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ST. LOUIS: Simone Biles is showing no signs of slowing down.
The 19-year-old Texan cruised to her fourth straight national gymnastics title Sunday night, posting a two-day total of 125.00 to finish nearly four points ahead of three-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman and 4.5 points over rising star Laurie Hernandez. Defending Olympic champion Gabby Douglas was fourth.
Biles became the first American to win four consecutive national championships since Joan Moore Gnat from 1971-74. The US women’s program was still in its infancy then. It’s the best in the world now by a large margin as it prepares to defend its Olympic title in Rio de Janeiro in August.
The five-woman Olympic team will be selected in San Jose, California, in two weeks. Biles’ place is secure, and the rest of the picture appears to be clearing with opening ceremonies in Brazil just 40 days away.
Raisman began the year struggling with her form following a disappointing — by her standards — performance at the 2015 world championships, when she failed to qualify for the all-around final after finishing behind Biles and Douglas during qualifying. Raisman vowed to regain national team coordinator Martha Karolyi’s trust, and she put together two of the best days of her career at nationals.
Steady on beam. Powerful on floor. Technically efficient on uneven bars, Raisman may be the best gymnast in the world not named Biles at the moment. The current Olympic champion on floor exercise began the night with a gravity defying tumbling pass she managed to finish with a smile. She joked after the first round on Friday that staying within a couple of points of Biles is a victory in itself and Raisman’s score of 60.650 on Sunday was just 1.5 behind Biles.
While Raisman is surging, so is Hernandez. The 16-year-old looks right at home on the big stage in her first year at the senior level. Her floor exercise is a study in attitude and her confidence seems to be growing with every rotation. She struts like a super model and combines it with an aggression that Karolyi prizes as much as any cleanly executed skill.
Douglas, trying to become the first gymnast in nearly 50 years to repeat as Olympic champion, admitted she needed to improve after a sloppy performance on Friday. Douglas got off to a shaky start as she fought to stay on bars — the event that first drew Karolyi’s admiration — and put up a pedestrian 14.5. She was better on balance beam, landing her dismount with an emphatic stick that might as well have served as a reminder of what she can do when she’s on.
The only real drama heading into Olympic Trials is likely for the fifth and final spot. Madison Kocian, who won gold on uneven bars at last fall’s world championships, continued her impressive comeback from a leg injury in February. Though she finished just behind Ashton Locklear on bars at nationals, she also finished in the top half of the field on beam and floor, giving Karolyi flexibility as she tries to put together a group for the three-up, three-count crucible that is the Olympic team finals.
Maggie Nichols, who won a pair of medals at worlds last year, is still searching for her form two months removed from surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Competing on just bars and beam to take some of the stress off her leg ahead of trials, Nichols’ combined score on Sunday was a tick below her performance on Thursday.
Whoever hops the plane to Rio will go as the heavy favorites to bring back copious amounts of gold led by Biles, who is head — and shoulders, legs and everything else — above the rest of the planet. The highlight of her latest national title came on vault, where her difficult Amanar earned her a 16.2, with a 9.9 execution score. Only a small hop on the landing kept her from a true shot at perfection.