Former Auburn gymnast and current Team USA member Suni Lee took another step towards defending her Olympic all-around title early Saturday morning.
Lee clinched her spot in the all-around final by the slimmest of margins, beating out her Team USA teammate, Jordan Chiles, by just 0.067 of a point to round out the top-2 for Team USA.
In Olympic gymnastics, each country is allowed to send just two qualifying athletes to all-around final.
A brilliant routine on uneven bars is what lifted Lee over Chiles.
Finishing Saturday morning’s qualifying competition with an all-around score of 56.132, Lee will join Team USA’s Simone Biles in the all-around final. Biles clinched her spot with a qualifying score of 59.566.
With Lee and Biles representing Team USA in the all-around final, two former all-around Olympic gold medalists will go head-to-head for the first time ever.
Biles was crowned the all-around champion in the Rio 2016 Olympics, followed by Lee, who won the all-around competition in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The women’s all-around competition is set for August 1.
Meanwhile, Team USA is expected to enter June 30′s team final in first place.
