Erie native, PSU All-American Josh Karnes to compete at US Olympic Trials in gymnastics

The biggest athletic opportunity of Josh Karnes' life awaits him Thursday.

The Erie native and 2021 graduate of Erie High School will compete at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in gymnastics, where he'll aim to qualify for his first Olympic Games. Karnes and 19 other American men will compete for five Olympic berths.

When will Josh Karnes compete?

Olympic Trials in men’s gymnastics are scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start Thursday before Day 2 of competition begins Saturday at 3 p.m. Thursday’s session will be televised on USA Network and Saturday’s on NBC, and all sessions will be available for streaming on Peacock.

Both competition days will take place at Target Center in Minneapolis. A full meet schedule can be found here.

Karnes last year:Erie gymnast Josh Karnes earned All-American honors in April. Will he make Team USA in May?

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How can Josh Karnes qualify for the Olympics?

Athletes will compete in the six events which make up artistic gymnastics — vault, rings, pommel horse, parallel bars, horizontal bar and floor exercise. The U.S. can send a maximum of five athletes to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, and will name two traveling athlete replacements and up to three non-traveling replacements.

USA Gymnastics’ Senior Selection Committee (SCC) will name the American team once the Olympic Trials are complete. The top all-around athlete will automatically qualify if they place within the top three in at least three individual events.

An intricate process is used to select the rest of the team. It’s also used if no athlete meets the above criteria.

In those cases, the SCC considers potential team scoring scenarios to select the best five athletes for Team USA. Olympic Trials results are used to determine the team’s highest scoring potential with any given lineup.

Karnes in 2021:Erie High grad Karnes qualifies for Pam Am gymnastics meet before injury sidelines him

How did Josh Karnes reach the Olympic Trials?

Karnes, a 2024 All-American for Penn State on the parallel bars and all-around, posted a score of 157.450 at the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships earlier this month. That landed him a spot on the U.S. Senior Development Team and secured his place at Olympic Trials.

Karnes, who will be going into his senior year with the Nittany Lions in the fall, is one of four developmental team members who will join 16 U.S. senior team members in competition. He’s also one of 11 athletes representing a collegiate program.

Men’s gymnastics at the Paris Olympics are scheduled from July 27 to Aug. 5 and Team USA’s roster will be confirmed in July.

Contact Jeff Uveino at juveino@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @realjuveino.