Reigning world champion Simone Biles finished atop of the leaderboard after the first night of competition at the 2024 US Olympic Gymnastics Trials Friday in Minneapolis.

The four-time Olympic gold medalist finished with an overall score of 58.900. Jordan Chiles sits in second with 56.400 points and Suni Lee in third with 56.025 points ahead of Sunday night’s trials finale.

Biles started her night on the uneven bars, posting a score of 14.425. In her second rotation on the balance beam, the 27-year-old looked uncharacteristically shaky, nearly falling on her mount and then taking a small hop on her dismount. She posted a score of 13.650 and found herself in second place.

For reference, Biles posted identical 14.800 scores in both of her attempts at the US Gymnastics Championships four weeks ago, when she won her ninth all-around title.

The four-time Olympic gold medalist then dazzled with her floor routine, landing the Biles II – one of several skills named after her – during her third rotation. She earned a score of 14.850 for her impressive performance, which moved her into first place.

Biles closed out the night in style, getting a standing ovation after performing the gravity-defying Yurchenko double pike on the vault. She earned a score of 15.975.

Biles, who became the most decorated gymnast ever at last year’s world championships, is among 16 women and 20 men vying for a place on the US team in Paris.

The US Championships victory – which saw her awarded the highest cumulative scores in the four events – underlined Biles’ dominance ahead of the Paris Olympics, three years after she withdrew from the Tokyo Games with “the twisties” – a mental block causing gymnasts to lose track of their body positions.

After the championships, Biles said she was enjoying her gymnastics and “not stressing or having any anxiety.”

Five gymnasts will form the woman’s squad heading to the Paris Olympics. The winner of the all-around competition clinches an automatic berth, while the other four are chosen by a three-person selection committee.

Biles is seeking to become the fourth American woman to compete in three Olympic games, capping off her successful return to the sport after taking an extended break to prioritize her mental health.

 Elite athletes aren’t supposed to get better the older they get. Certainly not in gymnastics, where the flexibility of youth makes it easier to do gravity defying skills.

Yet here Simone Biles is at 27 at the U.S. gymnastics Olympic trials, better now than she was in 2016, when she won four Olympic gold medals. Better than she was in 2018, when she won a medal on every event at the world championships. Better than anyone, ever, has ever been in her sport.

“I use the phrase, ‘Aging like fine wine,’” she joked earlier this month, after she’d extended her own record with her ninth U.S. championship.

Biles is poised to make her third Olympic team this weekend, and will be a heavy favorite to win multiple gold medals in Paris. Although her longevity alone is a marvel, it’s her level of excellence that is astounding. Just when you think there’s no way she can improve, no way she can top what she’s already done, she … does.

She cracked the 60-point mark on the first night of U.S. championships, something no other woman has done this Olympic cycle. She has mastered her Yurchenko double pike, a vault so difficult few men even try it, to the point coach Laurent Landi no longer feels the need to stand on the mat in case something goes awry.

She has added back her double twisting-double somersault dismount on uneven bars. Her difficulty score on floor exercise is a whopping 7.0, more than a full point higher than most other women.

“I don’t know if there will ever be another gymnast who will ever come close to touching her caliber of achievements, difficulty and just the impact she’s had on our sport. Icon? I don’t even know if that’s the right way to say it,” said Alicia Sacramone Quinn, who was a member of the team that won silver at the 2008 Olympics and is now the strategic lead for the U.S. women’s high-performance team.

“We joke all the time. I’m like, ‘Can you be not as good at gymnastics?’ and she just laughs at me.”

Although some of this is a credit to Biles’ natural ability, to put it all on that does a disservice to the work she puts in. Both in the gym and outside of it.

Biles works as hard as anyone, said Cecile Landi, who coaches Biles along with her husband. She does not skip workouts, and her ridiculously difficult routines appear easy because she has put in the numbers necessary to make them look that way. She also knows her body, and will tell the Landis when something isn’t feeling right or isn’t working.

Perhaps the biggest difference at this stage of her career is that Biles’ mind and body are in sync.

Biles missed most of the Tokyo Olympics after developing a case of “the twisties,” which caused her to lose her sense of where she was in the air and jeopardized her physical safety. Biles now knows this was a physical manifestation of mental health issues, exacerbated by the isolation of the COVID restrictions in Tokyo.

She continues to work with the therapist she began seeing after Tokyo, and says she knows she has to prioritize her mental health as much as her physical health. By doing so, she’s eliminated the one thing that could hold her back.

“I think we always knew she could be better,” Cecile Landi said. “She’s the most talented athlete I’ve ever worked with. And so we just knew if she could get her mental game as well as her physical game, she would be close to unstoppable.”

As crazy as it is to think — given all she’s already done and accomplished — Biles’ best is yet to come.

The 2024 Paris Olympics are getting closer and closer. We’re exactly one month away from the start of the Games, and we already know a lot of the main stars who will be in France for the event. But we don’t yet know if Simone Biles will be there.

