By the time Simone Biles rolled backwards onto the mat on her vault Sunday night, the error didn't even matter.
Her lead at the 2024 U.S. championships was so massive, and her eponymous vault so difficult, that her victory was already all but assured.
Biles won her record ninth all-around national title Sunday night, cruising to victory once again at Dickies Arena en route to what will surely be a third trip to the Olympic Games.
Over two nights of competition, she recorded the highest score on all four events. And her all-around margin of victory – 5.9 points – was the gymnastics equivalent of a rout.
Biles, 27, will now look ahead to the U.S. Olympic trials at the end of this month – the moment when she will learn who her four teammates on Team USA will be.
I couldn't be more proud of how I'm doing at this time in the year," Biles said on NBC after her win. "Just gaining that confidence over and over, getting myself back in front of a crowd and just doing what I do in practice."