Simone Biles holds a commanding lead after the first day of the women's Olympic gymnastics trials, but it was an eventful day overall for USA Gymnastics.
On the positive side, Olympic all-around gold medalists Biles and Sunisa Lee overcame major obstacles in the years following their victories to finish No. 1 and No. 3 in the rankings, respectively, while Jordan Chiles came in second. On the negative side, major injuries suffered by top contenders Leah Jones and Kayla DiCello eliminated them both early in the competition.
The second day of competition for the women is scheduled for Sunday, while the men's competition is scheduled to finish on Saturday.
Biles currently sits in first place with a total score of 58.900, 2.500 points ahead of Chiles. She led the way with scores of 14.850 on floor exercise and 15.975 on vault, while also taking second place on uneven bars and fifth place on balance beam.
Aside from one of her toes going out of bounds, her floor exercise was impressive.
And, as always, no one could touch her in the vault.
Biles' biggest misstep came on the balance beam, where she is a four-time world champion, when she had several noticeable wobbles during her performance and visibly swore after dismounting.
Her overall performance gives Biles plenty of breathing room in her quest to qualify for a third Olympic Games. Her infamous battle with “Twisties” at the Tokyo Olympics raised concerns about her future, already a tough one for a woman in her late 20s, but the 27-year-old returned to competition last year after regular treatment and is looking like the best in the world again.
Serie Jones and Kayla DiCello seriously injured
Jones was in doubt after suffering an injury while warming up for the vault before the competition and was initially announced as competing, but was later removed from the vault.
But she was determined to complete her uneven bars routine as her emotional mother looked on.
The uneven bars performance earned Jones a score of 14.675, the highest score of the night, and Jones was immediately removed from the floor exercise and balance beam competitions.
DiCello landed poorly on the vault and immediately knew something was wrong, and was quickly removed from the floor in a wheelchair with what was later announced as an Achilles injury.
Lee was visibly shaken by the sight of her injuries, but Jones and Childs managed to calm her down.
USA Gymnastics has already been hit by injuries, with contender Skye Blakely missing out on the Olympics after rupturing her Achilles tendon during podium training on Wednesday. Blakely appeared at the trials on Friday and was in tears after receiving a standing ovation from the crowd.
