Biles floors competition at US trials

LOS ANGELES • Olympic four-gold champion Simone Biles backed up her reputation as the world's greatest gymnast on Friday, dominating the first day of the women's competition at the United States Olympic gymnastics trials, less than a month before the Tokyo Games begin on July 23.

While shes boasts one of the most decorated careers in the sport, the 19-gold world champion must still earn her ticket to Tokyo this weekend in St Louis, as Olympic hopefuls vie for a spot on Team USA.

She made clear that would be no problem.

Competing in front of a packed crowd at The Dome at America's Centre, the 24-year-old put on a show in her floor routine, unleashing her signature triple-twisting double back manoeuvre to pick up a top score of 15.366 - an improvement over her best of 14.95 at the national championships - with a 6.800 difficulty.

"Going into this one, I know exactly what to expect," said Biles, a seven-time all-around national champion. "I'm a lot more emotional this time around which is so crazy. Even walking out I was tearing up and crying."

She topped the field with a total score of 60.565, followed by Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles, who finished 2.899 and 3.433 points off the lead, respectively. MyKayla Skinner (56.598), 24, an alternate at the 2016 Olympics, was fourth in the standings, months after recovering from pneumonia and a Covid-19 diagnosis.

The top two finishers will earn spots on the team, while two members will be determined by a selection committee with one more individual quota spot to be filled. Lee, 18, widely considered a frontrunner to make the team after a strong performance at the US national championships last month, put up the top score on the uneven bars (15.300). The women will return to the dome today for the final night of their competition, as the men's contest finished yesterday.

REUTERS