Simone Biles will take center stage this weekend at the US Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, her final and most important competition before the US Olympic Trials at the end of June, less than two months before the start of the Paris Olympics.
The 27-year-old Biles won the national all-around title last year and is guaranteed a spot on the Olympic team regardless of her performance this weekend. The meet will mean even more to the many women hoping to join Biles, including reigning Olympic gold medalists Suni Lee (all-around) and Jade Carey (floor exercise).
USA TODAY Sports’ Nancy Armour and Tom Shad will be bringing you live updates, results and analysis throughout the tournament. Follow us:
Simone Biles performs well in her worst tournament
FORT WORTH, Texas – Even Simone Biles was happy with the results.
Biles dominated on the uneven bars, her “worst” and least favorite event. She pumped her fists as she trotted off the podium. Her score of 14.65 was likely the highest of the evening in the event with Cirice Jones absent. Nancy Armour
Simone Biles takes early lead
FORT WORTH, Texas – Though only one event has concluded, who’s at the top of the standings isn’t likely to change over the remainder of the evening.
Simone Biles, seeking her ninth U.S. title, held a 1.3-point lead over Kayla DiCello on Friday night. Sure, she started on vault, one of her best and highest-scoring events, but that’s a big gap for anyone to overcome.
The rest of the division is pretty close, with eight competitors within half a point of each other, including current Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee and fellow Tokyo Olympic athlete Jordan Chiles. Nancy Armour
Simone Biles is already putting on a show
FORT WORTH, Texas – Simone Biles wowed the crowds at her first event.
Biles performed her trademark Yurchenko double pike vault (also known as the Biles II) and landed it almost cleanly, though she had to step out and slip slightly with her other foot, still earning a score of 9.4 for her performance and 15.8 overall.
The crowd roared in admiration, saying what Biles does is extraordinary, even though it seems like she’s doing the exact opposite. The vault is so difficult that other women don’t even practice it, but Biles does it so perfectly that her coach, Laurent Landy, doesn’t stand on the podium when she does it. This led to a safety penalty last season, when he penalized Biles by half a point. Nancy Armour
Suni Lee off to a good start
FORT WORTH, Texas – Competing in the individual all-around for the first time in more than a year, Suni Lee got off to a strong start on the balance beam, one of her strongest events to date.
Li, the Olympic all-around champion, made few mistakes in the first half of her routine but stumbled twice in the second and barely hung on to the edge of the beam at the end of her aerial series, but she landed smoothly for 14.200 points and the lead over the competitors after the first rotation.
Meanwhile, Kayla DiCello and Skye Blakely, who still have work to do to qualify for the Paris team, performed well on consecutive uneven bars, DiCello finishing with a 14.500 and Blakely with a 14.400, just behind the others. Tom Shad
When will Simone Biles compete at the USA Gymnastics Championships?
Simone Biles will compete in session two, meaning she and other big names on the women’s division will compete on Friday night at about 8 p.m. ET and Sunday night at about 7 p.m. ET. Tom Shad
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US Gymnastics Championships: Where to Watch
The first half of the senior tournament, both men’s and women’s, will be broadcast live on NBC’s streaming platform Peacock and taped on CNBC on Saturday, with the men’s session airing from noon to 2:30 pm ET and the women’s session from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm ET.
The second and final sessions of the men’s competition will be broadcast live on both Peacock and CNBC, while the second session of the senior women’s competition, in which Biles will compete, will get the most prestigious television slot – a primetime slot on NBC on Sunday.
How to Watch Live Results from the USA Gymnastics Championships
USA Gymnastics will live stream the women’s competition, including Biles’ bid for her ninth national championship, on its website here. Men’s results can be found here. –– Tom Shad
2024 USA Gymnastics Championships Schedule
The senior women will compete on Friday and Sunday. The senior men will compete on Thursday night and are scheduled to compete on the second day on Saturday. Unlike the Olympics, which have separate all-around and event finals, the national championships will have two all-around sessions for men and women. The junior competition also has more than 50 athletes.
