Sunisa Lee and Simone Biles

With just about one year to go before the Olympic Games in Paris next summer, USA Gymnastics announced this morning that Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee – the 2016 and 2020 Olympic all-around champions – will make their return to elite competition at the U.S. Classic in August.

Though Lee spent the last two NCAA seasons as a member of the Auburn University gymnastics team, neither she nor Biles have competed at U.S. events since helping the team win silver in Tokyo two summers ago, where Lee also captured the all-around title and a bronze medal on bars, while Biles valiantly fought past a scary case of the “twisties” to pick up the bronze medal in the beam final.

Biles, who married football player Jonathan Owens in May, has created a stir on the gymternet over the past few months as she’s appeared in a leotard in a number of photos and videos taken at her gym, leading to rampant speculation about whether she’d return to the sport – and when – after not publicly sharing her plans to move forward after Tokyo. Lee, meanwhile, announced that she would leave Auburn following the 2023 season to put all of her energy into elite competition, and has been teasing fans with the possible skills and combinations of skills she’ll perform in her updated uneven bars routine.

The pair will undoubtedly be the must-watch attractions at the U.S. Classic meet in Hoffman Estates, but they’re joined by a star-studded list of top-level athletes who are all taking breaks from their NCAA programs to return to elite, including 2020 Olympic floor champion Jade Carey, who returned to elite last summer and went on to win a team gold medal at world championships in addition to the vault title and the bronze medal on floor; 2020 Olympic team silver medalist Jordan Chiles, who also returned to the U.S. team last year and picked up a pair of silver medals on vault and floor at worlds in addition to winning the team gold; 2021 world all-around silver medalist and floor bronze medalist Leanne Wong, also a member of last year’s gold medal-winning team at worlds; and 2021 world all-around bronze medalist Kayla DiCello, who skipped the trials for worlds last year in order to begin her freshman year at the University of Florida.

Also notably on the list are 2022 world team medalist Skye Blakely, 2022 Pan Ams all-around silver medalist and worlds alternate Lexi Zeiss, and 2023 Pan American champions Madray Johnson, Nola Matthews, Joscelyn Roberson, and Tiana Sumanasekera. In addition to the U.S. standouts, we’ll also see a performance from French Olympian and European champion Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos, who is currently training at World Champions Center, while former U.S. elite Paloma Mintcheva, who began representing Bulgaria this year and qualified to worlds as an all-arounder, is on the list as well.

The men’s field is topped by world medalist Yul Moldauer and his 2020 Olympic teammate Shane Wiskus, who led the U.S. men to gold at the 2023 Pan American Championships in May along with Curran Phillips and Khoi Young. Both will also compete in Hoffman Estates, along with 2022 world championships team members Asher Hong, Stephen Nedoroscik, Colt Walker, and Donnell Whittenburg.

The U.S. Classic will be held at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, beginning on August 4 with the Hopes Championships and the junior women’s competition, and concluding on August 5 with the junior and senior men in the afternoon followed by the senior women in the evening. A full list of competitors is below.