MINNEAPOLIS – Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Simone Biles’ decade-plus journey of redefining what’s possible in gymnastics is how she’s managed to stay healthy while doing it.
He knows all too well the danger lurking around every curve, every turn, every landing. Blocking it all out and moving forward might be his greatest skill, one that was put to the test Friday night at the U.S. Olympic trials.
Before Biles took to the uneven bars in her first event, Kayla DiCello's hopes of joining her in Paris ended with a tear in her right Achilles tendon suffered just feet into the vault.
Shortly after, Shilese Jones cautiously left the track with a leg injury that left the status of the six-time world championship medalist up in the air.
It's a lot to take in, even for a 27-year-old who has made the impossible look incredibly easy for so long.
The entire encounter is, as Biles says, “very stressful, very heavy.”
Still.
“If we can do this, we can do anything,” he added.
So while there were some uncharacteristically sloppy moments early on, there was a touch of Biles' singular brilliance toward the end on her way to an all-around total of 58.900 that put her in position to secure an automatic spot on the five-woman team that will be announced Sunday night.
Still, it was hard to get the image of two of his colleagues leaving in tears out of his head, all accompanied by an ever-present fear that never goes away no matter how long you do this for a living.
“There's anxiety,” said Laurent Landi, Biles's former co-coach.[Like]”Okay, am I the next one to get hurt? What's going to happen to me?”
Landi's advice was simple and direct, long the most effective way to communicate with the biggest star of the American Olympic movement.
“You can't control this,” Landi told him. “So control the controllable.”
Biles did it. Even on a night when she wasn't at her best, she left little doubt that she remains in control of her gymnastics and, perhaps most important of all, in control of her emotions.
While there was an uncharacteristically sloppy and shaky balance beam routine that left Biles cursing for all the cameras to see, there was also a standing ovation accompanying her Yurchenko Double Pike vault, the one named after her in the sport's Code of Points and among the most difficult performed in the world by anyone, man or woman.
And the same goes for Biles, who will travel to Paris as the heavy favorite to complete the Olympic all-around gold she won as a teenager in 2016.
A lot has happened since then: a marriage, a handful of world titles and a memorable trip to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she withdrew from multiple finals to focus on her mental health.
She took a two-year break from competition after returning from Japan, but has looked as good as ever for most of the past 12 months, joking after her record ninth national title earlier this month that she's ” aging like fine wine.”
Biles doesn't seem to be the only one.
Jordan Chiles, 23, is making progress toward an Olympic spot, just as he did three years ago. He finished in the top six in all four events on Friday, a tough situation considering injuries he suffered earlier this year appeared to reduce his chances of making it to Paris.
Now not so much. However, Chiles laughed when asked if her previous experience here helped her navigate the complex emotions of a potentially life-altering encounter for the five women who hear her name called at the end.
“No,” Chiles said. “I was literally saying this this morning. I was like, 'No matter what meet I've done in my life, this is the most stressful one I've ever done in my entire career.' Because one night you find out you either make it or you don't.”
Chiles appears to be on the verge of returning to her sport's biggest stage, as is reigning Olympic champion Sunisa Lee.
Lee, 21, who has spent most of the past two years battling kidney-related health issues, used a pair of excellent sets on uneven bars and balance beam in front of a hometown crowd to finish third.
Behind Lee was 24-year-old Jade Carey, the reigning Olympic floor exercise champion. Carey, who has spent the last three years skillfully between collegiate and elite gymnastics, finished second to Biles on vault and fourth on floor.
The big question heading into Sunday will be who will take fifth place. Joscelyn Roberson, 18, one of the youngest athletes in the field of 13 women, used a powerful floor move to finish fifth.
USA Gymnastics officials, however, emphasize that they are not wedded to the idea of finishing in the top five in qualifying order at the end of the trials, which is what happened under previous leadership in 2021.
Kaliya Lincoln earned the second-best score on floor. Hezley Rivera appears to be improving with each passing meet, and 2020 Olympic alternate and four-time world championship medalist Leanne Wong has plenty of international experience.
Jones, the best American gymnast not named Biles when healthy, has spent most of the past two years looking like a sure thing. That's likely over before competition even officially began.
The 21-year-old arrived at the Target Center already with a slight tear in the labrum of her right shoulder. She then landed awkwardly while warming up on the jump, which caused her to sprain her left knee.
She left briefly but returned to be introduced to the rest of the field. She skipped the vault in the first rotation, but returned to battle through the uneven bars, her best event.
While Jones managed an excellent 14.625 even while doing a slightly watered-down routine, she managed to exit the podium cautiously. She spoke with medical staff for several minutes before leaving for good.
It's unclear if Jones will attempt to try on Sunday. What is clear – what has always been clear since Biles' debut in 2013 – is that she is there and everyone else is there.
