09:03
The men’s parallel bars final, starting now, is the first of three event finals during today’s final session of gymnastics in Tokyo. The field includes top qualifiers Zou Jingyuan of China and Lukas Fraser of Germany as well as Team USA’s Sam Mikulak and Great Britain’s Joe Fraser.
The women’s balance beam final is second, followed by the men’s horizontal bar final.
A bit of news: Larisa Iordache, the Romanian star who qualified fourth but who’s been dealing with an ankle injury, withdrew from the final, opening the door for first reserve Urara Ashikawa of Japan.
08:50
Preamble
Hello and welcome to Ariake Gymnastics Centre for today’s women’s balance beam final. There’s really no point of talking around the 4ft 8in, 105lb elephant in the room: today’s contest is all about the return of Simone Biles. The 19-time world champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist is returning to competition a little over a week after removing herself from the team final following one vault citing her mental health and the intense pressure she’s faced. She went on to withdraw from the all-around, individual floor, vault and uneven bars finals, casting serious doubt on whether her Tokyo Olympics were finished.
Then came Monday’s announcement: Biles is giving it a go.
She’s continued to train while undergoing daily evaluation by USA Gymnastics staff over the past week. She’s also been a visible cheerleader for her teammates, watching from the stands as Suni Lee succeeded her as all-around champion, then as MyKayla Skinner and Jade Carey added to the team’s medal haul in the event finals.
“I’m really proud of her for coming back,” said Carey, who won the gold on floor exercise on Monday. “She’s been through a lot this Olympics so I’m really proud and happy to see her going after beam.”
More to come ahead of today’s final, which is set to start in an hour’s time: 4.50am ET, 9.50am BST and 5.50pm in Tokyo.