Simone Biles won a recordninth all-around title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championshipsin Fort Worth, Texas, earning her an automatic berth in the U.S. Olympic trials ahead of the Paris Games.
Biles, the 37-time world and Olympic medalist,also won national titles on all four apparatuses at the U.S. Championships.
The top two finishers — Biles and Skye Blakely — automatically qualified for the Olympic trials, which will be June 27-30 in Minneapolis. The five gymnasts representing the U.S. at the Paris Olympics this summer will be named then.
Biles started her night on the balance beam, where she scored a 14.800 with a nearly flawless routine. On the floor exercise, Biles went out of bounds on her eponymous triple-twisting double back flip but still posted a 15.100.
She fell on the vault performing another skill that bears her name in the code of points, a Yurchenko double pike, or the "Biles II." The difficulty of the vault is so high that she scored a 15.000 despite the fall.
Biles secured her ninth national all-around title on the uneven bars in the final rotation, scoring a 14.400.
Biles said that after having battled the "twisties," which took her out of contention for the majority of the Tokyo Olympics, she struggled to "trust her gymnastics again" on her comeback journey.
"It took a lot mentally and physically to just trust my gymnastics again and most importantly trust myself," Biles said at a news conference after Sunday's competition. "I think that was the hardest part after Tokyo is I didn't trust myself to do gymnastics."
Looking back on her first Olympic experience in Rio de Janeiro, Biles said there was something good about "going in blind" in 2016.
"Now, having gone to two Olympics, each one gets a little bit more stressful because I know exactly what to expect," she said. "I know exactly what I expect from myself."
Blakely, who was a member of the 2022 and 2023 world championship teams, bolstered her Paris hopes by debuting an upgraded vault. She punched her ticket to the Olympic trials as the second-place finisher in the all-around behind Biles and established herself as a medal threat in the event.
Suni Lee, the reigning Olympic all-around champion, competed in all four events for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics. After having battled kidney issues for much of last season, Lee had a strong showing in Friday's competition but sat down on her vault Sunday.
After Lee's fall, Biles went to her side to offer her former Olympic teammate some words of encouragement.
"I don’t think I could have done it without her," Lee said after the meet. "She’s been one of my biggest inspirations for a long time. I know that we’re kind of teammates and competitors, but she’s somebody that I look up to."
Biles said she "knew exactly what [Lee] was going through."
"I dealt with that in Tokyo," Biles said Sunday. "I just knew that she needed some encouragement and somebody to trust her gymnastics for her and to believe in her, so that’s exactly what I did."
Lee placed fourth in the all-around, but her world class routines on the beam (14.900) and the uneven bars (14.500) make her a top contender for the Paris team.
Kayla DiCello, Lee and Jordan Chiles rounded out the top five. The top 14 finishers were selected to join Biles and Blakely at the Olympic trials, as well as two athletes who filed petitions to compete.
Six-time world medalist Shilese Joneswithdrew from the championshipshours before Friday’s competition because of a shoulder injury. USA Gymnastics on Sunday approved Jones’ petition to compete at trials.
Jones had solidified herself as Team USA’s strongest asset behind Biles at theCore Hydration Classicin May, finishing second in the all-around competition and winning the uneven bars.
Gabby Douglas, the 2012 Olympic all-around gold medalist,also withdrewlast week after she sustained a season-ending ankle injury, ending her Paris hopes. Douglas had been eyeing herthird Olympic teamafter an eight-year hiatus from the sport.
The U.S. men's gymnastics team competing in Paris will also be selected in Minneapolis. Brody Malone won his third all-around national title Saturday after having grappled with a serious knee injury last season. Frederick Richard, the reigning world all-around bronze medalist, took silver behind Malone and won the floor exercise.
On the first of two days of competition in Fort Worth, Biles distanced herself from the rest of the field, retaining a 3.4-point lead over her closest competitor with a 60.450 in the all-around. Biles’ score Friday was her highest since the Olympic trials in 2021.
Biles kicked off her 2024 season with a dominant victory at theCore Hydration Classic.
The event was her first competitive outing since theWorld Championshipsin Antwerp, Belgium, in October, when she won a historicsixth individual all-around world title, medaled on three of the four events and led the U.S. women to theirseventh straight victory in the team competition.
If Biles, 27, is named to the U.S. Olympic team in Paris, she will be the first American woman since Dominique Dawes to have made three Olympic teams.
Kaetlyn Liddy
