The 2024 Olympics are less than a year away, and the field of athletes vying for the five spots on the U.S. women’s artistic gymnastics team is incredibly deep. Twenty-nine gymnasts qualified to compete in the senior women’s event at the 2023 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in San Jose, and the two-day meet slated for Friday (8 p.m. ET on Peacock) and Sunday (7 p.m. ET on NBC) is full of familiar faces and rising stars.
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Olympic all-around champions Simone Biles and Suni Lee highlight a stacked lineup that features multiple Olympic and World medalists as well as a few up-and-comers who are vying for a trip to Paris. Here are the names and routines you should watch out for:
The Olympians
Simone Biles: Duh. After taking a hiatus from competing following the Tokyo Games, during which she won a team silver and a bronze on balance beam but struggled with a bout of “the twisties,” the four-time gold medalist returned to competition Aug. 5 at the U.S. Classic and dominated. Biles looked as if she hadn’t taken any time off, hitting wildly difficult routines on uneven bars, beam and floor exercise while bringing back her Yurchenko double pike vault (complete with a Mario-esque celebration after), which she hadn’t competed since the 2018 U.S. Classic. The 26-year-old hasn’t explicitly said she’s aiming for a third Olympics yet, but barring injury, she’s a lock for the 2024 team.
All of Biles’ routines are must-see TV, but her skills on vault and floor are especially jaw-dropping. She’s the only woman to ever complete the Yurchenko double pike vault, and her new floor routine (set to Noa Kirel’s “Unicorn,” for all the Eurovision fans out there) is packed with gravity-defying tumbling passes. Her third pass is a double back layout with a half twist, which became her first eponymous skill back in 2013.
SIMONE. FREAKING. BILES
— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) August 6, 2023
Suni Lee: The reigning Olympic all-around champion and bars bronze medalist has been limited in training due to a kidney issue and will only compete on vault and beam at nationals, but those two events looked polished during Lee’s return to elite competition at Classics. Though her beam routine was a bit less difficult than she’s shown in the past, it was still among the highest scoring of the day, earning a 14.500 to place second behind Biles’ 14.800.
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Lee’s flight series — a side aerial (no-hands cartwheel) into two back layout step-outs — is made even more impressive by the fact that it comes near the end of her routine, sandwiched between leaping elements where she shows off stellar amplitude and extension.
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Jade Carey: A star for Oregon State at the collegiate level and the defending Olympic floor exercise gold medalist, Carey is a bit of a question mark entering this meet. She helped Team USA to gold at the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool last October while also picking up individual gold and bronze medals on vault and floor, respectively. But she only competed on beam at Classics and struggled with bobbles throughout that routine. Carey is listed in lineups for all four events at nationals, so her difficulty level on vault and floor (her two best events) shouldn’t remain a mystery for long.
Jordan Chiles: Like Carey, Chiles burst onto the NCAA gymnastics scene after the Tokyo Games and picked up three medals at 2022 worlds. Her high-energy floor routines at UCLA were backed by mixes featuring Doja Cat, Normani, DJ Kool and Salt-N-Pepa, earning multiple perfect 10.0s and a nod from the hip-hod duo. The 2020 Olympic team silver medalist is sure to bring that performance level to the elite stage, so definitely tune in when she’s up on floor.
Big breakthroughs
Shilese Jones: Dedicated gymnastics fans have long known Jones had oodles of potential and more than enough skills up her leotard sleeve to ascend to the top of the sport, but it seemed everything clicked last year when she became the breakout star of world championships. Jones finished second in the all-around and on bars after snagging her first world medal atop the podium with Team USA.
Though she recently said that she’s recovering from a torn labrum and a foot injury, the 21-year-old is planning to compete in all four events at nationals. Jones is a strong all-around competitor who’s especially captivating on bars and beam. The height of her release moves, the ease of her transitions between bars and her ability to pirouette directly on top of the bar while maintaining a perfect handstand are exactly what judges want to see.
Skye Blakely: Blakely seems to be hitting her stride at just the right time, as she scored over 14.00 on all three events she competed at Classics. She boasts a huge difficulty score on beam and has some unique skills in her routine, like an interesting mount, a standing full-twisting back tuck and a front handspring connected to a front tuck. She has struggled with consistency in the past, but she has shown why she’s in the mix for Paris and could become a front-runner if she continues to put up solid performances.
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Names you should know
Joscelyn Roberson: Roberson is a pint-sized powerhouse with huge tumbling and a recently upgraded Cheng vault. The skill, which you may have seen Biles and Carey compete in the lead-up to Tokyo, requires a gymnast to do a roundoff onto the springboard followed by an immediate half-turn entry onto the vault table. The gymnast then launches off the table into a laid-out flip with a 1 1/2 twist. That vault, plus her level of difficulty on floor, puts Roberson in the conversation for upcoming world and Olympic teams.
Zoe Miller: Miller won the bars title at Classics and will also be a top contender to make the podium on that event at nationals. If Lee and Jones aren’t at 100 percent, Miller’s bars score becomes a huge asset for Team USA.
Kaliya Lincoln: Some gymnasts make everything look easy, and Lincoln has that quality. Her back handspring step-out to back layout floats down the beam, and she gets impressive amplitude on all her tumbling passes. At Classics, she and Roberson tied for second on floor behind Biles.
Nola Matthews: While Matthews’ tumbling passes aren’t as difficult as her competitors, her choreography sets her apart. This particular floor routine has an intentionally creepy style that Matthews sells well with sharp movements and angular poses.
Has any video been more requested than Nola Matthews' Floor Routine from #CoreClassic!?
Worth the hype! 📹⤵️
— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) August 14, 2023
Michelle Pineda: In her first year at the senior level, Pineda surprised many with her clean performance at Classics and earned a top-10 all-around finish. At just 15 years old, she’s got loads of potential and time to upgrade if she wants to add more difficulty. Keep an eye on her on beam.
Further reading
(Top photo: Laurence Griffiths / Getty)
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