NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships Finals: Preview, schedule, and how to watch 2022 title decider

Four teams - the University of Oklahoma, the University of Utah, the University of Florida, and Auburn University - are set to compete in the finals of the 2022 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas. The competition is scheduled for noon local time on Saturday (16 April).

After an exciting national semi-final on Thursday (14 April), one team is just 24 routines away from taking home the US national collegiate title.

Here's what to expect ahead of the event that will include Tokyo 2020 Olympic all-around gold medallist Sunisa Lee, and team medallists Grace McCallum (silver, USA) and Amelie Morgan (bronze, GBR).

Oklahoma vs. Florida

With defending national champions and third-ranked Michigan crashing out in Thursday's semi-finals, the final will likely be a battle between two previous winners: Oklahoma and Florida.

The Oklahoma Sooners come into the event ranked first nationally, but head coach K.J. Kindler, who had guided the program to four national championship wins, still feels that her squad isn't the favourite.

"I know we're considered an underdog in this meet, and we're OK with that position. We're OK with that position," she told media in a press conference after her squad won the opening session to advance to the finals.

Kindler may feel that way in part because of the buzz around a red-hot Florida Gator team that earned the highest team total of the 2022 season (and the third-best all-time), a 198.775, two weeks ago when they won their regional final to punch a ticket to the NCAAs.

But in the opening day of competition, OU earned the highest mark of any team with a 198.1125 to Florida's 197.975.

"We know that the competition is tough and whoever comes out of the second session, I mean, it's a fight," said Kindler. "It's going to be a battle all the way down to the last event."

Florida head coach Jenny Rowland says the key for her team to win the title will be focusing inward.

"Gators are just going to keep doing what we've done all year long. That's really staying together as a group, having fun and competing against the Gators," she said ahead of the championships on Wednesday. "That's our focus this weekend and just keep doing what we're doing. This meet, in theory, is no different than any other competition. So we're just going to go out there, have a lot of fun and do what we do."

Lee leads Auburn to final, Utah ready to pounce

While Oklahoma and Florida may be considered favourites for the title, anything can happen in gymnastics - especially when the pressure is on.

"Who's going to get hot and stay hot from routine one to final landing of the last routine?" said 1984 Olympic medallist and ESPN commentator Kathy Johnson Clarke. "Because I have a feeling that some some team - maybe more than one team because they will push each other - is going to just catch fire and just lock in to that level of perfection that it's going to take to win this."

That's why strong teams from Auburn, led by Lee, and Utah, with McCallum and Morgan, can't be counted out.

With Lee at the helm, Auburn has soared to new heights this season, recording its highest team total in school history this year and advancing to the NCAA finals for just the second time since 1993.

"I think for Saturday we're just going to have to give it everything that we've got," Lee said Thursday. "We made it all the way here, there's nothing more we can do. We can just go out there and do what we were trained to do."

For Utah, a win on Saturday would be a return to the top after nearly 30 years. Once the dominant power in the sport, the team last won an NCAA title in 1995.

2022 Women’s NCAA Gymnastics Championships: Schedule, how to watch

All times local to the event (CDT)

Saturday, 16 April
12:00 – National finals

Fans in the United States can watch the finals live on ABC.