HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — When Simone Biles was introduced to the crowd at the beginning of the Core Hydration Classic on Saturday night, she ran out, waved to the crowd, and then paused, looking around the floor exercise mat for some guidance. She wasn’t sure where she was supposed to stand as the rest of the competitors were announced. A fellow gymnast waved her over, Biles laughed, and she headed to the edge of the mat.

It was the last time she didn’t look at home on the gymnastics floor. Biles scored a 59.100 to win her first all-around competition since the 2021 Olympic Trials. Starting on the uneven bars, Biles scored a 14.000. Just before her dismount, Biles lost her form and had to muscle back into position before doing her full-twisting double back.

The break on bars was the biggest mistake Biles had on Saturday night. On balance beam and floor exercise, she was steady and aggressive, just as the four-time Olympic gold medalist has always been. For vault, Biles showed she was just as capable of doing the high-flying Yurchenko double pike as she was in 2021. Though she landed off-center, she scored a massive 15.400 thanks to the vault’s difficulty.

What a moment for Simone Biles! 💜

The smile says it all. pic.twitter.com/IpyuXjnyOx

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 6, 2023

The sold-out NOW Arena in suburban Chicago erupted in cheers for every move Biles made, whether it was warming up a vault or dancing with her friend and teammate Jordan Chiles. They chanted her name as she spoke with the media, and stayed well after the meet was over to show their appreciation.

“I think what shocks me the most is, everyone’s so supportive, like in the crowd, all of the girls, all of the signs, like after everything that transpired in Tokyo, and obviously, you know, they ‘at me’ in all those tweets and stuff, so I get a lot of that stuff. But the amount of outpouring love and support that I had on Twitter, on Instagram, and in the arena was just really shocking,” she said.

“And surprising to me that they still have so much belief in me, they still love me, and it just makes my heart warm, because it’s nice to come out here and have all that support, especially in a time like this where I was, like really nervous to compete again. But everyone, I can’t ask for more.”

The Classics were Biles’ first competition back since she pulled out of the Olympic team competition with “twisties,” a type of mental block gymnasts sometimes deal with that prevents them from knowing where they are in the air.

Since then, she’s spoken out on the importance of mental health for athletes. In her personal life, Biles married Green Bay Packers safety Jonathan Owens. She returned to training in 2022. According to her coach Cecille Landi, Biles stepped up her training after the wedding this spring.

“I had dinner with her, and it was this year and she told me she really wanted to get a chance to do it. After that, I would say after the wedding. Once everything was over, then we saw a shift in her training and commitment to being back,” Landi said on Friday.

Competing at the Classics was Biles’ first step back on the road to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

With her win Saturday, she qualified for the U.S. championships in San Jose at the end of August. Then, the country’s top gymnasts will take part in a selection camp to decide who will represent the United States at the world championships in Antwerp in October. She joked when asked whether she’s thinking about her plans for the Olympics.

“Right now, I think I should just embrace what happened today. Be happy for me, for my teammates. We’ll go into championships in a couple of weeks and work on those tweaks that we had today, but I’m in a really good spot and who knows? I’m not gonna think so far ahead,” Biles said.

“It’s just like when you get married, they ask you when you’re having a baby. You come to Classics, and they’re asking you about the Olympics. I think we’re just trying to take it one step at a time.”

Simone Biles wins the All Around at the #CoreClassic and the crowd ERUPTS! 🥇 pic.twitter.com/rKKrVnDPUQ

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 6, 2023

Biles wasn’t the only star to make a big step back to competition at Classics. Sunisa Lee, the 2021 Olympic All-Around champion, did the vault and beam. After Lee finished on the beam, her first event back at the elite level since dealing with a kidney condition, she hugged her trainer and sobbed. She said on Friday that her biggest goal was to qualify for the U.S. championships, and she did just that with a 14.500 on beam and a 13.500 on vault.

“I think it went really well tonight. I’m super proud of myself for pushing. There were times when thought I wouldn’t be able to do this, but I definitely got over the fear and the doubt. I thought, I’m just going to put myself on the floor, let myself have fun. I think that’s exactly what I did,” Lee said after the meet.

Suni Lee is a STAR!

📺: @CNBC and @Peacock pic.twitter.com/yrhsgzEhKq

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 6, 2023

Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles, 2021 Olympians, already qualified for the U.S. championships because they were on the 2022 world championship team that won gold. Still, they competed at Classics to help prepare them for the elite season. Since the Olympics, both have been competing at the college level, with Carey at Oregon State and Chiles at UCLA. Carey scored a 13.900 on beam, and Chiles scored a 13.900 on bars and 12.800 on beam.

Maggie Hendricks is a contributing writer for Just Women’s Sports. She also covers women’s sports for Bally Sports. Follow her on Twitter @maggiehendricks.

With half of the Elite Eight now set, a few Big Ten underdogs still have a shot at disrupting the No. 1 seed stronghold at the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament this weekend.

