As Simone Biles and Shilese Jones Battle, Another Dark Horse Emerges for America Days Ahead of World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

In the world of gymnastics, a 17-year-old gymnast shines brightly. Yes, Simone Biles swiftly rose to the top of the list of 2023’s best all-around gymnasts. However, this young athlete, with a fraction of the elite journey than the seasoned gymnasts, outshines in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship?s Selection Camp.

The atmosphere is electric with mounting tension, challenging falls, and dynamic shifts in scores during three-quarters of the routines. Shilese Jones initially held the spotlight as a focus of the rivalry. However, LSU’s rising star displayed promise among the top 19 American gymnasts at the Worlds camp.

Not Simone Biles, another gymnast who steals Worlds camp spotlight

National champions from this year competed for six fixed spots at the Worlds, alongside returnees from the World team that secured gold last year. Today marked the first day of the all-around competition, which commenced at 6:50 p.m. EST. The final selection event tomorrow will determine the Worlds and Pan American teams.

Making a comeback after an elite year off, this year saw Kaliya Lincoln cementing her name in the US senior women’s gymnastics team. Lincoln kicked off the first day of the all-around event with a flawless wolf turn and an impressive double pike in BB. After that, she executed a powerful landing on the floor and tied Shilese Jones for the lead in just half the apparatuses, while Biles placed third behind Zoe Miller with 27.400.

Another addition to the routines put her in first place in the AA when Miller dropped to the sixth spot. However, in the third apparatus, Lincoln separated her legs in the vault, Jones dominated Biles’s signature Yurchenko double landing perfectly while Biles fell on the mats in her vault. At this point, the close cut between Biles, Jones, and Lincoln was updated on Twitter(X) by @thegymterdotnet.

Fresh off her academic break, the teen gymnast previously took home the 2023 Winter Cup silver medal in the floor routine. In attendance at Core Hydration Classic, she advanced to gold in a similar event while finishing 9th all-around. In the continental qualifier aka Xfinity Championships, she again won a silver medal in floor exercise.

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And despite checking all the required boxes, she fell to sixth place with 54.350 while Jones came second to reigning all-around Biles with 55.300 and ?55.700 respectively. Did you know that the sole dominator in today’s three-quarters once raised money to compete alongside Simone Biles?

The unpopular story of gymnastics sensation Kaliya Lincoln

When Biles made her Olympic debut in Rio in 2016, fifth-grader Lincoln was diligently collecting money to go to an elite gymnastics training camp. She received a special invitation to the Karolyi Ranch training camp with the USA Gymnastics Team. Between the end of 2016 and the fall of 2017, there were nine weeks of camp. The expenses of each trip forced Kaliya’s parents to set up GoFundMe to raise $20,000 and practice with Texas-taught Olympians Gabby Douglas and Biles.

The little gymnast spoke of her dream with NBC in 2016. She said, “I want to be an Olympian and win an Olympic gold medal.” Gunning for the next Summer Olympics now, at 17, Lincoln posed a threat to the winners until the very end. Will she conquer tomorrow’s World Championship qualifier, or will the dynamic tally crush her hopes?

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