MINNEAPOLIS — Two and a half years ago, Serie Jones returned to Seattle to continue her gymnastics career while also making the process her own.
It started in a dark place, with a loss of confidence and then, in 2021, the loss of her father. But from the first day she arrived at Auburn's Ascend Gymnastics Club in early 2022, Jones had a goal of making the next U.S. Olympic team and was determined to achieve it.
“When her father died, I think the reality hit her hard: 'I'm doing this for myself,'” coach Sarah Korngold said. “She gets it. She's in it. She knows why she's doing this.”
Once overshadowed by a talent-rich U.S. women's program, Jones has raised the bar in gymnastics to become not just a winner but a star, drawing attention with her dynamic routines and charismatic stage presence.
The 21-year-old is a near-unbeatable force in international gymnastics in those four events, winning six medals at the past two world championships, including a silver and bronze in the all-around. Her face is plastered on billboards around Minneapolis this week. Coming into the trials, she was considered not only a near-certainty to make the U.S. team, but also a favorite to win multiple medals in Paris.
That made Friday night all the more unpleasant.
With a routine practice vault just 40 minutes before the start of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, the journey was over — at least until 2024.
Jones hurt her left knee during her routine vault warm-up and had to leave the field for treatment. She returned and ultimately posted the day's best score on the uneven bars, the event that has earned her two world medals, but withdrew from the other three events.
There was some hope that Jones could return on Sunday and remain on the Paris team — her bars score was so high, in fact, that the math showed she might have been part of the highest-scoring team on bars alone.
Instead, USA Gymnastics announced Saturday that Jones had withdrawn from competition, eliminating her chances of making the Paris Olympic team.
It was over in a flash.
Jones did not disclose the exact nature of the injury and has not spoken to reporters since arriving in Minneapolis. Korngold said he was “optimistic” about Jones in a text message to The Seattle Times on Friday night but did not immediately respond to a message Saturday.
Injuries to Jones and two other Paris favorites, Skye Blakely (during practice Wednesday) and Kayla DiCello (during her first routine on Day 1), cast a somber mood on the first night of competition, but the skaters still thrilled the sold-out Target Center crowd.
One of the biggest surprises of the night was the return of 2021 Olympian Jordan Childs from Vancouver, Washington. The 23-year-old Childs was a favorite to win in competitions earlier this year but wasn't in the leading group.
But that all changed on Friday. Chiles, who now trains with Simone Biles in the Houston area, earned top marks in all four events to take second place at the break in a performance reminiscent of her breakout 2021 season. Only world No. 1 Biles was second ahead of her, and Biles' 2.5-point lead is bigger than the gap between second and ninth place.
The ever-popular Chiles, who developed a fan following while competing at UCLA, brings fun to a sport often perceived as serious and intense and draws the loudest cheers from the crowds.
During practice on Friday morning, the gymnast found herself overthinking and stressing out, so to decompress, she listened to songs by “as many female artists as I could think of,” including Beyoncé, Gloryhole, and Megan Thee Stallion.
“I thought, 'OK, look, if these girls can do something amazing like this, I can do something amazing like them,'” Childs said.
And it worked.
Childs' energetic gymnastics thrilled the crowd and put her in a strong position to qualify for her second Olympic Games.
The Olympic spots will be awarded to the overall winner over the two days, which Biles is almost certain to win. The rest of the team will be selected by a three-person committee. Fellow Olympic returnees Suni Lee and Jade Carey round out the top four, followed by Joske Roberson, Kariya Lincoln, Hesley Rivera, Lien Wong and Tianna Sumanasekera, all of whom are vying for a place in Paris.
Simone Rose, 16, of Sammamish, opened Friday with strong performances on the vault and uneven bars, but fell during her acrobatic series on the balance beam and then fell out of bounds on the floor exercise, finishing in 10th place.
The five-woman team will be announced at the conclusion of competition on Sunday night.
Leading the men's team, announced Saturday night, are Olympic Trials champion Fred Richard and 2021 Olympian Brodie Malone. They will be joined in Paris by Asher Hong, Paul Judah and Steven Nedorosic.
The Paris Games will open on July 26, with the gymnastics events starting the following day.
