Tokyo all-around gold medalist Suni Lee returns and the Olympic season officially begins with the Winter Cup.
Jordan Chiles on preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics
Jordan Chiles joined Sports Seriously to talk about the upcoming Summer Olympics and her partnership with Invisalign.
Let the Olympic year officially begin!
Saturday's Winter Cup not only marks the return of Suni Lee, it also kicks off the all-important season that will culminate in the Paris Olympics this summer. More than 30 women take part in the Winter Cup, which serves as qualification for the national championships. At least 12 gymnasts will advance from the national gymnastics ranks to the Olympic trials, where the five-member women's team will be selected.
The Paris Games begin on July 26th.
But that goes a little beyond us. Let’s focus on the Winter Cup first.
When is the USA Gymnastics Winter Cup?
The women's meeting will take place on Saturday from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
How to watch the USA Gymnastics Winter Cup
You will need your computer. Or your phone. The Winter Cup is only available on the USA Gymnastics YouTube channel.
Simone Biles likes what she sees at the Winter Cup.
Biles isn't competing here — according to her Instagram account, she and her husband are at a wedding — but she's watching. “The girls are not messing around this year,” Biles said in a post after the third rotation.
She followed up with another post that only contained three fire emojis.
One for the Winter Cup
Kayla DiCello has all but secured the Winter Cup title.
DiCello, who was an alternate for both the Tokyo Olympics and last year's world teams, has a 2.10 point lead heading into the final round. In a sport where gymnasts are often separated by tenths, that's a huge lead.
DiCello has 42.55 points and has exceeded the 14-point mark in all three events so far.
The race for second place is much tighter, with only four tenths separating the gymnasts in second through fifth place.
After looking so good in training, Suni Lee noticed the skill she wants to have named after her.
Lee performs a release move in which she lifts herself off the top bar and performs a forward somersault in an outstretched position with a full twist before catching the bar again. She made it at least twice during Friday's podium practice and once during Saturday's warm-up. But she hit the upper bar with her hands, could no longer grip it and fell to the mat.
She fell again in her routine, one of two times she did at the Winter Cup, scoring an 11.8.
Pan American Games all-around champion Kayla DiCello is halfway to another title.
DiCello leads the Winter Cup with 28.250 points after two events and has the highest scores to date in both vault (14.2) and floor exercise (14.050). She is 0.70 points ahead of Skye Blakely, who was part of the U.S. team that won the title at the last two World Championships.
Trinity Thomas is third with 27.25 points and reigning U.S. junior champion Hezly Rivera, making her senior debut here, is fourth with 26.75 points.
Trinity Thomas definitely doesn't look rusty.
The Winter Cup is Thomas' first elite-level competition since 2019, and she opened with a beautiful 14.050 on the uneven bars. Kayla DiCello achieved the highest score in the first round on floor exercise.
Thomas hasn't exactly sat on her couch in the last five years. She was a standout performer at Florida, winning the Honda Award as the nation's top collegiate gymnast in both 2022 and 2023. She also holds the NCAA record for a perfect 10.0 with 28.
Skye Blakely, a favorite for the all-around title after being part of the U.S. teams that won gold at the last two world championships, has some ground to make up after a fall in her first event, the uneven bars. Blakely did a reverse release from the low bar to the high bar and was unable to grab the bar. The crowd gasped as she fell to the mat.
Blakely earned a score of 13.050 – her routine has a starting value of 5.8 – but she will likely need to excel in her remaining four events and get some help from some other gymnasts.
Warm welcome for Suni Lee at the Winter Cup
No wonder reigning Olympic champion Suni Lee received the loudest cheers at the performance.
Lee has always been one of the main attractions at the Winter Cup and now that Gabby Douglas has retired, she is the center of attention. It is her first meeting since she had to withdraw from the world team selection camp in September because of a kidney disease that limited her training.
The second loudest cheer may have been for Trinity Thomas, who is returning to elite competition for the first time since 2019. Thomas was a standout college player at Florida. There was also loud applause for Kayla DiCello, who won the all-around title and team gold at the Pan American Games last fall.
Suni Lee is competing in two events at the Winter Cup: the uneven bars and the balance beam. Due to the way the draw took place, she will not be included in either of the first two rotations, which are expected to last about an hour.
Her first competitive event will be on parallel bars, and she is the final competitor in the group of eight gymnasts. That means you should expect to see them around 2:45 p.m. Eastern time. On beam, she is the second gymnast in the second half of the rotation. Or around 3:15 p.m
Will Simone Biles take part in the Winter Cup?
Simone Biles will not take part in the Winter Cup.
As a member of last year's world team, she has already qualified for the national championships – the Winter Cup is a qualifying tournament for national championships – and her competitive season typically doesn't start this early. Look for her at the US Classic taking place on May 18 in Hartford, Connecticut.
What happened to Gabby Douglas?
Gabby Douglas, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, returned to competition at the Winter Cup for the first time in nearly eight years. But she announced Thursday afternoon that she had tested positive for COVID and would not be able to compete.
“I was so excited to get back on the competition floor but unfortunately I just tested positive for COVID :(,” Douglas wrote in part in an Instagram post. “…I'm devastated but see you. “Guys, soon!”
It is a release move on the uneven bars called the full twisting jaeger. Lee jumps from the top bar and performs a forward somersault in an outstretched position before catching the bar again. She hopes to go to the World Championships in Baku next month. If Lee practiced the skill there, it would be named after her.
Will the men take part in the Gymnastics Winter Cup?
Yes. Shane Wiskus leads fellow Tokyo Olympian Yul Moldauer by 0.4 points after Day 1 of the two-day competition. Wiskus scored 84.450 points and was in the top three in three of the six events. His 14.550 was the highest score of the day on floor exercise.
“I really had a lot of fun today and I just hope I can have even more fun on Sunday. And then have more fun at the (U.S.) Championships and just keep that momentum going,” Wiskus said. “I think I was too focused on my career and fixated on performance and result goals and all that stuff. These last few encounters are for me and only me.”
Moldauer was also in the top three in three of the six competitions, but was injured in a fall near the end of his pommel horse training.
Day 2 is Sunday.
Two-time U.S. champion Brody Malone, recovering from a serious knee injury last year, competed in three events: pommel horse, still rings and parallel bars. He earned the third-highest score of the day on P-bars and placed fifth on pommel horse.