Suni Lee sits in second in all-around at Olympics gymnastics qualifying

ST. LOUIS – Before the U.S. Olympic trials, Suni Lee set out a simple aim. "My goal is to do what I did at [U.S.] championships or better," the St. Paul gymnast said. "I think if I could do a little bit better, I'd be feeling a lot more comfortable with where I'm at."

She's certainly in a good spot now. After the first day of women's competition Friday, Lee stands second to Simone Biles in the all-around — just as she did at the national championships — but slightly improved her score to solidify her bid for a place on the Olympic team. Lee finished the first of two days of competition with a total score of 57.666, behind Biles (60.565) and ahead of Jordan Chiles (57.132).

Grace McCallum of Isanti also had a good night, holding fifth place in the all-around standings at The Dome at America's Center. Her score of 56.498 is just .100 behind fourth-place MyKayla Skinner, and .200 ahead of sixth-place Kayla DiCello.

USA Gymnastics will name the Olympic team Sunday after the second day of competition. Friday's scores will carry over, and the two women with the highest cumulative all-around scores earn automatic berths. A three-person selection committee will name two other athletes for the team competition in Tokyo, plus one athlete who will compete as an individual and as many as five alternates.

Jade Carey already has clinched the second individual spot, which she earned through performances at World Cup meets.

USA Gymnastics did not make any of the top six athletes available for comment after Friday's competition. Lee said beforehand that she "felt a little pressure" to repeat her performance at the U.S. championships, but she didn't show it.

She started Friday on her two best events — uneven bars and balance beam — and nailed both. Lee put up a mammoth score of 15.300 on her high-difficulty bars routine, then followed with a smooth beam set for another big mark of 14.733. Lee had the top bars score and second-highest beam score of the night.

Halfway through the competition, she led Biles — who started on the same two events — by .300 in the all-around standings. Biles leapfrogged her with an otherworldly floor exercise routine that drew a standing ovation and a score of 15.366, then punctuated her evening with a 15.466 on vault.

Biles, who has four Olympic gold medals and 19 world championships golds, told NBC she was "super excited" going into Friday's competition.

"I'm a lot more emotional this time around," she said. "It's just like, I can't believe the time is here. It's been five years, and I'm grateful."

Three weeks ago, Lee surpassed the 57-point mark twice at the national championships in her first all-around competitions in more than a year. As she did then, she trimmed her floor exercise to three tumbling passes Friday to save wear and tear on a tender left ankle.

Her goal was to tidy up her landings and gain more consistency on vault and floor. Lee got a big boost from her bars routine, which carried a difficulty score of 6.8 and had the crowd cheering every skill.

The beam bedeviled lots of gymnasts Friday, but not Lee. Where several others fell off or fought to stay on, she remained steady and came away with another big mark.

McCallum, who broke her hand in January, said she entered the trials with greater confidence than she had at nationals. She spent the past two weeks getting her routines "exactly how I need them to be," putting her into a good frame of mind.

After a solid bars routine, McCallum wobbled on beam but stayed on and earned a 13.866. Her floor routine, filled with high-flying tumbling, lifted her from eighth place to fifth in the all-around.