Biles, 26, easily won the all-around title in a stellar field at the Core Classic, a qualifying event for the U.S. championships later this month in San Jose. Her total of 59.100 points put her exactly five points clear of runner-up Leanne Wong and gave life to the possibility Biles will make the U.S. team for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, where she can add to the pile of seven Olympic medals she won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and at the COVID-delayed Tokyo Games, which were held in 2021.
Wearing a glittering black-and-white leotard with a black-and-white bow in her hair, Biles was the star of a very good show. Fans at NOW Arena cheered during the warm-ups after she completed a powerful tumbling pass in her floor exercise routine, and the savvy crowd recognized when she nailed her difficult Yurchenko double pike vault and applauded wildly.
To open her first competition since Tokyo, Biles competed on the uneven bars, her weakest event (relatively speaking). She had a form break while performing a pirouette but stayed on the bars with sheer strength and took a hop backward on her landing. Her score of 14.00 was more than solid — it ranked third for the day — and it surely was a relief to her as she moved on to her stronger events.
She looked sure and smooth on the balance beam, the only individual event final in which she was able to compete in Tokyo after her bout with the twisties. Her bronze medal there was her seventh Olympic medal, and perhaps her most meaningful in many ways. On Saturday, her score of 14.80 was the highest of the two combined women’s sessions, though she did take a big step back on her dismount.
Sunisa Lee, the Tokyo all-around gold medalist, had a small wobble on the balance beam but still earned a 14.500. She was in tears afterward, emotions brought on by her ability to compete here despite battling a kidney ailment that has limited her training. She didn’t compete in every event Saturday, but she basically needed to perform well on two apparatus to qualify for the U.S. championships later this month in San Jose, and she accomplished that with her excellent balance beam routine and a 13.50 on vault.
Biles’ floor exercise routine was powerful and dynamic, drawing roars from an adoring sellout crowd of about 11,000. She rewarded her fans with a wave and got a hug from coach Cecile Landi when she walked off the floor. It was well-deserved: Biles earned a score of 14.900, the best of the two combined sessions. She finished on vault, where she earned a 15.400 for a routine in which she stepped a bit to the side upon landing.
Biles could take pride in not only having beaten a strong field but in also having beaten the twisties, the dangerous loss of awareness while twisting that afflicts many gymnasts. The Tokyo Games didn’t go as she had planned, but on Saturday she took the first significant step toward giving herself another golden Olympic moment.