Shrey Parikh: How a 14-Year-Old Who Blanked at His School Bee Came Back to Win the 2026 Scripps Spelling Bee
This is a story about falling, failing, and coming back stronger than ever.
Shrey Parikh remembers the word that broke him.
“Calipers.” A simple seven-letter word. A common tool. But at his school bee last year, recovering from a virus and running a fever, his mind went blank. The word slipped away. And with it, his chance to qualify for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
“I was really dejected and just very upset,” Shrey said. “It didn’t even sink in until the next day. I had a really tough time, but I’m glad I was able to bounce back.”
Bounce back he did.
On Thursday, May 28, 2026, at Constitution Hall in Washington D.C., the 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California stood alone on stage. He had just spelled “bromocriptine” — a polypeptide alkaloid that mimics dopamine activity — to win the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
He didn’t even know it was the winning word.
A record-smashing spell-off
This year’s final came down to a spell-off — the lightning-round tiebreaker format first introduced in 2022. Each finalist gets 90 seconds on stage. Spell as many words as you can. Miss one, you’re out.
Shrey spelled 32 words correctly. A record for the format.
Runner-up Ishaan Gupta, 12, from Jersey City, New Jersey, managed 25. Sarv Dharavane, 12, from Dunwoody, Georgia, finished third for the second consecutive year.
The nine finalists started 18 for 18 — every single word spelled correctly. Then Aiden Meng stumbled on “catometope,” and the dominoes began falling.
Shrey’s parents watched from the audience. His mother, Khyati Mehta, was counting.
“I was counting and I’m like, OK, this is more than 30. And at that point, I’m like, ‘I think this is it.'”
His father, Gaurav Parikh, wasn’t surprised. “When it comes to competition, he goes all the way.”
The relentlessness that made a champion
Shrey didn’t win by accident. His coaches describe someone who approaches spelling with an intensity most adults can’t muster for their jobs.
Sam Evans, one of his coaches, didn’t hold back: “I’ve really never seen someone put this much effort into spelling bees, into learning everything that he possibly can. Shrey is relentless.”
Then added: “He’s got that dog in him.”
Sohum Sukhatankar, the 2019 co-champion who also coached Shrey, noticed something specific. “Whenever I would quiz him, he would take notice of his missed words. He’d analyze every missed word he had, try to figure out why he missed it. All the time I coached him, he’d never miss a word twice.”
Never miss a word twice. That kind of discipline — analyzing every failure, correcting every gap — explains the trajectory from 3rd place in 2024 to failing to qualify in 2025 to champion in 2026.
Shrey himself puts it simply: “Once I get the word, I’m not really nervous anymore, because then it’s all in my control.”
Even a buzzer malfunction couldn’t shake him. “That was really, like, scary for me,” he admitted. But he composed himself and kept spelling.
The Indian heritage streak continues
Here’s a stat that tells its own story: 31 of the past 37 Scripps champions — 84% — have Indian heritage. The streak started with Nupur Lala in 1999.
This year’s bee had 247 total spellers from all 50 states, DC, three US territories, and five other countries. Five of the nine finalists had Indian names. The pattern is so consistent it barely raises eyebrows anymore.
What explains it? Discipline, parental investment, coaching networks — but also something harder to quantify. For Indian-American families, the spelling bee isn’t just a competition. It’s a stage where hard work meets visible reward. Where the hours of roots and derivatives and language patterns pay off in a single moment on national television.
Navneeth Murali, a former competitor now coaching, had mixed feelings about the new spell-off format that decided this year’s champion. “It’s a perversion of many values that I and many in the spelling community hold dear. I think everyone would have liked to see a duel, but it looks like the spell-off is here to stay. It’s something that we’ll have to adapt to.”
The format might be controversial. But the champion isn’t.
Shrey Parikh spelled 32 words in 90 seconds. He set a record. He didn’t know “bromocriptine” was the winning word until someone told him afterward. And a year after blanking on “calipers” while running a fever, he’s the best speller in America.
The takeaway: The spelling bee isn’t about knowing every word. It’s about what you do after you miss one.
