By Adam Chau
After taking a break from competition to focus on her kidney disease in 2023, coming back with standout performances at the U.S. Classic and the Core Hydration Classic, the latter executing a near-perfect routine, Lee’s next and final obstacle to Paris is the Olympic Trials, currently being held in her home state of Minnesota at Target Center.
While Suni Lee is not favored to be in the top spot for the Olympic Qualifier (guaranteeing a spot on the team), and has tight competion, oddsmakers do have her making the team (at least pre-competition). Trying to elevate her routines she has incorporated some new moves in all of her routines from floor, to balance beam, and uneven bars.
During the first day of Women’s Podium training, Lee seemed to be in a relaxed mood, smiling and joking with others during the warmups. And at other times she seemed pensive, sometimes sitting alone on the floor mats, or watching other competitors like Simone Biles and Kansas native Leanne Wong as they went through their balance beam routines.
On one of her practices on the uneven bars, Lee flying higher into the air than other competitors, missed the high bar and fell straight to the mat with a loud thud heard from the seats at Target Center.
In her next session however on the uneven bars, she performed her routine almost flawlessly, this time not missing a cue, and sticking the all important landing, enlisting
The balance beam sessions seemed to be fairly easy for Lee as she lept and jumped doing backflips and rotations with ease, with no falls or falters and what looked to be easy dismounts for her, perhaps an early preview of what we will see from her this weekend.
After the practice sessions the athletes headed down to the “Mixed Zone” where they were able to meet with media and reporters.
The women’s team competes this Friday and Sunday evening, and the men’s team competes this Thursday and Saturday evening.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will be announced at the end of the final day of their respective competitions.
(Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the top two finishers are guaranteed a spot on the Olympic team. That is incorrect. Only the top finisher is guaranteed to be named to the team)
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