The U.S. women’s gymnastics team experienced some precarious moments in Sunday’s qualifying round, but will enter the team final as the heavy favorite for gold.
Simone Biles topped the overall classification after the second of five subdivisions, flanked by Suni Lee, and also qualified for the floor, vault and beam apparatus finals.
For the first time, two Olympic all-around champions will face each other in the all-around final, when Biles and Lee will compete for gold on Thursday.
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Biles’ prospects in Paris were suddenly in jeopardy after she appeared to suffer a hard landing as the ground warmed.
Her coach, Cecile Landi, said after the competition that Biles “felt a little pain in her calf” but never thought about giving up.
The apparent injury also bothered Biles in training a few weeks ago, according to Landi, but it improved until today’s outbreak. She had her ankle bandaged by medical staff and intends to compete as planned in the remainder of the Games.
The Americans had the difficult task of starting on the balance beam, where adrenaline can make it difficult to stay on the 4-inch device. They did their job despite some setbacks, and Biles anchored the U.S. beam effort with one of the best routines of her career. She earned a huge 14.733 and will join Lee in the beam finals.
Team USA’s toughest moment came in the second rotation, when defending Olympic champion Jade Carey fumbled his last staggering pass. She seemed to get lost in the air in her double tuck, only doing a full tuck and rolling backwards, out of bounds.
Carey scored 10.633 on floor, which will prevent her from defending her title.
After the competition, Carey said in a post on X that she “hasn’t been feeling well” while in Paris.
His coach and father, Brian, was absent from Thursday’s practice on the podium after USA Gymnastics said he was not feeling well. He returned for today’s qualifying round.
In the next event, she achieved her redemption.
Carey scored an average of 14.433 on vault with a Cheng and a double-twisting Yurchenko, which she is able to upgrade to an Amanar (2.5 twists), in the final. Biles, who landed her eponymous Yurchenko double pike, or “Biles II” vault, will join Carey in her quest for an Olympic medal on vault.
“I think they bounced back together,” team head coach Chellsie Memmel said of Team USA’s resilience. “I think it shows the strength of the team bond, just that they came together, turned page after floor and came together.”
Lee secured her final spot on bars, where she is the current Olympic bronze medalist. She needed 14.800 to beat Jordan Chiles, a tall order, but Lee managed it by less than a tenth. She opted for a slightly safer routine, making a difficult connection and winning 14,866. This guaranteed him a place in the bars final too.
Like Gabby Douglas and Jordyn Wieber before her, Chiles found herself in the bittersweet position of being the third-best gymnast on the world’s most dominant women’s gymnastics team. Despite finishing third in the general classification after the second subdivision, Chile will not advance to the all-around final due to the two gymnasts per country rule.
She didn’t go down without a fight, however.
Chiles excelled in all four events in her return to the Olympics – a huge improvement from her dismal qualifying performance in Tokyo. Chiles is set to join Biles, who is also her training partner, in the floor final. She won the silver medal in the event at the 2022 world championships.
Hezly Rivera, 16, is not only the youngest member of the USA gymnastics team, but also the entire Team USA delegation. She battled some nerves in her Olympic debut on beam and scored below her potential, but Rivera will be pleased with the 13.900 she achieved in her final rotation on bars.
The U.S. women’s gymnastics team will compete for the gold medal in the team final on Tuesday.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
