Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles have seemed poised all season to join Biles on the four-member Olympic team. Their strong performances here at the U.S. Olympic trials only strengthened their cases. But then there was the fourth spot, and the selection committee had to choose. Grace McCallum, an 18-year-old from Minnesota, earned the nod Sunday night.
McCallum finished fourth after two days of competition here at the Dome at America’s Center. But those results weren’t enough to guarantee an Olympic berth. Only the top two finishers, Biles and Lee, left the arena and entered the waiting room with guaranteed trips to Japan. McCallum had only a narrow edge over MyKayla Skinner — three-tenths of a point based on the cumulative score of eight routines. And Skinner, an Olympic alternate in 2016, had the advantage of a vault that could contend for an individual medal.
When the gymnasts emerged from the tunnel, wearing new Team USA sweatsuits and overcome with emotion, McCallum stood with the four-member team. But Skinner, 24, will still go to Tokyo. She was named as one of the two individual athletes who will compete, joining Jade Carey, who had already clinched her spot. The six athletes, joined by the crew of alternates and the men’s team, celebrated as confetti rained down. Fireworks exploded behind them. And in a few weeks, they will travel to Tokyo with Biles as their leader and as the new faces of U.S. women’s gymnastics.
Since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, Lee has emerged as one of Team USA’s top all-arounders behind Biles, including winning three medals at the world championships in 2019. Lee excels on uneven bars with a routine that combines difficult release elements. Her score on that event alone — a 15.300 on the first night of the trials Friday, then a 14.900 on Sunday — is enough to significantly lift the U.S. team total. This weekend, Lee earned the best two-day combined score on both bars and balance beam. Her all-around total Sunday led the field, even ahead of Biles.
Biles fell on beam and had a couple of minor mistakes on the other apparatuses. She will be disappointed with that showing, but she is still the best gymnast in the world and had more than a two-point advantage on Lee in the two-day total, finishing at 118.098 to Lee’s 115.832.
Lee and Chiles had nearly guaranteed their spots on the Olympic team before the trials began. They’ve had excellent seasons and continued that form here. Chiles, who switched clubs two years ago to train alongside Biles, has thrived with a new, healthy training environment. Now she is one of the nation’s most consistent elite gymnasts. Since the Winter Cup in February, Chiles hasn’t made a major mistake; she has hit 24 consecutive routines, which will serve as a huge confidence boost heading into Tokyo. When Chiles capped her evening Sunday with a solid floor routine, she buried her head in her hands. Her spot hadn’t been secured because she finished third, but she had done plenty — both at this competition and over the past few months.
Carey entered the trials with her Olympic berth secure, the only gymnast who had that luxury. She chose years ago to pursue an individual spot in Tokyo through the apparatus World Cup series. She might have been in contention for the four-member team had she not chosen that route, but she essentially decided to earn a guaranteed trip instead of shooting for a spot on a team that is heavily favored to win the gold medal in Tokyo.
Riley McCusker, who trains with Carey in Phoenix, entered as a favorite to earn the other individual spot because of her medal potential on bars. She hasn’t performed on any other apparatus since suffering an ankle injury last month. At the trials, McCusker scored a 14.800 on Friday, the second-highest mark in the field, but she fell on her first skill Sunday. McCusker’s Olympic hopes slid into jeopardy, and Skinner earned that spot instead.
Team USA would have had a strong team for Tokyo regardless of whom high performance director Tom Forster and the selection committee chose. All of the gymnasts vying for the fourth spot probably could have contributed to a team favored to win gold. Others with the potential to reach the finals on particular apparatuses did not make the six-person squad.
But the group heading to Tokyo is filled with star power and potential. Team USA has Biles, and now everyone joining her will receive a first taste of the Summer Games and the massive expectations surrounding them.
Updates from Sunday’s trials...
Biles and Lee clinch tickets to Tokyo
Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee will represent the United States in Tokyo after they earned automatic spots on the team by finishing in the top two at the trials. Biles fell on beam during the second night of competition Sunday, but she performed well otherwise, earning a 118.098, which was more than two points better than Lee’s 115.832. Lee had the higher single-day total when only considering Sunday’s competition.
Jordan Chiles hit all eight routines at trials and landed in third. She’ll almost certainly make the team, too.
The fourth spot, though, is uncertain. Grace McCallum earned the fourth-best all-around score, and she performed well all weekend. But MyKayla Skinner, an alternate for the 2016 Olympics, was just three-tenths of a point behind, and she has a great vault that could contend for an individual medal. Leanne Wong, despite a rough beam routine Friday, was great on vault and floor, the two events this fourth gymnast would likely be needed on during a team final. Wong had the second-best combined floor score of the competition, behind only Biles.
