Kailin Chio’s “Special Sauce”

After more than 40 years in the sport, former ESPN commentator and Olympic medalist Kathy Johnson Clarke has seen it all. However, the gymnastics legend doesn’t hesitate: "Kailin Chio is special.”

Despite competing in one of the more difficult vaults in college gymnastics – a Yurchenko 1.5 – Chio has recorded an unprecedented streak. Across 14 weeks of competition, the sophomore stuck all but two vaults, resulting in a staggering 83% stick rate. She earned a 9.9 or higher on all but one.

In NCAA gymnastics, a 9.900 is considered the ‘gold standard’ score for teams with championship aspirations. In 2026, Chio made that standard her baseline, posting a 9.900 or higher on 45 of 54 routines.

That data was particularly unprecedented on beam, where Chio recorded the highest season average in the sport’s 40-plus-year history. Across 12 weeks of regular-season competition, she never scored below a 9.925 on beam.

LSU Head Coach Jay Clark has coached some of the sport’s all-time greats, including 13-time NCAA Champion Courtney Kupets-Carter (Georgia) and former LSU standout Haleigh Bryant. He believes the ‘Chio difference’ stems from her ability to master one of the most difficult aspects of gymnastics: the blind landing.

Blind landings occur when an athlete lands in the opposite direction from which they initiated the skill, limiting their ability to “spot” the ground. For Chio, these landings have been anything but blind. The sophomore regularly nails her landings on vault, beam, and floor: her three strongest events.

"It’s a rare level of spatial awareness that I don’t know [I’ve] ever seen that at that level,” Clark reflected in an interview with ESPN.

Part of the sophomore’s prowess comes from her ownership of her own gymnastics. Behind her “uncanny” air awareness is an athlete fully in tune with her abilities. From a coaching standpoint, "she’s as low maintenance as there is," Clark says. “You don’t have to give her a whole lot.”

If Chio makes a small mistake, she doesn’t need a coach to step in. “She knows where it is" on her own. The sophomore quickly determines her own adjustments, corrects the error, and moves on.

This technical mastery creates what Johnson Clarke calls Chio’s “special sauce”—the ability to find a stick even when a landing isn’t technically perfect. “Even when [the landing] is less than perfectly ready for a [stick], she adds her special sauce: the finesse of getting a stick,” Johnson Clarke noted.

Heading into Fort Worth, Chio has stuck all of her last five vaults. The real streak could be even more staggering: Chio is reportedly just as sharp in training.

In 35 years of collegiate coaching, Clark hasn’t seen anything like it. “It’s uncanny," he reflected. “[What Chio does] has just flabbergasted all of us who know what it takes,” Johnson-Clarke added.

Chio’s remarkable self-sufficiency and consistency have instilled confidence across the stacked LSU lineup. Though Chio only statistically “anchors” vault and balance beam, she has become the psychological anchor of every rotation—a role previously held by LSU legends like Sarah Finnegan and Haleigh Bryant.

"I think [Chio’s reliability] is immense," Clark said. “It causes everyone to settle in and to know that she’s later in the lineup. She is a calming and reassuring presence.”

More Than a Statistical Streak

In the final stretch of the college gymnastics season, Kailin Chio has not dialed out once. With the season finale on the horizon, she has already put down arguably one of the greatest seasons in gymnastics history.

The sophomore broke LSU’s single-season record with 12 perfect tens – edging out former teammate Haleigh Bryant – and is on pace to shatter the all-time NCAA 10.0 record of 28. In March, Chio became the first athlete in NCAA history to score a 'perfect 30’: three tens across three routines in a single competition.

Though the gymnastics community continues to buzz over Chio’s records and streak of stuck vaults, the sentiment isn’t shared by leadership in Baton Rouge. The LSU coach is admittedly superstitious.

"I don’t even like talking about it," Clark says, comparing Chio’s consistency to a baseball pitcher on a streak. You don’t talk to the pitcher who’s hot, he reasons. Have them “sit at the end of the bench, and nobody talk to [them].”

While fans and experts eagerly track her trajectory toward history, Clark insists the 10.0 milestone is a conversation for another time. "Those records don’t mean a whole lot to me. They don’t mean a whole lot to [Chio]," he noted. "I think right now, what she’s capable of achieving in this sport is leading her team to a great deal of success."

Forward To Fort Worth

As LSU moves into the spotlight in Fort Worth this week, all eyes will be on Chio—but the star’s focus remains on her gymnastics and her team. "She’s just very grounded and understands her process," Clark told me.

“She understands that her contribution, while it garners most of the press clippings, is just one cog in the wheel of a team.”

Still, Johnson Clarke poignantly notes that the current competitive environment is unlike anything the sport has seen. She describes the current NCAA era—with its flourishing broadcast coverage and "obsession with huge scores"—as a “perfect storm.” Chio hasn’t just weathered the storm: she has mastered it.

“What is special about Kailin is her ability to quiet all the noise and anticipation and excitement,” Johnson Clarke observed. “She channels [nerves] in such a positive way that it’s fuel. She just uses it.”

On Thursday, April 16, that team looks to take another step toward its second NCAA championship in three years. With top transfers, star freshmen, and former Team USA athletes suiting up in the Purple and Gold, the ‘Fightin’ Tigers’ look ready to do what they do best: fight—and win.