Simone Biles looks as good as ever to clinch return at 2024 Olympics with US trials win

MINNEAPOLIS — Simone Biles is heading back to the Olympics and the white-hot spotlight that comes with it.The gymnastics superstar earned a third trip to her sport’s biggest stage by cruising to victory at the U.S.Olympic trials on Sunday night, posting a two-day all-around total of 117.225 to clinch the lone automatic spot on the five-woman team.Three years removed from the Tokyo Olympics — where she pulled out of multiple finals to prioritize her safety and mental health — Biles heads back to the games looking perhaps as good as ever.“Trusting the process and (my coaches), I knew I’d be back,” Biles said.A trip to France has never really been in doubt since she returned from a two-year break last summer.

All she’s done over the last 12 months is win a sixth world all-around title and her eighth and ninth national championship — both records — while further cementing her status as the best-ever in her sport.She’ll head to Paris as a prohibitive favorite to bookend the Olympic gold she won in 2016, but with things to work on, too.Biles backpedaled after landing her Yurchenko double pike vault, a testament to both the vault’s difficulty and the immense power she generates during a skill few male gymnasts try and even fewer land as cleanly.She hopped off the beam after failing to land her side aerial, though she wasn’t quite as frustrated as she was during a sloppy performance on Friday that left her uttering an expletive for all the world to see.Biles finished with a flourish on floor exercise, her signature event.Though there was a small step out of bounds, there was also the unmatched world-class tumbling that recently drew a shoutout from pop star Taylor Swift, whose song “Ready For It” opens Biles’ routine.She stepped off the podium to a standing ovation, then sat down atop the steps to take in the moment in what could be her last competitive round on American soil for quite a while.Next stop, Paris.The Americans will likely be l...