Biles, Lee lock up gymnastics team berths
Reigning champion poised to make history
ST. LOUIS — Simone Biles’ Olympic encore finally is here.
The reigning world and Olympic gymnastics champion locked up her spot in Tokyo by easily winning the U.S. Olympic Trials on Sunday.
The 24-year-old’s two-day total of 118.098 earned her one of two automatic spots on the plane to Japan next month, where she will try to become the first female gymnast in more than 50 years to win consecutive all-around Olympic golds.
Sunisa Lee also grabbed the other automatic bid with a 115.832 while posting the top scores on beam and uneven bars and putting up a higher all-around score than Biles on the night.
Jordan Chiles — who hasn’t fallen in 24 routines in 2021, something even Biles can’t say — also is heading to Tokyo two years after it appeared her elite career might be in jeopardy.
Grace Mccallum rounds out the four-woman team after coming in fourth during trials.
Mykayla Skinner, an alternate in 2016, will go as a specialist. The 24-year-old will be a threat to medal on vault.
Kayla Dicello, Kara Eaker, Leanne Wong and Emma Malabuyo will serve as alternates.
“I kind of got in my head today and started doubting myself,” Biles said. “And you could see that in the gymnastics. But just go home, work harder. This is just the beginning of the journey.”
Track and field
At Eugene, Ore., Sydney Mclaughlin looked to her left, saw the numbers “51.90,” and knew exactly what that meant.
She put her hands on her head and then covered her mouth and looked into the night sky. The 400-meter hurdles world record belongs to her.
Mclaughlin finally outraced Dalilah Muhammad to earn the victory, and the record, that Muhammad kept grabbing whenever they met. Mclaughlin shattered the record by 0.26 seconds and beat Muhammad by 0.52.
Earlier, the trials were halted with afternoon temperatures reaching 108 degrees. One competitor, heptathlete Taliyah Brooks, was carted off the field in a wheelchair and eventually withdrew.
Brooks had been in fourth place after five of the seven events. A USA Track and Field official told NBC temperatures on the track surface exceeded 150 degrees.
When the meet resumed in the evening, with the temperature reading 99 degrees, Annie Kunz won the heptathlon with a strong performance in the final event, the 800 meters. Kunz totaled a personal-best 6,703 points to earn an Olympic berth. She edged 2016 Olympic qualifier Kendell Williams (6,683 points).
In the men’s 5,000, Paul Chelimo fended off two runners for a 0.19-second victory.
Also, 19-year-old Athing Mu won the women’s 800 meters in 1 minute, 56.07 seconds. It was a meet record and the best time in the world this season. It also was the second-fastest time in the event by an American woman.
Juvaughn Harrison won the long jump after taking the high jump crown earlier in the day, becoming the first American to make it in both the high jump and long jump at one Olympics since Jim Thorpe in 1912, Olympics historian Bill Mallon said.