Biles books Paris Olympics spot with emphatic US trials all-around win

Four-time Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles is headed to the Paris Games after a resounding all-around victory at the US gymnastics trials.Biles capped her trials with another electrifying floor routine, her high-flying tumbling bringing the crowd to its feet.She piled up 117.225 over two days of competition to earn an automatic berth on the five-strong team for Paris later this month.Three years after a bout of the disorienting "twisties” cut short Biles’s Tokyo Games campaign, the gymnast considered the best of all time will return to the Olympic stage looking stronger than ever.The 27-year-old told an exultant crowd in Minneapolis that in the immediate aftermath of Tokyo she had "never pictured going to another Olympic Games.”"I never thought I would go back in the gym again, be twisting, feel free,” said Biles, who returned to competition in August last year after a two-year break.She’ll be joined in Paris by three other members of the Tokyo Olympics team: all-around gold medallist Suni Lee, floor gold medallist Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles, who helped the US to team silver. The quartet - who will be joined by 16-year-old Hezly Rivera - have branded the Paris Olympics their redemption tour."I feel like we all have more to give and our Tokyo performances weren’t the best,” said Biles, who withdrew from the team final at the pandemic-delayed Games."I feel like we have a lot of weight on our shoulders to go out there and prove that we’re better athletes."We’re more mature, we’re smarter, we’re more consistent - but don’t quote me on that, because not tonight!” she laughed after the closing night of trials saw Biles, Lee and Chiles all fall off the balance beam.The always-tense trials were turned into an even more nervy affair as three top contenders were forced out of the competition by injury.