Mizzou gymnastics standout’s new-found perspective leads to record-breaking success

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Mizzou gymnastics star Helen Hu has said goodbye to Tiger nation once before. However, on Sunday, No. 8 Mizzou's meet against No. 11 Auburn will mark her true curtain call at the Hearnes Center, following a season for the record books.

In 2025, Hu has taken her gymnastics to the next level. The Chicago-native captured her first-career 10.000 on the balance beam earlier in the year, as she was the first gymnast in the nation to achieve perfection this NCAA gymnastics season. She's also made waves in the Southeastern Conference. The league has named her the SEC Specialist of the Week four times, so far, which makes her just the second gymnast in conference history to ever win the honor that many times in one year.

Hu and MU gymnastics are primed to make quite a run in the postseason. However, everything the graduate student has done in 2025 is made all the more impressive by one fact: she's achieved all of this coming off of an entire year without competition.

In 2023, Hu went through senior day. She had decided to hang up her leotard once and for all, as she continued to deal with a mid-to-low back injury.

"It just felt like it's time to move on. I have something to look forward to and I have reasons to stop. I'm gonna listen to my body and do what's right for me," Hu said. “At the time it really felt like the right decision because I was in so much pain in those last couple weeks of season." 

The decision wasn't easy by any means, but it was made a tad better by the fact that she had a plan.

“During COVID, when I was stuck at home in 2020, me and my sister just spent a lot of time together and we talked a lot about traveling, Hu said.

From those conversations, a post-graduation plan was born. The duo decided to backpack their way through countries in Asia, Central America and even extending into Europe. Hu said they picked the most beautiful and cheapest places they could think of.

While the 2024 gymnastics season was raging, Hu was busy bouncing from country-to-country. In Asia, she and her sister went from to place like South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and so many other memorable countries.

"I would love to go back to Vietnam and Thailand, just for the food," she said.

After that, they went to Central America, where they made stops in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua and an extended stay in Ecuador, where Hu picked up a new hobby.

"Everywhere I went, I only spent two or three weeks at and in Ecuador, I ended up staying for two months," she said. "I just didn't want to leave and I got really into surfing. It was like the first time I had really been challenged in a long time." 

Those months of traveling were an absolute whirlwind for the sisters, who not only broadened their horizons, but got to know each other again. Hu said she learned things about her sister she never knew before, as the duo stayed up for late night talks and bonded like never before.

After years of grinding through gymnastics seasons, high expectations, school work and so much more, Hu got to do something she hadn't done in a long time: solely focus on having fun. It's a perspective that she carried into her life once she got back from her travels, as well.

Once she was back stateside, the Chicago-native paid a visit to her old team in Columbia, Missouri, where she discovered gymnastics had not left her body.

"The day I came and visited, I I stretched a little bit and I knew I could still do a front aerial, but I wanted to see if I could do it on the beam," Hu said. "So, after warming up a couple times, I was like this actually feels pretty good."

"I was not totally shocked, quite honestly. I think she might've been more surprised than I was," head coach Shannon Welker said.

With the muscle memory of the sport she competed at such a high level in still there, Hu made the decision, along with Coach Welker, to make a highly-anticipated return for one last ride in 2025. The two made the decision she would focus on one event: the balance beam.

Hu came back from that year off, not only well-rested, but looking better than ever. With that 'have fun' mentality in mind, she has been attacking her final collegiate campaign. Boy, has that mindset pay off for her, too.

Just three weeks into the season, Hu finally achieved perfection for the first time in her career.

"I was genuinely shocked," she said.

She's making waves nationally as a contender and has high goals for the season, as well. Hu's fighting for team success above all, but has real potential at making quite run in the NCAA's in April, as the redshirt senior currently ranks third in the country in beam national quality score. As the anchor of that apparatus, she's also helped Mizzou to be ranked No. 8 nationally on the beam.

However, the 2025 campaign is all about appreciating the little moments and bringing a steadying presence to this Tiger team.

"I want to bring calm energy, I want to bring confidence and trust within the team," Hu said. "The year off gave me time to really feel better. That allows me to really enjoy my time here in a way that I couldn't my senior year, in 2023." 

Hu's season is far from over, but Sunday's meet against Auburn will mark her true final goodbye to Tiger gymnastics fans. While, the redshirt senior has a lot of travel and different journeys planned for her future, she's well-aware this is the last time she will ever be able to take this, specific, journey. So, she's taking in every, single moment.

The senior day meet between Mizzou and Auburn is slated to begin at 12 p.m. on Sunday, March 9 at the Hearnes Center.