Olympics-Mikulak on top at USA gymnastics trials for Rio

Whittenburg was fourth in the all-around at this weekend’s US men’s trials in St. Louis, ahead of two gymnasts who made the five-man team, Alex Naddour and John Orozco.

Mikulak, meanwhile, showed his championship form on pommel horse, the weakest event for the USA men, with a score of 15.425 (9.225 execution), and Alex Naddour, a 2012 Olympic team alternate, scored 15.65 to show why he remains a top contender for the 2016 team. Mikulak ranks first in the pommel horse, third in parallel bars and fourth in vault.

Danell Leyva is also competing to go to another Olympic games.

Brandon Wynn competes on the high bar during the US men’s Olympic gymnastics trials Thursday, June 23, 2016, in St. Louis. The final day of Olympic qualifying for the men is Saturday.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Sam Mikulak is closing in on a second straight trip to the Olympics.

A gymnast can make the team automatically by winning the all-around and placing top-three in three individual events over the combined P&G Championships and Olympic Trials. The top three in those standings are Mikulak, Brooks and Jake Dalton.

In his head during those frantic five seconds as he fought to hold on, Brooks’ mind was racing.

So when the selection committee picks the Olympic team on Saturday night, the members will be looking for a five-man combination that can put up big scores on all six events – and do it consistently. While no one qualified based on the subjective criteria – under which gymnasts had to finish in the top two overall and top three in three events to automatically lock up a spot – Mikulak was the closest the Americans had as a lock.

They also battled for the all-around title at the national championships, where Mikulak won with 181.500 points to Brooks’ 179.850. Still, as he usually does, he surged late. He came back to full strength and finished second in the all-around during the 2014 P&G Championships.

The rest is will at the discretion of the selection committee.

Piecing the puzzle together will not be easy. Leyva, the bronze medalist in the all-around at the 2012 Olympics, had a nice bounce-back effort after having been in 16th place after Hartford.

Yet he looked very much like the dynamic performer he was in London, finishing third behind Mikulak and Brooks, highlighted by a 15.6 on parallel bars and a 15.2 on high bar the left his stepfather/coach Yin Alvarez doing his signature sprinting fist pump around the arena.

John Orozco, the 2012 national champion, is hoping to make the cut by showing his value in specific events.

All seven members of the 2015 World Championships Team are participating this week. One more day as consistent as he has been – just six-for-six once more, just six-for-six like he’s done three times already – and he’ll have his best shot.

For Brooks, that chip is quite a bit more literal.