MINNEAPOLIS — It all comes down to this. On Sunday night (8:30 ET, NBC/Peacock), approximately 30 minutes after the competition ends, the U.S. women’s gymnastics Olympic team will be announced. It has been a heartbreaking week at Olympic trials, with injuries to Skye Blakely, Kayla DiCello and Shilese Jones. All three were front-runners for the team, and each has been forced to withdraw from the competition.
Simone Biles leads after Night 1, with an enormous 2.50 margin over her teammate Jordan Chiles, and Biles is expected to easily earn the one automatic berth onto the Olympic team. The other four spots will be determined by a selection committee. Who will make the team? We’ll have you covered with live updates throughout the night.
…Ready for it?SIMONE BILES’ FLOOR ROUTINE #USAGTrials24 pic.twitter.com/kUcQsBDqw4
No nerves were on display — and thankfully no injuries were sustained before the competition. Simone Biles, Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles all looked strong on beam, an event where they each had errors in night one. On floor, Biles nearly stuck a triple-double tumbling pass to huge cheers from the crowd, and she did one Yurchenko double pike attempt on vault. She fell back on it, but looked unfazed.
Jade Carey landed her Amanar vault easily. The only struggles came from Leanne Wong on vault. She attempted her new Cheng vault many times without completing any, before switching to a Yurchenko double full vault at the end of warm-ups. — Amy Van Deusen
Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and ??.
Biles is a lock, even if something wild happens and she doesn’t finish in first. Defending Olympic champion Lee has looked impressive this entire year, and even more so at trials. Her scores on bars and beam are must-have for Team USA.
If Chiles has another night as rock solid as the first, she likely has earned her spot as well, and Jade Carey perfectly complements Lee’s strengths. Carey is the reigning Olympic floor champion and showed up to trials with a difficult Amanar vault. That would be four of the five spots — and perhaps no one predicted that that would exactly match four of the Olympic team members from the Tokyo Games.
.@sunisalee_ back in the swing of things on bars : @nbc & @peacock #MTUSA | #USAGTrials24 pic.twitter.com/mN9ky7uCxX
Who will get the fifth spot? Shilese Jones made it through a bar routine with an injured knee on Night 1, hitting well and earning the top score of the event. It was one of the gutsiest routines we’ve seen; she has one of the best bar sets in the world, and is the No. 2 all-arounder in the country if healthy. But Jones competed in only that event and she announced Saturday that she was withdrawing from Night 2. We don’t know the severity of her injury, but if she could be healthy enough to do even bars in Paris it would be a huge asset to the team.
Other possibilities include Leanne Wong, who has four world medals to her name, or one of the younger gymnasts such as Hezly Rivera, Joscelyn Roberson or Tiana Sumanasekera. All three performed especially well on beam Friday, when some of the veterans struggled. It all depends on how strongly the selection committee values previous experience, and clearly Wong has the most of that group. — Amy Van Deusen
A true competitor. After injuring herself in warmups, Shilese Jones competed on uneven bars and her mom had the sweetest reaction. ️ #USAGTrials24 pic.twitter.com/L8ddKCePkX
Biles had the top scores in the all-around, vault and floor. Lee had the highest score on beam, and Jones on bars.
At the Olympics, the team will compete using three of the five members on each event, so placing in the top three in any individual event at trials can help a gymnast’s cause substantially.
All-around results:
1. Simone Biles 58.900; 2. Jordan Chiles 56.400; 3. Sunisa Lee 56.025; 4. Jade Carey 55.825; 5. Joscelyn Roberson 55.475; 6. Kaliya Lincoln 54.875; 7. Hezly Rivera 54.825; 8. Leanne Wong 54.750; 9. Tiana Sumanasekera 54.700; 10. (tie) Simone Rose and Evey Lowe 51.675; 12. Zoey Molomo 50.950; 13. Dulcy Caylor 50.550; 14. Shilese Jones 14.675 (one event).
Vault results:
First vault only — some gymnasts performed two
1. Simone Biles 15.975; 2. Jade Carey 14.600; 3. Leanne Wong 14.450; 4. (tie) Joscelyn Roberson and Jordan Chiles 14.325.
Simone Biles is OUT OF THIS WORLD. She ends her first night at #USAGTrials24 leading the all-around competition. pic.twitter.com/fBbwaCm82T
Bars results:
1. Shilese Jones 14.675; 2. Simone Biles 14.425; 3. Suni Lee 14.400; 4. Jordan Chiles 14.350; 5. Hezly Rivera 14.025.
Beam results:
1. Suni Lee 14.400; 2. Tiana Sumanasekera 13.950; 3. Joscelyn Roberson 13.925; 4. Hezly Rivera 13.700; 5. Simone Biles 13.650.
Floor results:
1. Simone Biles 14.850; 2. Kaliya Lincoln 14.150; 3. Jordan Chiles 14.100; 4. Jade Carey 14.075; 5. Joscelyn Roberson 13.925.
One of the biggest draws at this year’s Olympic trials is Beacon, the first therapy dog to work for USA Gymnastics. His schedule has been jampacked in Minneapolis, as he has been helping the gymnasts, coaches and staff deal with the stress that comes with the competition. READ