USA Gymnastics will hold their trials starting on Thursday, with the men and women competing to see who will make it to Paris. Although Biles is the heavy favorite to earn the sole automatic berth, which goes to the highest scorer across the two days of competition, anything can happen.

Biles’ participation at the trials drew some intrigue due to her, and the other gymnasts, not getting paid to participate. Not only that, U.S. athletes don’t get paid to compete in the Olympics at all; although winning medals does earn them prize money.

How does Simone Biles earn money?

The athletes are allowed to get money from sponsorships, though, which is easily the biggest source of income for Biles. Biles has nine major sponsors and has worked with various other brands throughout the years. She also has side business ventures, including a couple of companies that sell leotards.

The 2024 Summer Olympics kick off on Friday, July 26 and run until Sunday, August 11. Artistic gymnastics events will be held at the Bercy Arena, which holds 15,000 spectators.

Age is just a number and Simone Biles is living proof of the adage. At the age of 27, Simone Biles is still defying the odds of gymnastics, having achieved unmatched success and aging like fine wine. At the U.S. championships in Fort Worth, Texas, earlier in the month, Biles won her ninth US all-around victory after dominating on all four apparatus. Her recent success shows that she is at her best ever ahead of the Paris Olympics. As she gets better and bigger with each impending victory, she caught the jocular fancy of a certain gymnast and the interaction was funny and quite unusual, to say the least.

In the sport, Biles’ extraordinary talent has created a new benchmark. Although most young athletes reach their prime, Biles seems to have quenched her starlet thirst by receiving a funny request. Former Olympic gymnast Alicia Sacramone Quinn, who currently serves as the U.S. women’s high-performance squad’s strategic lead, noted Biles’ remarkable influence. Quinn remarked, “I don’t know if there will ever be another gymnast who will ever come close to touching her caliber of achievements, difficulty, and just the impact she’s had on our sport.”

Beyond only her technical skills, Quinn is a huge fan of Biles, through and through. Gymnastics has been greatly impacted by Biles, who has inspired a great number of upcoming athletes and shaped the sport’s future. An “icon?” Quinn continued, highlighting how extraordinary Biles’ efforts are. “I don’t even know if that’s the right way to say it,” Quinn noted.

Simone Biles is yet personable and modest despite her enormous accomplishments. “We joke all the time,” Quinn said, describing a funny exchange with Biles. “I’m like, ‘Can you be not as good at gymnastics?’ and she just laughs at me.”?” and she simply smiles. Despite her towering accomplishments, Biles is incredibly grounded, as this playful discussion highlights. However, there’s more on Simone Biles’s way to Paris.

Simone Biles’ road at the Paris Olympics

The focus now turns to Minneapolis, where the gymnastics U.S. Olympic Team Trials are taking place. The Target Center is abuzz with talent and excitement and Biles will be one of the firebrand gymnasts out there so you know who to root for and bet your money on now. Promising a stellar comeback, it remains to be seen how her journey to yonder, ie Paris, will look like provided the trials are the ultimate litmus test for many.

“Mom, come pick me up. I’m scared,” said Simone Biles on the phone call. “Are you okay?,” asked her mom in apprehension. Her family was worried, and her fans were disheartened, when the 7x Olympic medalist walked out of the Ariake Gymnastics Centre during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Citing the issue of “twisties,” when she was exiting the arena, critics called her “Quitter of the year.” She was cladded in Swarovski crystals embroidered red and white leotard when she walked to her coach, with just one thought in mind, “I was going to be banned from America.“

Amidst the noise of the disregards around, Simone was searching for comfort. Her next reaction – she called the home phone, to talk to her family. Her sister, Adria Biles, picked the phone before passing it to their mother, Nellie Biles. Astounded, Adria asked the gymnast, “You’re crying. Are you okay?” To this, Simone confirmed, “I’m out. I’m done.”

Simone Biles defined her parents’ sentiments about her Tokyo Olympics withdrawal on the ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast aired on April 17, 2024. “My dad is always so calm and collected, it seems. So he was probably like, Oh, is she okay?,” stated Biles while giving details about her father, Ronald Biles’ reaction. She further added, “My mom was like, a mess. I could hear her crying and breaking down, and that’s what broke me, too.”

More so, when her then-boyfriend Jonathan Owens saw Biles walk off a failed Amanar vault in the team final, he felt sick to his stomach. “I was sick for her, just because I can see her facial expressions, I can kind of read her lips and kind of know what was going on and kind of what she was telling her coach,” stated Owens in an interview with ESPN back in 2021.

When ‘Call Her Daddy’ host Alex Cooper further asked about her rough first vault finish, Biles went on to explain how she lost her bearings in the air while performing the Amanar vault. Its simulation consists of two-and-a-half twisting flips, but Biles was only able to complete one-and-a-half twists, before stumbling out of her landing. “The world is going to hate me,” her intrinsic fears surfaced when she touched the ground.

