With the 2024 Summer Olympics less than a month away, injuries have become a critical component in the selection of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team, which will become official late Sunday night at Target Center.
After the first day of trials, superstar Simone Biles was leading the all-around race that will determine the lone automatic qualifier for the five-woman team that will travel next month to Paris. Champions Centre teammate Jordan Chiles was second, and St. Paul’s Sunisa Lee was third heading into Sunday’s final day of competition.
That’s a strong nucleus for an Olympic team. All were 2020 Tokyo teammates, and Lee won gold in the all-around as the U.S. team took silver.
Biles withdrew from three of four individual events after winning bronze on the balance beam to address her mental health but has mowed down competition since. Among her medals, she won the all-around at the 2023 World Championship, and the all-around at the 2023 and 2024 U.S. Championship.
The U.S. will take five gymnasts to Paris, and while the Trials will play maybe the biggest role in determining the other four, the U.S. will pick the team it believes has the best chance to medal after winning a team silver in Tokyo.
Two strong contenders for the team appear to be done after being injured this week in Minneapolis. Skye Blakely was in a cast and on crutches on Friday after tearing an Achilles tendon in training Wednesday. Then on Friday, Kayla DiCello, who finished third in the all-around in this spring’s U.S. championship, tore an Achilles’ after landing the vault awkwardly.
Then there is Shilese Jones, the rising star of U.S. women’s gymnastics
Jones, 21, competed in the all-around at the 2023 World Championship and won bronze on the uneven bars. At the U.S. Championship, she won gold in the bars, bronze on the floor and finished second to Biles in the all-around.
But Jones was injured in warmups Friday night, and withdrew from competition after recording a strong 14.675 on the bars. It’s unclear whether she will try to compete Sunday after a day of rest, but even if she doesn’t, and depending on the severity of the injury, the selection committee could still put her on the team.
Lee, 21, is returning from a long layoff caused by the discovery of a chronic disease affecting her kidneys. Diagnosed in 2023, she only resumed elite competition this year, finishing first in the balance beam in two competitions before winning silver on the beam and placing fourth in the all-around at the U.S. Championships.
Her resume will play a large part in her bid to make a second Olympic team, but performing well on Sunday should give the selection committee confidence that her comeback is still in ascension.
On Friday, she had the night’s best score on the beam, a 14.400, and her 14.400 on the bars was the night’s third-best.
Jade Carey, who won gold in the Tokyo floor exercise after qualifying separately, was fourth in the all-around after Friday’s rotations. She had the second-best vault (14.600) behind Biles’ nearly perfect 15.975 and was fourth in the floor (14.075).
Chiles’ vault of 14.325 vaulted her past Lee and into second place late Friday, and she had a 14.100 on the floor. Each was the third-best score of the night in those events. Her Olympic experience will be taken into consideration, as well, and she won silver in the uneven bars at the U.S. Championships.
But she said experience only goes so far at the Trials.
“It’s still stressful,” Chiles said after Friday’s meet. “I was literally thinking this morning that no matter what I’ve done in my life, this is stressful one I’ve done in my whole, entire career. Because it’s that one where you find out whether you make it or you don’t.”
The team will be announced approximately 30 minutes after Sunday’s competition, which is scheduled for 7-10 p.m.
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