Jordyn Wieber in the lead, Elizabeth Price surprises and Nastia Liukin falters at gymnastics trials
At the first day of women's gymnastics Olympic Trials in San Jose on Friday night, Jordyn Wieber showed why she is the world all-around champion. Wieber was strong in every routine on the way to a first-place finish after day one.
Gabrielle Douglas is just 0.3 of a point behind Wieber, with huge scores on the vault and uneven bars. Aly Raisman had another solid night and earned third place after one day.
[ Video: Shannon Miller one-on-one with Jordyn Wieber ]
In fourth place is Elizabeth Price, who is a bit of a surprise. Not many in the gymnastics world put her on their Olympic team, but her big score on vault cannot be ignored. Kyla Ross rounds out the top five. She had a near-perfect routine on the bars, but fell during the vault.
McKayla Maroney, who returned after a bad fall at the Visa Championships, had the highest-scoring vault of the night with a 16.1. Unfortunately, she fell during beam and the uneven bars.
Defending Olympic all-around champion Nastia Liukin faltered in her bid to return to the Olympics. After getting through most of her bars routine with few problems, Liukin stalled on a handstand late and bent her legs, then fell on her dismount. She also had a big balance check late in her balance beam routine. Two late-in-the-routine errors show endurance issues for Liukin and hurt her chances for being selected for the team.
[ Video: Nastia Liukin's chances fading ]
Bridget Sloan, a team silver medalist in Beijing and the 2009 all-around world champion, was forced to withdraw minutes before the competition started. While warming up on uneven bars, Sloan sprained her elbow, and doctors said it would be too dangerous to compete. It ended her bid to return to the Olympics.
The event will conclude on Sunday evening. The gymnast who takes first in the all-around will automatically make the team, and the other four Olympians will be chosen by a committee.
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