Current:Home > FinanceWho will make the US gymnastics team for 2024 Paris Olympics? Where Suni Lee, others stand -InvestSmart Insights
Who will make the US gymnastics team for 2024 Paris Olympics? Where Suni Lee, others stand
View
Date:2025-04-15 18:40:11
FORT WORTH, Texas — Simone Biles is a gimme for the Paris Olympics. Because, duh. Did you watch her at the U.S. championships? Or any other competition since she returned last year?
The question is who joins the four-time gold medalist on the squad for Paris. And that answer is now both clearer in some ways and murkier in others than it was a few days ago.
Suni Lee and Skye Blakely improved their prospects with their performances at nationals last weekend. But now there are concerns about the health of Shilese Jones, who was considered almost as much of a lock as Biles until she withdrew from nationals to protect her injured shoulder.
“There's been a little bit of progress,” Jones told NBC on Sunday night. “I woke up and I was like, 'It's feeling a little bit better than this whole week.' It's been a little bit stiff, but some progression today."
Subscribe to USA TODAY's newsletter:Chasing Gold: Your guide to the 2024 Paris Olympics
The Olympic trials for gymastics are June 27-30, so it’s not time to panic just yet. In the meantime, here’s a look at the contenders:
Stock rising
Suni Lee
Lee competed the all-around for the first time since last spring, when a kidney ailment forced her to cut her final season at Auburn short. If not for a fluke error on vault on the second night — she stubbed her toe on the runway and had to cut her Yurchenko double to a 1½ — Lee would have finished third.
Lee was fabulous on balance beam, with her 14.9 on Sunday the highest score on the event of the entire meet. She missed being third on uneven bars by a mere 0.050 points despite her routine not having its full difficulty.
“Beam and bars are the one thing I need to — not prove myself on, but that’s where I’m going to be the most useful to the team. So I’m glad I could (do) both those (well),” Lee said. “I just have to go back into the gym and work on my consistency, get my bar routine with full difficulty and keep staying consistent on beam.”
Skye Blakely
She put together two solid and consistent nights that included the first 15 of her career, for her upgraded Cheng vault. She was second to Biles in the all-around both nights, and she was top three on vault, bars and beam.
Though she was a member of the last two world championship teams, Blakely played a supporting role. Her performance at nationals showed her — and she hopes the selection committee — that she’s ready to be a main contributor in Paris.
“Coming off this meet, I know what I’m capable of now, so that will put even more confidence in myself,” she said. “I see myself in training, so I know what I can do. But to be able to finally put it out there on the floor and show everybody and myself, it really means a lot to me.”
Jordan Chiles
The Tokyo Olympian is making steady improvement, but it was her silver medal on uneven bars that really stood out. Remember that the format for team finals is three gymnasts on each event and all three scores count, and Chiles would give the U.S. women insurance on bars and vault.
Hezly Rivera
The U.S. junior champion last year made quite an impression in her first nationals as a senior, finishing fourth on balance beam and fifth on uneven bars.
Work in Progress
Jade Carey
She has the big vaults, but she needs to score better on floor exercise, where she’s the reigning Olympic champion. That's not a complete surprise, given the quick turnaround between Carey's NCAA and elite seasons.
Kayla DiCello
High-scoring potential is one thing, but consistency is another. After a fall on uneven bars and a rough performance on balance beam, DiCello needs to show at trials that she can deliver under pressure.
TBD
Shilese Jones
If she's healthy, she’s on the team. These next three weeks will be big.
Kaliya Lincoln
Lincoln withdrew from nationals midway through the first night with an injury but petitioned into Olympic trials. Could add a big score on floor exercise.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
veryGood! (54787)
Related
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Gigi Hadid Gives Her Honest Review of Blake Lively’s Movie It Ends With Us
- 'Doing what she loved': Skydive pilot killed in plane crash near Niagara Falls
- Mark Carnevale, former PGA Tour winner and golf broadcaster, dies a week after working his last tournament
- 2 killed, 3 injured in shooting at makeshift club in Houston
- US opens investigation into Delta after global tech meltdown leads to massive cancellations
- Keegan Bradley names Webb Simpson United States vice captain for 2025 Ryder Cup
- Dubai Princess Shares Photo With 2-Month-Old Daughter After Shocking Divorce
- Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan
- For Appalachian Artists, the Landscape Is Much More Than the Sum of Its Natural Resources
Ranking
- Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
- Search called off for small airplane that went missing in fog and rain over southeast Alaska
- Why Hailey Bieber Chose to Keep Her Pregnancy Private for First 6 Months
- Bangladesh's top court scales back government jobs quota after deadly unrest
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Miss Kansas Alexis Smith Calls Out Her Alleged Abuser Onstage in Viral Video
- Paris Olympics: LeBron James to Serve as Flagbearer for Team USA at Opening Ceremony
- 2024 Olympics: A Guide to All the Couples Competing at the Paris Games
Recommendation
Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
2024 Olympics: Watch Athletes Unbox Condoms Stocked in the Olympic Village
U.S. sprinter McKenzie Long runs from grief toward Olympic dream
Montana education board discusses trends, concerns in student achievement
What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
Calls for Maya Rudolph to reprise her Kamala Harris interpretation on SNL grow on social media
Kamala Harris' stance on marijuana has certainly evolved. Here's what to know.
Google reneges on plan to remove third-party cookies in Chrome