Kayla DiCello takes gold in USA Gymnastics Winter Cup. Olympic champ Sunisa Lee falls on bars, beam

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kayla DiCello allowed herself to sit and chill after a better-than-expected start to her season. Olympic champion Sunisa Lee was a bit steamed at herself for literally missing the high bar she set — twice, in fact.

DiCello seized the accolades projected for some of her higher-profile counterparts by winning the uneven bars and floor exercise on the way to the all-around title at the USA Gymnastics Winter Cup on Saturday with an overall score of 56.850. Skye Blakely scored 54.650 for silver while WOGA teammate Hezly Rivera took the bronze with 54.000.

“I look at my scores to see where they’re at and stuff, but I’m not very big on looking at overall like everybody else," DiCello said.

Former NCAA all-around champion Trinity Thomas was fourth at 53.250.

Meanwhile, Lee tried to keep things in perspective after falling twice on the bars — her specialty — on a day she hoped would lay the path toward getting a skill named for her.

Jump-starting a quest for an Olympic return at this summer's Paris Games was also on the table for the 2020 all-around champion, especially after battling a kidney-related health issue that halted her college career at Auburn. Both goals remain, but Lee has work ahead.

“It’s good that it happened here rather than somewhere else," Lee said. “It’s just annoying because that was the first one that I missed. So, that’s what makes it so bad. But it’s fine. I have time and I know that I can do it and I can hit it every single time. ... We just have to work on that.”

The Winter Cup was the first major American gymnastics competition for the 2024 season. It was expected to mark the return of 2012 Olympic champion Gabby Douglas after eight years away, but she withdrew on Thursday after testing positive for COVID-19.

Thomas and Blakely battled for the Winter Cup all-around title as expected, but DiCello’s complete performance earned the hardware along with the flowers.

DiCello, a 2023 NCAA team silver medalist at Florida along with Thomas, scored 14.300 on the bars and 14.050 in the floor exercise. DiCello, who is from Gaithersburg, Maryland, also tallied 14.200 in the vault, though results weren’t posted because no athletes made two vaults.

“Starting on the floor was really good for me because I had done a majority of those passes already," said DiCello, who talked coach Kelli Hill out of retirement. Hill had trained 1996 Olympic gold team and bronze floor medalist Dominique Dawes.

"Just getting vault and floor out of the way and then going into bars and beams, I could feel a little more confident going into that.”

Blakely lost her grip and fell off the bars as well but was solid on the beam, even with a slight misstep on her dismount. She ultimately tied in that event with Rivera at 14.500 and topped her in the vault 14.200-13.900.

Thomas, the 2022 NCAA all-around champion and arguably one of the most decorated college gymnasts, was strong in finishing second on the bars. That offset lower finishes on the beam and floor and left her pleased as she pursues her quest of being an Olympian.

“My goal was to come out here and be confident wherever I was going to compete, and I was able to do that," Thomas said. "I got my championship qualifying scores, so another box checked off. I’m just super excited.”

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