Sarah and her sisters, who are involved in competitive gymnastics, moved back to St. Louis Gymnastics Centre in Webster Groves, Mo., a gym they used to train at until 2008. Finnegan competed in a few Level 10 invitationals during the J.O. season.
At the beginning of July, Finnegan competed at the Olympic Trials in San Jose, California. She placed sixth in the all around with a two-day combined score of 118.500. In events, she placed sixth on uneven bars scoring 29.150, fifth on balance beam scoring 29.900, and sixth on floor scoring 29.550. She was named as one of the three replacement Gymnasts for the 2012 Summer Olympics team known as the Fierce Five. In late 2012-early 2013, Sarah suffered an elbow injury preventing her from training at full strength.
Finnegan was out of gymnastics from around 1 and a half years due to an elbow injury. In January 2014, Sarah traveled to Aiea, Hawaii with her GAGE teammates, including Brenna Dowell to compete at the Gymnastics in Paradise Invitational. This was the first meet of her 2014 season.
Finnegan started college at Louisiana State University in the fall of 2015 and started competing with the LSU Lady Tigers gymnastics team in 2016.
In March, Finnegan competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy. She placed third in the all around with a score of 58.650. Finnegan said, "It was very cool that it was Italy. It was my second time there, but my first year I didn’t get to compete because I injured my back. Competing this time was really cool because I got to see how everything works and see where I am in the competition. I learned a lot."
