Jade Carey during women's podium training at the 2022 U.S. Gymnastics Championships on Aug. 17, 2022 in Tampa, Fla.
TAMPA, Fla. – When the final woman dismounts Sunday to close out the OOFOS U.S. Gymnastics Championships, no one’s quite sure what to expect.
It’s been a while.
In recent history, a 4-foot-8 cloud has cast a shadow over the competition. As long as Simone Biles was competing — and her peers readily admitted this — everyone else knew they were going for second place. At least in the all-around. But really, Biles’ combination of difficulty and execution was so high that she was all but a lock to win vault, and in most years floor and beam, too. Heck, she even won a national title on bars in 2018.
With the most decorated gymnast of all time having stepped away from the sport following the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the 20 women competing at this year’s nationals in Tampa, Florida, find themselves in a unique position.
Not only has Biles’ absence opened up the race for national titles, but the competition is also wide open.
The women’s event takes place Friday and Sunday nights at Amalie Arena, with scores from both competitions being combined to determine the national champions. At least a half-dozen women enter with a reasonable chance to win the all-around title. More still are jockeying for position on the five-woman team that will compete at the world championships in October in Liverpool, England.
Since Biles debuted in 2013, only one other woman has achieved that: Regan Smith won in 2017, when Biles sat out as part of her post-Olympics hiatus.
Jade Carey could be in the driver’s seat.
The reigning Olympic floor exercise champion is the most decorated gymnast in Tampa — she also has four medals from the world championships. At 22, she’s coming off a fruitful freshman year at Oregon State and brings some of the most difficult routines.
Originally known as mostly a floor and vault specialist, Carey has developed into a strong all-arounder and made the Olympic final in Tokyo, ultimately finishing eighth.
“That was the point where I was like, I’m going to make it back here again and do even better,” she said.
Her Olympic teammate Jordan Chiles, who was a member of the silver-medal U.S. team (Carey competed as an individual), is also back, as is Leanne Wong, who went to Tokyo as a U.S. alternate, then a few month later returned to Japan for the world championships and won all-around silver and floor exercise bronze.
