The American gymnast leads the selections after the first day ahead of Jordan Chiles.
Simone Biles moved closer to the Paris Olympics (July 26-August 11) by leading the U.S. trials after the first day played Friday in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The four-time Olympic champion electrified the Target Center crowd with her signature jump. «Biles II» (Yurchenko double pike). Biles has 58.900 points after the first day, ahead of Jordan Chiles (56.400) and Tokyo 2021 all-around champion Suni Lee (56.025), who is back at the top level after a major kidney illness that nearly ended her career.
Biles (27 years old), winner of 37 world or Olympic medals, returned to competition in August 2023 after a two-year hiatus, after her collapse at the Tokyo Games where she had abandoned several events in 2021, plagued by problems. «twisties» (loss of bearings in space). On Saturday, the American started her day with a solid performance on the uneven bars that earned her 14.425 points before showing much less satisfaction after her passage on the beam where she collected 13.650 points, a score lower than those obtained twice at the United States championships. “She was very, very upset.”acknowledged his French coach Laurent Landi. But “she calmed down, finished her exercise, passed it and then performed an almost perfect floor pass and an extraordinary jump”.
The day was also marked by the injuries of two contenders for qualification for the Games, Shilese Jones, double world champion in the team competition (2022, 2023) and double medalist in the all-around, and Kayla DiCello, bronze medalist in the Kitakyushu World Championships 2021. The first was visibly injured in the knee during a warm-up jump while the second was injured in the ankle. The second and final day of women’s competition will take place on Sunday, following the men’s conclusion on Saturday.
