After US Gymnastics Triumph, Suni Lee Announces Big Update for Olympic Trials Game Plan

Tonight’s US Gymnastics Championships proved to be a culminating point for Suni Lee. After missing a large half of last season because of her kidney disease, she took three contests this year to prove herself a firm contender for the US gymnastics team bound for the Paris Olympics. In fact, the reigning Olympic all-around champion had the fourth place tonight, achieving her ticket to the Olympic trials. But Suni Lee has a surprise for the gymnastics fans for the upcoming trials. 

As per the tweet made by Scott Bregman, Suni Lee might take the competition further as she is planning to explore a different bar routine. The gymnastics connoisseur’s tweet elaborated it as “Suni says she hopes to add Nabieva to Bhardwaj to her bars routine for trials.” However, if it comes into reality, then it will be another alien routine from Suni tried on the uneven bars. In the past, she made several attempts to mix up complex moves into her bar routines. 

Despite not gaining full health, Suni Lee had tried her landmark ‘The Lee’ move in her bar routine several times earlier this year. In January, one such clip, available online, displayed the 21-year-old gymnast pulling off a full-twisting laid-out Jaeger on the uneven bars successfully.

The so-called Jaeger move means to perform swinging backwardly in an L-grip or reverse grip that ends with a front somersault. However, Suni improvised the new version by adding a full twist and practicing on the uneven bars. This new form of Jaeger is yet to be named after her as ‘The Lee’. But the complexity of this move has allured the audience.

Another hard move came into public view when Suni Lee combined full-twisting laid out Jaeger, Pak, Maloney, and Bhardwaj in one go on the uneven bars. The gymnastics veteran Kathy Johnson Clarke claimed it comically to be “Sunipakaloneywaj”. Such brave routines once enabled Suni Lee to say, “All of my skills are coming back and I’m just working on consistency.” Today, when she raced to earn her all-around call-up for the Paris Olympics and inched closer to success, emotions remained the most normal. 

Suni Lee’s slow but resolute steps toward the Olympic stage 

Auburn University gymnastics coach Jess Graba has been backing Suni Lee through the years. Her shift from college gymnastics couldn’t dent this bond. Instead, Graba’s thorough plans made Suni climb the hill after making her comeback this season. It had been visible in her filing petition for appearing in the all-around contest in the Xfinity US Gymnastics Championships and in keeping the routines in motion, shaving the workload from the gymnast. Therefore, exploring the innovative routine in the trial may have been the idea of Jess Graba to earn Suni Lee an additional edge. 

Such companionship has benefited the Minnesota-born as she is living in the moment. After claiming the fourth position today, she showed her merriment. “For my first all-around competition, I was just telling them how happy and excited I was because this is my first time back on national team since Tokyo, so it feels so good to just be back,” she said. Today she found Simone Biles cheering for her. 

That helped her majorly, as Suni later said, “She just came over to see if I was okay and basically just helped boost me up and get my confidence back up.” In the trial as well, she is counting to express her finesse entirely. The announcement of the new routine comes as a part of it.