In a historically difficult selection process, one choice was easy.

Simone Biles will be on the U.S. women’s gymnastics team for the Paris Olympics.

The 27-year-old earned her third consecutive Olympic berth by winning the Olympic trial all-around crown Sunday at Target Center. She entered the second day of competition with a 2.5-point lead and finished with a score of 117.225, five points better than her nearest competitor. The seven-time Olympic medalist’s all-around victory earned her an automatic spot on the Olympic team.

After hitting her floor routine in the final rotation, Biles could finally exhale. She sat at the top of the stairs on the floor podium and sighed.

“Oh my God,” she muttered.

Jordan Chiles was the first gymnast to greet her. The teammates who train together will return to the Olympics together.

Chiles made her second Olympic team after a third-place all-around finish. Injuries to three key contenders cleared the path to Paris for a unique veteran-laden team that will also include Olympic gold medalists Suni Lee and Jade Carey. The reigning Olympic all-around champion Lee finished second in the two-day trial competition, continuing a triumphant return after two kidney diseases threatened her future. Carey, the Tokyo Olympic floor champion, finished fourth in the all-around.

The group of Olympic veterans will lead the way for rookie Hezly Rivera, who survived a tight race against 18-year-old Joscelyn Roberson for the final position. Roberson and Leanne Wong were named alternates.

Rivera and Roberson tied on beam — a key event for the United States scoring scenarios — at trials, but Rivera finished with a 0.175-point advantage for fifth in the all-around, doubling down on her sixth place at the U.S. championships.

Rivera turned 16 just two days after the championships last month. Having just become age eligible for the senior elite level this year, Rivera’s only senior international competition was at the City of Jesolo Trophy, where she helped the United States win bronze.

The team is the oldest women’s artistic gymnastics team in history, with four of five competitors returning for at least a second Games.

Skye Blakely, 19, and Shilese Jones, 21, were favorites to make their first Olympic teams, but both withdrew after injuries. Blakely’s Achilles tear on Wednesday and Jones’ knee injury, combined with an Achilles injury suffered in competition Friday by Tokyo Olympic alternate Kayla DiCello, suddenly limited the selection pool that was one of the deepest in history.

The veteran team will attempt to win the United States’ third Olympic gold medal in the last four Games. The silver-medal finish in Tokyo extended the United States’ Olympic podium streak to eight Games, but it is more commonly remembered as the time Biles quit the team final.

After the most decorated athlete in the sport questioned whether she would ever compete again. It wasn’t the physical toll. She just wondered if she could do it all — the daily training, the scrutiny, the attention — mentally. During her first day back, she didn’t think she could.

“That was the hardest part after Tokyo: I didn’t trust myself to do gymnastics,” Biles said at the U.S. championships last month. “I knew that it would come if I started training again, but it was really hard to trust just myself.”

Simone Biles smiles after competing in the floor exercise Sunday.

(Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

Not only did Biles return, but she continued to redefine the sport. Her Biles II vault — a Yurchenko double pike that no other woman in history has dared to attempt in competition — wowed the sold out crowd again Sunday even though she had so much power that she was forced to run backward several steps to catch herself at the edge of the platform. She still had no problem blowing away the vault competition with a two-day score of 74.400.

Sitting on the floor podium after the event, Biles credited her focus on her mental health with helping her return to the Olympics.

“Seeing my therapist every Thursday,” Biles said in an in-arena interview to a loud cheer from the crowd. “It’s kind of religious for me.”

New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge crushed home run No. 31 on Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays as the team secured an 8-1 victory.

Judge has been on a torrid home run pace this season and appeared to be on a similar path as 2022, when he broke the American League home run record with 62 home runs.

He has 31 home runs in 83 games this season for New York. In 2022, Judge had 30 home runs in 83 games. He hit 32 home runs the rest of the way that season and ended up with 62, hitting the historic mark in the final game of a doubleheader against the Texas Rangers.

Judge won the American League MVP award in 2022 – the first of his career.

Sunday’s two-run dinger came off Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman in the first inning. The ball traveled 423 feet.

SHOHEI OHTANI CALLS BATBOY WHO SAVED HIM FROM HARD FOUL BALL IN DUGOUT HIS ‘HERO’

Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees celebrates his home run with Alex Verdugo in the first inning of the Blue Jays game on June 30, 2024, in Toronto. (Cole Burston/Getty Images)

Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees celebrates in the dugout at Rogers Centre on June 30, 2024, in Toronto. (Cole Burston/Getty Images)

Gausman ended up allowing seven runs in 4.1 innings of work.

Judge was 2-for-4 on the day and also struck out twice.

Yankees starter Gerrit Cole pitched five innings and struck out six. He allowed an RBI single to Justin Turner in the bottom of the third inning.

New York moved to 54-32 on the year with the win.

Toronto fell to 38-45.

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All-Star forward Paul George has informed the Clippers that he is opting out of his contract for $48.7 million and will become an unrestricted free agent, people not authorized to speak publicly on the matter told The Times on Saturday afternoon.

George is expected to meet with teams that have salary-cap space, perhaps as early as Sunday when NBA free agency opens at 3 p.m. PDT.

Earlier Saturday, Russell Westbrook picked up his player option for $4 million and will return for the 2024-25 season, a person not authorized to speak on the matter confirmed.

George and the Philadelphia 76ers have been linked as potential partners, according to people not authorized to speak on the matter. The 76ers can offer George up to $212 million over four years, and the two sides are expected to meet soon to discuss a deal.

The Orlando Magic also have the same amount to spend as the 76ers, and they also are interested in George.

A person close to George, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said they “wouldn’t put anyone as the front-runner right now” because he wants to go through the process.

George, who is from Palmdale, was excited to come to Los Angeles in 2019 when the Clippers acquired him in a trade so his family could see him play.

“He’s going to look at everything, figure out what the best spot is for him,” the person said. “Look, he’s also got a lot of love for the Clippers. But he’s also got to look at everything. Everyone just thinks that, ‘Oh, he definitely would stay home.’ He has to look at what’s best for him, including the Clippers, and then figure things out.”

George was eligible to get a four-year, $221-million extension from the Clippers.

After Kawhi Leonard agreed during the season to a three-year extension for $152 million, the Clippers were willing to offer George the same contract but the two sides couldn’t agree on a deal.

The Clippers were prepared for George, 34, to make any decision.

“We hope Paul’s decision is to be here,” Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, said Thursday night. “He’s been awesome. He’s been an All-Star three of the five years. He’s one of the best two-way players in the league. He’s a terrific person. He’s got a great family, so we hope he’s here. But also respect the fact that if he chooses to opt out, that’s his choice. He’s earned it and we’ll see how things play out.”

George, a nine-time All-Star, played in 74 games last season, the most he had played since joining the Clippers. He averaged 22.6 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting a career-high 41.3% from three-point range.

He averaged 19.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists in the first-round series against Dallas.

George played a pivotal role in the Clippers reaching their first-ever Western Conference finals in 2021.

Westbrook, a nine-time All-Star, averaged 11.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game last season. He shot 45.4% from the field, but just 27.3% from three-point range.

But in a first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks, he averaged just 6.3 points and shot 26% from the field, 23.5% from three-point range.

After the Clippers acquired James Harden in late October, Westbrook went to the bench and was productive in that role, which he did not oppose unlike when he played for the Lakers.

Forward P.J. Tucker opted into his player option for $11.5 million on Friday and will return to the Clippers.

Also, according to a person not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, the Clippers signed Trentyn Flowers to a two-way contract. Flowers, an athletic 6-7 wing player, played last season in Australia.