At the Paris Olympics, Suni Lee entered the individual balance beam final hoping to win an Olympic medal after missing the podium in the same event at Tokyo 2020. But she fell during her tumbling series and finished sixth. Two years later, the same Lee who returned to elite training only eight days ago has offered fans a peek at her beam skills that could help her secure another Olympic berth.

On July 28, Lee posted a brief training update on her Instagram story, featuring a video of her from inside the gym. She was performing an acrobatic sequence that involved an aerial cartwheel followed by two layout step-outs. It was captioned as “Fun!”.

The series was familiar to gymnastics fans because it was the same skill combination she performed during the Paris 2024 Olympics. Lee successfully hit the routine in the team final, helping Team USA secure the gold medal. She scored 14.600 on beam in the team final, the highest beam score among the U.S. gymnasts whose scores counted toward the team total. Although the training video ended before Lee completed the second layout step-out, the clip was enough to excite fans.

Lee had only been in the gym for a couple of days and already proved that her power in the beam was still intact. On July 20, 2026, Lee officially began her gymnastics training again at Midwest Gymnastics Center in Little Canada, Minnesota with the help of Jess Graba, her longtime coach. After her first practice back, Lee opened up about how different she feels heading into this Olympic cycle.

“I kind of got my glow back,” Lee said. “I am confident as who I am as a person. I am excited to take that into training because I think I am a lot more confident.” This time, Lee wants to combine that confidence with the physical strength she was missing during her Paris journey. Before the 2024 Olympics, she battled a kidney-related illness that disrupted her training and limited her preparation.

Despite having only around six months of healthy training before Paris, Lee still managed to win three medals. Now, she has a much longer runway ahead of the LA 2028 Games. I didn’t really get a full chance to, I guess, compete at my full potential. And I think this time around, I want to give myself that chance,” Lee said.

For Lee, the goal is clear: return to the Olympic stage and finally complete the missing piece of her career by winning a beam medal. Her coach Jess Graba believes that dream is still driving her comeback. “She felt like she was a medalist on beam, and we didn’t get one,” Graba said. “So I think she’d like to rectify that.”

With her first training clips already showing strong signs of progress, Lee’s journey toward Los Angeles 2028 has officially begun. But to reach the LA 2028 Olympics will not be easy for Suni Lee, even though she is already an Olympic champion and six-time medalist.

LA 2028 will be Suni Lee’s biggest test yet

For U.S. gymnastics, Lee cannot automatically make the team because of her past success. She will have to compete through the national selection process and perform well enough to be chosen at the 2028 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, where gymnasts will compete for spots on the Olympic roster. The challenge is especially high because the U.S. has a deep pool of talented gymnasts.

Simone Biles has not confirmed whether she will return for LA 2028, but if she does, she would immediately become one of the favorites for a team spot. Lee will also face fellow Olympic champion Jade Carey, who has already announced her own comeback for the 2028 Games. Rising stars such as Paris 2024 team gold medalist Hezly Rivera, two-time world team champion Skye Blakely, and World Championship medalist Leanne Wong are also expected to be in the mix for the limited Olympic roster spots.

For Lee specifically, the biggest challenge is not her ability. It is maintaining her health and reaching her full potential after dealing with kidney disease before Paris. She has already said, “This isn’t about proving anyone wrong. It’s about showing up for myself and discovering what’s possible. Through the setbacks and the victories, I’m giving myself one more chance to find out what happens when I keep going.”

If her first eight days back in the gym are any indication, that journey is already off to a promising start.