The No. 3-seed Purdue Boilermakers are through to the quarterfinals after defeating No. 2-seed SMU 3-1 on Thursday, while the No. 4-seed Indiana Hoosiers, No. 3 seed-Wisconsin Badgers, and the still-undefeated overall No. 1 seed Nebraska Cornhuskers all face stiff Sweet Sixteen competition on Friday afternoon.

Coming off a strong regular season, the Big Ten could still field half of the quarterfinal round — though that would require the first No. 1-seed upset of the 2025 national tournament in the form of an Indiana victory over top-seeded Texas.

Bolstered by their defensive leader, senior middle blocker Madi Sell, the Hoosiers booked just their second-ever Sweet Sixteen trip with last week's win over No. 5 Colorado, with Indiana now hoping their lucky run continues against the 2022 and 2023 champion Longhorns.

Meanwhile, the No. 1 Huskers will look to keep rolling against No. 4-seed Kansas while the No. 3 Badgers aim to snag another Big Ten spot in the Elite Eight by ousting No. 2-seed Stanford on Friday.

How to watch the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament this weekend

The NCAA volleyball tournament's Sweet Sixteen action will wrap with four games on Friday, starting with No. 1 Texas vs. No. 4 Indiana at 12 PM ET.

The Elite Eight will then meet at the net on Saturday and Sunday to determine the last-standing teams heading to next week's Final Four in Kansas City.

All of this weekend's NCAA tournament games will air live across ESPN platforms.

Team USA is on a roll, officially taking the four-game 2025 Rivalry Series against Canada before the slate of friendlies is even over, with the US collecting three consecutive wins so far — and one shot left at making it a clean sweep.

The US downed their northern neighbors by a commanding 10-4 scoreline in Edmonton on Wednesday, marking Team USA's first-ever 10-goal victory against the reigning Olympic champs — all while upping the 2025 series' goal tally to 20-6.

While each team fine-tunes rosters ahead of the 2026 Olympics, one test remains for both international hockey titans before the Winter Games take the ice in February.

"The work doesn't stop. Our Olympic team is not named. There's still one more game to go," said USA captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, acknowledging that her squad is not taking their foot off the gas despite the recent lopsided results.

"We have one more game against them before the Olympics," echoed Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin. "We're all aware of that."

How to watch Team USA vs. Canada in the 2025 Rivalry Series

The puck drops on the final match of the sixth annual hockey Rivalry Series between the USA and Canada in Edmonton, Alberta, on Saturday.

Live coverage of the clash will begin at 9 PM ET on the NHL Network.

The latest FIFA women's soccer rankings dropped on Thursday, with Spain widening their lead at No. 1 after winning a second consecutive UEFA Nations League title earlier this month.

The USWNT held steady at No. 2, ceding 7.48 points after losing an October friendly to No. 22 Portugal before going on to secure four straight wins over Portugal, No. 35 New Zealand, and No. 13 Italy to close out 2025.

Elsewhere in the FIFA Top 10, No. 3 Germany and No. 6 Brazil both saw boosts after successful fall runs, while Canada skidded to No. 10 amid a recent five-match winless streak, with Les Rouges's last victory coming against No. 43 Costa Rica last June.

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The biggest changes, however, occurred outside the top ranks, as No. 96 Nicaragua, No. 118 Burkina Faso, and No. 137 American Samoa all rose by 16 spots.

Notably, upcoming USWNT opponent Paraguay saw the largest drop in this month's Top 50, sliding five spots to No. 46.

Ultimately, as the USWNT battled to keep pace in a year of roster experimentation — and without a major competition on the team's 2025 docket — the many international competitions in Europe benefitted victors and challenged losers in this week's FIFA rankings update.

The No. 16 USC Trojans are gearing up for another top-ranked test, hosting the reigning national champion No. 1 UConn Huskies in the weekend's flashiest NCAA women's basketball matchup on Saturday.

Coming off their second ranked win of the season, USC topped No. 20 Washington 59-50 last Sunday, with 22 points and 12 rebounds from freshman Jazzy Davidson helping pull the Trojans to a 7-2 record.

"I saw a resolve in our team," said head coach Lindsay Gottlieb afterwards. "I knew we could get the next stop, I knew we could get the next play."

USC will face a particularly familiar foe against the Huskies — this time without sidelined star junior JuJu Watkins — after UConn knocked the Trojans out of the NCAA tournament two years in a row.

Notably, sophomore guard Kayleigh Heckel departed USC over the summer for the Huskies, with the former Trojan averaging 7.7 points per game entering Saturday's clash with her old team.

"I just try to take one game at a time, but I'm excited to go back," Heckel said ahead of her first trip back to LA since transferring. "I had a great freshman year there, and I learned a lot, and it was a great experience, a lot of fond memories. So I'm looking forward to it."

How to watch No. 1 UConn vs. No. 16 USC on Saturday

The Trojans will host the Huskies with tip-off set for 5:30 PM ET on Saturday.

Live coverage of the clash will air on FOX.