P&G Women's Gymnastics Championships preview

After the chase towards the five spots on the Olympic team kicked into gear a few weeks ago at the Secret US Classic in Hartford, the nation's top gymnasts converge upon St. Louis for the P&G Women's Gymnastics Championships seeking the title of national champion. The spot of America's top gymnast will be up for grabs with two nights of competition deciding the national championship on Friday and Sunday at Chafietz Arena in downtown St. Louis.

Performances at the Secret US Classic

While the Secret US Classic is the first step of three meets towards getting to Rio, results in Hartford have a small asterisk next to them as the nation's two best gymnasts, Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas, only competed in two events. In Hartford, the all-around title belonged to London 2012 team and floor exercise gold-medalist Aly Raisman, with Rachel Gowey, and 2014 worlds team gold medalist Alyssa Bauman placing third.

For Biles and Douglas, the two frontrunners for the Olympic team, they were solid on bars and beam, showing the consistency needed to make an Olympic team.

Another one of the integral parts to the Olympic team will be a potential bars specialist in the case of either 2014 bars national champion Ashton Locklear or 2015 bars national champion Madison Kocian. Locklear and Kocian both performed well on bars, but a fall on beam marked an average night for Kocian compared to a stellar performance from Locklear.

Aly Raisman waves to the crowd after winning the Secret US Classic in Hartford/Getty Images

Event Winners

On vault, the obvious favorite is three-time world all-around champion Simone Biles. Biles performs the most difficult vault in the world, an amanar, but recently added a Cheng vault which will propel her into contention at the Olympics for an event final. Biles' closest threats on vault could be fellow 2015 world gold medal team member MyKayla Skinner or Secret US Classic winner Aly Raisman. Skinner and Raisman both perform amanars, while London 2012 Olympic all-around gold medalist Gabby Douglas, who used to compete an amanar, will perform a slightly less difficult vault.

Simone Biles performs on vault at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastic Championships in Glasgow/Getty Images

On uneven bars, the favorites have to be reigning uneven bars world champion Madison Kocian and 2014 bars national champion Ashton Locklear. While Kocian possess a higher difficulty on the apparatus, Locklear is a more consistent performer, knocking it out of the park to notch the highest score of the Secret US Classic. Also in contention on bars is Brenna Dowell, who performed well at the Pacific Rim Championships in April.

Ashton Locklear performs on the uneven bars at the Secret US Classic in Hartford/Getty Images

On balance beam, the clear favorites are Biles, Douglas, and Raisman. Biles should be the favorite on beam, being far and away the best gymnast and her skill comes through quite well on beam. For Raisman, her beam skills are clear for all too see, but Douglas showed some weakness in Hartford, nearly falling off the beam barring a miraculous save from the reigning Olympic champion. Also in contention on beam is Ragan Smith, who took him the gold medal on beam at the Pacific Rim Championships in April.

On floor exercise, Biles, Douglas, and Raisman again have to be the favorites, but reigning world championship team member Maggie Nichols is returning to competition this week after knee surgery and is always a major threat on floor. Also a medal threat on floor is will be Laurie Hernandez, who will debut a brand new floor routine this weekend in St. Louis.