Biles wraps up spot with floor routine
Simone Biles will soon clinch an automatic spot on the Olympic team after earning a 118.098 all-around score. Her floor routine prompted a deafening roar in the arena and received a standing ovation from the crowd. Biles’s overall performance wasn’t quite as strong as it was at nationals three weeks ago, but she’s on track to lead this U.S. team that will be favored to win the gold medal in Tokyo.
McCallum finishes 0.3 points ahead of Skinner
Grace McCallum’s night is done, and she’s three-tenths of a point in front of MyKayla Skinner, another contender for the final spot on the team. If the selection committee decides based on all-around score, McCallum will have the edge. But Skinner scored higher than a 15.000 on vault during both nights of competition, which would help the team score. McCallum had a few minor errors on floor Sunday but earned a higher combined total on the event than Skinner.
Leanne Wong has had a great performance, but she had major struggles on her beam routine Friday. Wong still needs to compete on vault in this final rotation.
MyKayla Skinner heads to her best event
Skinner is more than two points behind Grace McCallum in the all-around standings heading into the final rotation, but Skinner will finish the meet on vault, her best event. Skinner scored a 15.133 on vault Friday, and McCallum had a 14.166 on floor. McCallum would probably need to make a major mistake for Skinner to catch her. If McCallum falters, Kayla DiCello could climb to fourth as well. DiCello fell on bars, but she just hit an excellent beam routine and is in fifth.
The top three — Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles — remains intact as expected, with all of them one routine away from the Olympic team. The top two finishers will automatically earn a spot.
Biles falls on beam
After hitting all eight of her routines at nationals, Biles fell during her beam routine on an aerial cartwheel. Biles scored a 13.700 after earning a 15.133 two days ago. Even though she will be disappointed by the mistake, Biles will not fall out of first place. The difficulty of her routines gives her such a large cushion that it would take multiple major mistakes for another gymnast to catch her.
Strong starts for Biles, Lee and Chiles
The three gymnasts who were poised to make the U.S. team before Sunday’s competition began — Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles — have all performed well during the first two rotations. Biles bounced forward on the landings of her difficult vaults, and she had a few small mistakes on bars, but she’s still more than two points ahead of Lee.
Lee, who is excellent on bars, earned a 14.900 on that event. She didn’t compete the version of her routine that has the highest level of difficulty, but her score is still the highest of the day. Chiles was at her best with a nearly stuck double-twisting Yurchenko and a strong bars routine. They are all two rotations away from earning Olympic berths.
Grace McCallum strengthens her position
Grace McCallum hit her bars routine with only a couple minor mistakes. She earned a 14.000, which is about a couple tenths higher than her score Friday. By making it through the routine without major issues, she climbed ahead of gymnasts directly behind her in the all-around standings.
Kayla DiCello, who entered this rotation just behind McCallum, couldn’t hold onto the bar on her Tkatchev, a release element. MyKayla Skinner didn’t fall during her beam routine, but she was shaky throughout and landed low on her full-twisting double tuck dismount. DiCello and Skinner are each over a point behind McCallum. Skinner’s best events are floor and vault, her final two rotations Sunday, so she could still climb back.
The fourth-place finisher will not necessarily earn the fourth spot on the team. But with a few gymnasts vying for that Olympic berth, having the higher all-around total could help.
DiCello, McCallum hit strong vaults
Kayla DiCello and Grace McCallum, who are both pushing for the fourth spot on the Olympic team, delivered exceptional vaults during the first rotation. They each performed a double-twisting Yurchenko with a stuck landing and improved their scores from Friday. DiCello had a slight edge with a 14.833 and McCallum had a 14.766. This is an important event for these gymnasts, because if they are on the team in Tokyo, they’d likely compete vault in the team final.
MyKayla Skinner had a solid routine on bars, but she has fallen behind DiCello and McCallum. Bars is not one of Skinner’s best events, and vault typically scores higher across the board.
Riley McCusker falls on her only routine
Riley McCusker, a favorite to earn one of the individual spots in Tokyo, fell on the first pirouetting skill in her bars routine. This is the only apparatus on which she’s competing here in St. Louis after suffering an ankle injury last month. But her hopes of representing Team USA in Tokyo were intact because of the individual spot that prioritizes medal potential on particular events.
She nailed both of her bars routines at nationals. McCusker then scored a 14.800 on the first night of these trials; only Sunisa Lee, a world championships medalist on the event, earned a higher mark. But with just a 13.566 during the first rotation Sunday, McCusker’s Olympic hopes could be in jeopardy. She finished the routine without another major mistake, but the selection committee will have to decide whether McCusker has done enough to prove she belongs in Tokyo.
