya Ra-Akbar (World Class VA) touched the beam in the final rotation to score a 12.000 – 50.550 – and drop out of podium contention. A one point deduction, Ra-Akbar would’ve finished third without the mistake.

For a full play-by-play recap of the junior women’s competition at the 2022 Winter Cup, visit our live blog of the event here. Click here for full results. The full broadcast replay and individual routines can be viewed on USA Gymnastics’ new streaming platform FlipNow.