Simone Biles pushes through calf pain to qualify for five finals, U.S. women’s team sits in first

The U.S. women’s gymnastics team had some precarious moments in Sunday’s qualifying round, but they will enter the team final as the overwhelming favorites for gold.

Simone Biles topped the all-around standings after the second of five subdivisions, flanked by Suni Lee, and is well-positioned to qualify for the floor, vault and beam apparatus finals.

For the first time, two Olympic all-around champions will go head-to-head in the all-around final when Biles and Lee go for gold on Thursday.

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Biles’ Paris prospects were suddenly in peril after she appeared to suffer a rough landing during floor warmups.

Her coach, Cecile Landi, said after the competition that Biles “felt a little pain in her calf,” but she never considered pulling out.

The apparent injury was also bothering Biles in training a couple of weeks ago, according to Landi, but had improved until today’s flare-up. She had her ankle wrapped by medical staff and intends to compete as planned for the rest of the Games.

The U.S. women had the daunting task of starting on the balance beam, where adrenaline can make staying on the 4-inch apparatus difficult. They did their jobs despite some hiccups, and Biles anchored the U.S. beam effort with one of the best routines of her career. She earned a huge 14.733 and will expect to join Lee in the beam finals.

Team USA’s toughest moment came in the second rotation when reigning Olympic floor champion Jade Carey fumbled her last tumbling pass. She appeared to get lost in the air on her double tuck, doing only a full tuck and rolling backward, out of bounds.

Carey earned a 10.633 on floor, which will prevent her from defending her title.

After the competition, Carey said in a post on X that she “hasn’t been feeling the best” while in Paris.