The joy is back for Jordan Chiles, and it could take her to Tokyo
ST. LOUIS — The highflying tumbling passes and the stuck dismounts that prompt her coach to lift her arms in celebration have put Jordan Chiles in this favorable spot. Chiles’s gymnastics routines have sent her climbing the standings of every meet she has entered this season, including here at the pressure-packed U.S. Olympic trials, where she’s in third place after the first night of competition.
And if Chiles makes the team heading to Tokyo, the massive progress she has shown this year is the reason. But that’s not what her mother, Gina, looks for in her youngest child’s recent success. Yes, there’s the consistency that earned Chiles top-four marks on three apparatuses Friday, and there’s the 57.132 all-around score that places her behind only Simone Biles (60.565), her training partner and the world’s best gymnast, and Sunisa Lee (57.666), another favorite to make the team.
But Chiles’s mom sees the confidence and the joy. She notices the way Chiles, 20, smiles through the competition and how, when most of the other competitors simply wave to the crowd during introductions, her daughter pulls out a Spider-Man-inspired gesture. Chiles’s skills are what might secure her spot in Tokyo when this competition concludes Sunday, but the joy, that’s new.
“Everyone’s looking at Jordan, her score,” Chiles’s mom said. “They’re looking at Jordan, her form. They’re looking at her gymnastics. And I just look at her dancing and smile.”
Riley McCusker nearing Olympic berth
An ankle injury in May at the U.S. Classic seemed to threaten Riley McCusker’s hopes of making the Olympic team. But she’s still in position to go to Tokyo — as an individual.
In addition to the four-person team, Team USA can send two individuals to the Olympics. Jade Carey has already clinched one of those spots based on her performances through the apparatus World Cup series. The selection committee chooses the other individual competitor.
The ideal candidate is someone who can contend for individual medals, and McCusker fits that mold. She’s only competing bars at the trials — just as she did at nationals — but she has shown great routines. McCusker scored a 14.800 on Friday and another strong routine could send her to Tokyo.
Simone Biles leads after Day 1
Biles had a strong opening night at the trials, earning a 60.565 in the all-around, as well as the top scores on vault, beam and floor. Friday’s outing was one of her best overall performances since the 2016 Summer Games.
Biles didn’t compete her new Yurchenko double pike vault, but even the skills that are relatively easy for Biles are among the most difficult in the world. Biles made it through the competition without any major mistakes, and she’s poised to earn one of the automatic spots on the team with a top-two finish. Biles is nearly three points ahead of Sunisa Lee in second.
For Biles, this meet is more of a tuneup heading into Tokyo than a stressful selection event. Even if she had a handful of uncharacteristic mistakes, she’d be nearly guaranteed to earn a spot on the four-member team.
Who might earn the fourth spot?
With Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles all poised to make the four-member team, there’s only one spot with significant uncertainty. And a handful of gymnasts are hoping to make the case they deserve it.
The gymnast who finishes fourth is not guaranteed the spot. The gymnast will be chosen by a selection committee. But with the gymnasts seemingly in contention all in fourth, fifth and sixth place after the first night, the athlete who lands ahead of the others in the all-around might have an advantage.
The competition is tight; 2016 Olympics alternate MyKayla Skinner is in fourth (56.598), followed by Grace McCallum (56.498) and Kayla DiCello (56.298). All three will enter Sunday’s meet knowing they need to hit their routines.
It’s important to consider that a team with Biles, Lee and Chiles would probably need a fourth gymnast who can contribute on vault and floor. Biles and Chiles could help Team USA on every apparatus, and even though Lee is a strong all-arounder, she has dealt with an ankle injury. Lee’s best events are bars and beam, so the team might need more reinforcement on those events.
Skinner, McCallum and DiCello fit that mold. Skinner has an excellent vault that scored a 15.133, and she had an outstanding showing Friday. McCallum and DiCello each have a slight edge on floor.
Leanne Wong entered this meet as a top contender for the team. She finished fifth at nationals three weeks ago. But on the first night of trials, she had serious struggles on beam. Wong did well on vault and floor, the events Team USA might want her to compete in during a team final, but it’s unclear whether the selection committee would lean in favor of a gymnast who had mistakes like those at the trials.
How is the team selected?
The top two finishers in the women’s trials will earn spots on the four-member team. The selection committee will determine the other two members of the team. The committee will consider the results at the trials and the U.S. championships held earlier this month, along with the team’s needs and each gymnast’s difficulty of routines, execution and consistency. The committee will select another gymnast to compete in Tokyo as an individual in addition to Jade Carey, who mathematically clinched an Olympic berth as an individual through the apparatus World Cup series.
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