There’s no stopping Simone Biles.
The 27-year-old, four-time Olympic gold medalist cruised to her ninth all-around national title with her largest margin of victory at a U.S. championships since 2018 (119.750). Biles’ win extended the record she set last year when she won title No. 8. Skye Blakely (113.850) and Kayla DiCello (110.800) rounded out the medal podium.
Biles walked into Dickies Arena with a secure 3.4 point lead over Blakely, which extended to 5.9 points when all was said and done.
Biles’ evening started on balance beam, an event that gave many of the top contenders trouble during the final day of competition – but not Biles. What could have been a major mistake on her mount sequence, Biles effortlessly avoided like the veteran she is for a 14.800.
During the second rotation, Biles shined on the floor for a 15.100 – the highest score of the day. However, she ran into trouble on vault in the third rotation – over rotating her eponymous Yurchenko double pike and falling to her back.
Yet, Biles’ 15.000 was still tied for the second highest vault score of the entire competition and she remained in command by 5.7 points with just one uneven bar routine standing between her and title No. 9.
Biles capped off her evening with a strong routine on uneven bars (14.400), which was more than enough to clinch the all-around title once again, in addition to sweeping all four event titles.
Blakely continued to build upon the momentum she created night one – where she exceeded her own goal by over a full point. The performance further solidified her name in the conversation for Paris 2024.
Tokyo Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee overcame a fall on vault in the first rotation to finish fourth. Lee was diagnosed with two kidney diseases in early 2023, but has been in remission since late last year and made the most of her first all-around competition at the élite level since the Tokyo Olympics.
Tokyo team silver medalist Jordan Chiles battled her way to fifth after a fall on floor dropped her to seventh after night one. Chiles had a fall on beam in the first rotation night two, but otherwise had a strong showing, including a 14.500 on uneven bars to finish second on the event.
2023 U.S. junior national champion Hezly Rivera made a strong statement in her first senior U.S. championships, finishing sixth all-around, while Tokyo Olympic floor champion Jade Carey finished seventh all-around after falling on beam night two.
The following athletes were named to the U.S. senior national team and will compete at the Olympic Team Trials (June 27-30): Simone Biles, Skye Blakely, Jade Carey, Ducly Caylor, Jordan Chiles, Kayla DiCello, Shilese Jones, Sunisa Lee, Kaliya Lincoln, Eveylynn Lowe, Zoey Molomo, Hezly Rivera, Joscelyn Roberson, Simone Rose, Tiana Sumanasekera and Leanne Wong.