Following this, the gymnast’s siblings shared their concerns about her exit on their respective Twitter handles. While Ron Biles penned, “everyone please pray for my sister @Simone_Biles. She really needs them at this time, and is having a hard time,” Adria Biles called out to the critics with a stern message. “y’all are all about mental health until it no longer benefits you” she added.

Hence, given the extreme pressure and criticism, as Simone Biles was navigating through the rough waters, the gymnast’s clan made sure to support her every step of the way.

Simone Biles Rising – with friends, family, and fans

While Jonathan Owens promised, “Imma ride with you through whatever baby,” Biles’ parents, friends, and family helped her immensely in her comeback journey. Next, we know – Simone Biles made a staunch comeback to finish her “unfinished business.”

It was in August 2023, when the 4x Olympic gold medalist donned her GK Elite leotard and marked her resurgence with the All-Around title at the 2023 US Core Hydration Classic. She then aced the most difficult vault, Yurchenko Double Pike, at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, and became the first woman in history to pull off the routine at an international competition. This earned her the 6th All-Around World title. A dramatic comeback indeed!

Simone Biles will continue to redefine the limits of gymnastics,” predicts one commentator, as the US Olympic Gymnastics Trials approach. The 2024 Olympics gymnastics qualification season will start on June 27 at the trials in Minneapolis. Gymnasts from around the nation will gather to prove who has what it takes to represent the USA. The highly anticipated event will showcase Simone Biles’ unparalleled skill and poise, as well as Shilese Jones’ impressive talent and determination.

Both gymnasts are set to deliver stunning performances as they embody the spirit of competition and excellence that defines the Olympic Games. The event, headlined by gymnasts like Simone Biles, Shilese Jones, Fred Richards, and Brody Malone, promises to be as thrilling as the Summer Games in Paris itself. Here is everything you need to know to witness the trials’ magic.

Simone Biles to take on Shilese Jones: Who has the upper hand? 

Gymnastics in the USA have become synonymous with Simone Biles. During the Core Hydration Classics earlier this year, Biles swept the all-around title with a score of 59.500. This kept her in a two-point lead from the first runner-up, Shilese Jones. Biles participated in all four events, with her highest being 15.600 on the vaults and 14.800 on floor exercise.

At the Xfinity games, she won the gold medal at all events and became the first gymnast to win nine all-around titles. Her improved Yurchenko double-like vault, and the triple twisting double back tuck make her one of the most technically skilled gymnasts on the mat this year. However, Shilese Jones, the 2023 AA bronze medallist, faced some hiccups.

After a successful Classics where she won the uneven bars, Jones was forced to withdraw from the Xfinity games due to a shoulder injury. It was so bad, that Jones reported it was hard to move her arm at all. Shilese Jones stated, “Unfortunately, I won’t be participating in the Xfinity Championships this year. With Paris as my ultimate focus, it’s best for me to prioritize recovery and resting my shoulder this weekend.“

She also mentioned, “Both the medical team and I are confident this is the right decision to ensure I’m at full strength for Trials“. She further added that she was excited to support her fellow athletes and teammates that weekend, mentioning that she had petitioned to compete in the trials and had been approved. Though Biles is the natural favorite to make the first spot on the Olympic team, Jones is expected to be a close second.

How to witness the trials?

To catch the highly anticipated showdown between Simone Biles and Shilese Jones, mark your calendars for June 27, 2024. The 2024 US Olympic team trials for gymnastics is scheduled between 27th and 30th June. It will be held at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The event is expected to be one of the marquee events of this year before the Olympics itself. The competition will start every day from 6:30 pm ET.

US Olympic Gymnastics Trials: Know where to get the ticket 

The tickets for the US Olympic team trials for gymnastics are already available. Viewers can purchase tickets for each session online at the official US Gymnastics website or directly at the Target Center box office. They can be bought together for all days or separately for each. For each day, the prices are $375. The cheapest are the men’s finals at $40 and women’s finals at $325. Those only interested in the finals may purchase tickets for just the 3rd and 4th days, which are the 29th and 30th of June.

Where to watch the US Olympic Gymnastics Trials?

The US Olympic Gymnastics Trials promise to showcase electrifying talent. The thrilling match between Simone Biles and Shilese Jones can be seen across wide networks of interest. On Thursday, the 27th, Men’s Day 1 can be watched on USA Network and Peacock between 6:30 pm-9 pm. Women’s Day 1 can be viewed on Peacock from 7: 30 to 8 PM ET on Friday the 28 and on NBC from 8 to 10 PM ET.

For Men’s Day 2, scheduled for June 29th, the streaming will continue through NBC and Peacock TV from 3 to 6 PM Eastern Time. Women’s Day 2 events are scheduled for June 30th, airing from 8 to 8:30 PM ET on Peacock, and from 8:30 to 11 PM ET on both NBC and Peacock. You can stream these matches live on Peacock, NBC.com, NBCOlympics.com, NBC Sports, and the NBC app.