Suni Lee, reigning Olympic women’s gymnastics all-around gold medalist, is known to be a master of two events: uneven bars and balance beam. She earned a bronze medal on bars in Tokyo but was left empty-handed on beam, and she wants redemption.
After making the U.S. Olympic team in Minneapolis in June, she said, “I really want a beam gold. Like, I need a beam gold because I feel like I always make the final and then I always mess up.”
Here are some of the skills in her routine, captured while she practiced at Target Center prior to the team trials, that could get her that gleaming hardware.
First connection test
Lee’s first major test after mounting the 4-inch plank comes with a front aerial, split jump, back handspring combo.
The front aerial, akin to a front walkover but without her hands touching the beam, has a tricky blind landing. She immediately connects that to a split jump, with one leg to the front and another to the back. It must meet or exceed a 180-degree split to get full credit.
In recent competitions, she has occasionally wobbled enough on the split jump landing that she has — in the moment — nixed the third element of this series: the back handspring. By itself, a back handspring should be an easy skill for a gymnast of Lee’s caliber, but if the jump landing isn’t solid, she has a higher chance of falling on the handspring.
Done well, this series has a delightful forward-backward visual pattern, and she would get bonus difficulty points if all three are connected seamlessly, without pauses.

Forward and back: After landing the jump shown nearly at its peak above, Lee launches her body back in the other direction to land in the same spot she began.