- Friday, 2:45-5:00 PM EST: Senior Women (Session 1), Day 1
- Friday, 7:45pm-10pm ET: Senior Women (Session 2), Day 1
- Saturday, 8:00pm-10:30pm ET: Senior Men’s, Day 2
- Sunday, 1:45-4:00 PM EST: Senior Women (Session 1), Day 2
- Sunday, 6:45pm-9pm ET: Senior Women (Session 2), Day 2
Where will the 2024 USA Gymnastics Championships be held?
The national championships will be held Thursday through Sunday at Dickies Arena, a few miles west of downtown Fort Worth. Tom Shad
Simone Biles is sure to compete at the Paris Olympics, but who will be competing alongside her?
Simone Biles will compete in the Paris Olympics if she’s healthy. Her big win at the US Classic in mid-May reaffirmed that. Biles won by nearly two points over Leah Jones, who had been the all-around medalist at the last two world championships. For the first time since the Tokyo Olympics, Biles also brought back some of her finest skills. But there are four other spots on the US team, and performances at the Classic make it clear who will join Biles in Paris. Nancy Armour breaks down the contenders.
What happened to the series Jones?
Jones, an individual all-around medalist at the past two world championships, announced Friday afternoon that he would withdraw from the national championships due to a shoulder injury.
Jones tore the labrum in her right shoulder in 2022 and has had intermittent problems since then. She said Wednesday that her condition worsened after the U.S. Classic two weeks ago and that she “could barely lift her arm” last Friday, but that she intends to try and compete here.
“It hurt, I’m not gonna lie,” Jones said Tuesday night when asked how he felt after his first practice here.
Jones said she plans to apply for the Olympic Trials and is almost certain to be accepted. In addition to her international success, she placed second to Biles at last year’s U.S. and Classic championships.
The women’s trials competition begins four weeks later on June 28th.
Why did Gabby Douglas back out?
Gabby Douglas, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, withdrew from this weekend’s U.S. championships, ending her hopes of making the U.S. team for this summer’s Paris Olympics after a nearly eight-year hiatus. Douglas told ESPN she injured her ankle during training this week. Her agent, Lowell Taub, declined to comment further.
What’s at stake at USA Gymnastics Championships
This weekend’s event is the final one before the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials, so it’s a key showcase for anyone hoping to reserve tickets for the Paris 2024 Games.
For women, the top two all-around finishers at the U.S. Championships automatically qualify for the Olympic Trials, with a minimum of 10 athletes invited at USA Gymnastics’ discretion. Of the 12 or more athletes who compete at the Olympic Trials, only five will be selected for the U.S. team, not including reserves. – Tom Shad
When are the USA Gymnastics Olympic Trials?
It will be held in Minneapolis from June 27th to 30th.
Suni Lee: What you need to know
The Olympic all-around champion earned the top score on balance beam at the U.S. Classic in mid-May, and while she didn’t compete on her specialty, the uneven bars, her performances in training were impressive and she, Jones and Biles should be the trio to bring the U.S. three big points to the event.
Lee plans to upgrade her vault routine at the nationals and further refine her floor exercise, which will be her first in more than a year since her final season at Auburn was cut short by kidney problems that severely limited her training.
“For me, it was really important to go out there and fight those demons and compete on floor exercise,” Li said. “It’s been a while. Obviously it’s not something I want to do in future competitions, but I just wanted to get out there and compete again.”
If she does, the U.S. will have a third strong all-around athlete few other countries can match.
“For me, it comes down to balance beam and balance pole,” she said, “… I’m more motivated to qualify for the individual all-around. That was my main priority, but as we all know, I’m strongest in those two events.” –– Nancy Armour
Jade Carey: What you need to know
The U.S. needs another big score on vault, and Carey will provide it. She’s also a strong floor exercise competitor and is the reigning Olympic champion. Carey has been working on an upgraded floor exercise routine this week. –– Nancy Armour
Jordan Chiles: What you need to know
The Tokyo Olympian proved himself at the US Classic with solid performances in all four events, and while Chiles may not be able to beat the Americans by a landslide in any event, he’s not leaving any gaps either.
“I think I realized I had potential,” Chiles said of the difference between this season and last, when she struggled to make the transition from NCAA to elite level.
“A lot of times when you say you want to do something, there are so many eyes and expectations and you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Childs added. “When you put that aside, you realize, ‘I’m just going to go ahead and be who I’m supposed to be and put in the effort that’s needed at every practice.'” –– Nancy Armour
