Hillary Heron - Misplaced Pages

Panamanian artistic gymnast For the Irish sculptor, see Hilary Heron. In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Heron and the second or maternal family name is Soto.

Hillary Heron

Heron at the 2019 Junior World Championships

Personal information

Full name

Hillary Alexandra Heron Soto

Nickname(s)

Hilly

Born

(2004-01-29) 29 January 2004 (age 20)
Panama City, Panama

Gymnastics career

Country represented

Panama

Years on national team

2017–present

Club

No Limits Gymnastics

Head coach(es)

Carlos Rafael Gil

Eponymous skills

Heron (F): (Floor exercise) Double salto backward tucked with 1½ twist

Medal record

Representing

Panama

Pan American Championships

Vault

Vault

Vault

Floor exercise

South American Championships

Vault

Uneven bars

All-around

All-around

Team

Central American and Caribbean Games

Team

All-around

Floor exercise

Floor exercise

Team

All-around

Vault

Event	1st	2nd	3rd
Apparatus World Cup	0	0	1
Total	0	0	1

Hillary Alexandra Heron Soto (born 29 January 2004) is a Panamanian artistic gymnast. She is the 2023 South American champion and the 2021 and 2024 Pan American silver medalist on vault. She represented Panama at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Heron was born in Panama in 2004 to Ricardo Heron and Yaroslavi Soto. She is the granddaughter of the late New York Yankees scout Karl Heron. The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing inspired her love for the sport of gymnastics.

Junior gymnastics career

2017–18

Heron made her international debut at the 2017 South American Junior Championships. She finished eighth in the all-around, seventh on vault, and eighth on floor exercise.

Heron started the 2018 season competing at the Pacific Rim Championships where she finished 16th in the all-around and fourth on vault. She next competed at the Junior Pan American Championships, where she helped Panama finish seventh as team; Heron finished 11th in the all-around and fourth on vault. Additionally, she finished seventh on the floor exercise.

In October, Heron competed at the Junior South American Championships, where she placed fourth in the all-around. During event finals, she placed second on vault and balance beam, fourth on uneven bars, and fifth on floor exercise. Her final event of the year was the Top Gym Tournament where she finished 13th on the uneven bars.

2019

Heron was selected to compete at the inaugural Junior World Championships alongside Karla Navas. Together they finished 23rd as a team. Individually, Heron finished 44th in the all-around. Heron ended the season competing at the Junior South American Championships. She placed fourth in the all-around and helped Panama place third as a team. During event finals, she placed first on vault, third on uneven bars, fourth on balance beam, and eighth on floor exercise.

Floor exercise

Uneven bars

Balance beam

Floor exerciseHeron at the 2019 Junior World Championships

Senior gymnastics career

2020–21

Heron became age-eligible for senior competition in 2020; however, most competitions were canceled or postponed in 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, Heron did not compete that year. She returned to competition at the 2021 Pan American Championships where she helped Panama place fourth as a team, and individually, she placed 12th in the all-around. During event finals, she placed second on vault behind Natalia Escalera.

2022

Heron competed at the Bolivarian Games and was Panama's flag bearer in the opening ceremony. She helped Panama finish third as a team. Individually, she finished third in the all-around and on vault and won silver on floor exercise. She next competed at the Pan American Championships where she helped Panama finish tenth as a team during qualifications. Individually, she placed 29th in the all-around. At the South American Games, Heron won the silver medal on vault and the bronze medal on floor exercise. She also placed fifth with the Panamanian team and 12th in the all-around.

2023

Heron competed at the Cairo World Cup where she won bronze on vault behind Joscelyn Roberson and Asia D'Amato. Additionally, she placed fifth on floor exercise. At the Pan American Championships, she helped Panama qualify for the team final and finish seventh. Then at the Central American & Caribbean Games, she helped Panama win the silver medal behind Mexico. She won the all-around bronze medal behind teammate Karla Navas and Mexico's Alexa Moreno. She also won the bronze medal on the floor exercise.

Heron won the all-around bronze medal at the South American Championships behind Brazilians Gabriela Barbosa and Josiany Calixto. She won the vault title and also won silver on the uneven bars behind Calixto. Mistakes at the Pan American Championships prevented her from receiving an all-around qualification spot to the World Championships, but she was still able to perform on every event due to qualifying through the World Cup series. At the World Championships, she finished 41st in the all-around, qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics as an individual. On the floor exercise, she performed a double layout half out, also known as the Biles, becoming the first gymnast other than Simone Biles to perform one of Biles' named skills at a World Championships.

After the World Championships, Heron represented Panama at the 2023 Pan American Games. She helped the team finish seventh, and individually, she placed tenth in the all-around final and sixth in the floor exercise final.

2024

Heron began her season at the Cairo World Cup. During the qualification round, she performed a new element in her floor exercise, a double back tucked salto with one and a half twists, which was named after her. During the floor exercise final, she finished sixth. She also competed at the Cottbus World Cup but did not advance into any finals. Then at the Baku World Cup, she placed eighth on the floor exercise. At the 2024 Olympic Games Heron finished forty-forth during qualifications and did not advance to any finals.

Eponymous skill

Heron has a floor exercise skill named after her in the Code of Points, a double back tucked salto on floor with 1.5 twists.

Apparatus	Name	Description	Difficulty	Added to the Code of Points
Floor exercise	Heron	Double salto backward tucked with 1½ twist (540)	F	2024 Cairo World Cup

Valid for the 2022–2024 Code of Points

Competitive history

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
Junior
2017	South American Championships		8	7			8
2018	Pacific Rim Championships		16	4
	Pan American Championships	7	11	4
	South American Championships		4		4		5
	Top Gym Tournament				13
2019
	Junior World Championships	23	44
	South American Championships		4			4	8
Senior
2021
2021	Pan American Championships	4	12
2022	Bolivarian Games					7
	Pan American Championships	10	29
	South American Games	5	12
2023	Cairo World Cup						5
	Pan American Championships	7		9	25	16	10
	Central American & Caribbean Games			5
	South American Championships	4					4
	World Championships		41
	Pan American Games	7	10				6
2024	Cairo World Cup						6
	Baku World Cup						8
	Pan American Championships	5
	RomGym Trophy		8	5	8	5
	Olympic Games		44
	South American Championships