Simone Biles easily defeated Olympic champions Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman in their first U.S. competition together at the Secret Classic in Hoffman Estates, Ill., on Saturday night.
Biles, the two-time reigning World all-around champion, posted the highest score of all gymnasts on three of the four events and totaled 62.4 points. She’s won eight straight all-around competitions dating to 2013.
“I’m just really proud of myself,” Biles said on Universal Sports. “I was just really nervous [debuting new routines].”
Douglas, the 2012 Olympic all-around champ, beat Biles on uneven bars (15.4 points) and finished second overall, 1.9 points behind.
“My comeback wasn’t fake, guys,” Douglas said, smiling, in a USA Gymnastics interview.
Raisman, the 2012 Olympic floor exercise champ, finished fifth (behind Maggie Nichols and Bailie Key), 3.35 points back (full results here | videos of every routine). She sat down on a floor exercise pass, scoring 14.35 to Biles’ 16.05 and Douglas’ 15.
“I have improvements to make, but I’m happy with how I did,” Raisman said on Universal Sports.
Douglas and Raisman were competing in the U.S. for the first time since the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials. They’re trying to become the first women’s gymnasts to make back-to-back U.S. Olympic teams since 2000. As is Kyla Ross, who competed on two of four events Saturday, falling twice on the uneven bars.
Gymnasts are preparing for the P&G Championships in Indianapolis (Aug. 13-16) and the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, in October. The U.S. can send no more than six women to Worlds, the team named after a post-P&G Championships selection camp, and five to the 2016 Olympics.
On Saturday, Douglas closed the gap on Biles since their first competition together at the Jesolo Trophy in Italy on March 28. In Italy, Biles totaled 3.2 more points than Douglas and three more points than Raisman.
In her next meet, Biles can become the first woman to win three straight U.S. all-around titles since Kim Zmeskal from 1990-92. In October, Biles could become the first woman ever to win three straight World all-around titles.
Simone Biles as powerful as male gymnasts, says two-time male Olympian
