A full-twisting Jaeger is a stunning example of ambition. The gymnast swings over the bar, rotates pencil straight, and must catch it in a split second. An early 2024 effort by American Olympic champion Suni Lee, gained a lot of attention. Then, a year later, at the 2025 Antalya World Cup, China’s Yang Fanyuwei made gymnastics history by soaring through the skill with razor-straight perfection, catching it cleanly in competition, earning a G-rating, and having the skill named after her.

Yet, the story of this gravity-defying move has another, quieter origin point, one that lives not on an international podium but in a college gym and on private social media feeds belonging to NCAA gymnast Chloe LaCoursiere. In a recent conversation with Inside Gymnastics on X, she revealed that she had been training the full-twisting Jaeger since 2021, well ahead of its introduction to the elite arena.

“It’s really awesome because this sport is so much about, like I don’t know. I just love that. Who knows if my gymnastics was the point for anyone if they watched my videos? I know when I learned that skill… my coach pulled out a men’s gymnast and said, ‘Here you go, let’s learn it like you love to play gymnastics,’ so why not, and I didn’t tell anybody I had that skill for a year before I posted about it,” she said.

However, she kept her cards close to her chest and didn’t reveal her new skill for a year as she still had plans to stick to elite gymnastics at the time. So, when LaCoursiere finally shared a video of the skill, the professional gymnastics world immediately took notice of it. A coach at a training camp LaCoursiere was at, sent it to Suni Lee, who replied that she was also perfecting the same move.

“I was like oh my gosh I have to post it,” LaCoursiere recalled. “Suni’s amazing she’s gonna get it.” The NCAA star expressed her admiration for Lee and Yang, the athletes who etched their names into the record books, while also recognizing a connection to her own hard work.

“Not to be like selfish but like I was really proud of the work I put into that skill and I did want to be like recognized for it,” she confessed.

The official naming of the skill for Yang Fanyuwei brought these emotions to the surface. In response to the news, LaCoursiere’s coach reached out with a message of encouragement as she reflected:

“Look Chloe you were the blueprint for that like even if it didn’t feel like that you did start that.” Much of LaCoursiere’s effort went into this; thus, it was a natural reflection of her work. However, for an athlete such as Suni Lee, dedicating herself to this specific gymnastics skill marked a significant step in her journey back to competition.

The reason why Suni Lee was attempting this gymnastics move

For Suni Lee, the quest for the full-twisting layout Jaeger on the uneven bars transcended mere technicality; it embodied a personal aspiration to secure her legacy within the annals of her sport.

From Nabievas to Tweddles to Mustafinas, some of the best bars workers in gymnastics have eponymous skills attached to their legacies. A full-twisting Jaeger was meant to augment Lee’s already glittering legacy.

In early 2024, she shared videos showcasing her training, signaling a quiet yet powerful return to elite form following a challenging kidney condition that had compelled her to conclude her 2023 college season prematurely. Her ambition was to become the first woman to execute the element successfully in an international competition.

“I kept peeling off the bar. I couldn’t hold on,” Suni Lee said in an interview. “My fingers were so swollen, and I couldn’t even do a normal kip cast to handstand on bars.”

The attempt, however, ended in disappointment at the 2024 U.S. Winter Cup when she collapsed during her performance.