U.S. women follow form

PHILADELPHIA -- Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin need to sweat the small stuff. They need to keep their legs together or rein in the landing on a vault.

But Johnson, 16, and Liukin, 18, seem safely placed to be the two automatic qualifiers when the U.S. Olympic trials conclude Sunday. Johnson was first after Friday’s first round at the Wachovia Center with a score of 64.000 and Liukin was second with 63.500 while Chellsie Memmel was third at 62.250.

The top two all-around scorers after Sunday’s competition earn the automatic spots on the six-woman team that will be named July 20.

It is the girls in the middle who are sweating the big stuff, making the Olympic team.

They include Jana Bieger, who missed much of last year with a foot injury; Bridget Sloan, who is in a hurry to recover from knee surgery she had three months ago; Ivana Hong, who offers elegance and pointed toes but not always enough difficulty in her routines; and Shayla Worley, who finished second in the all-around at the 2007 U.S. national championships but who missed the 2008 nationals two weeks ago with a back injury.

Worley, 17, of Orlando, Fla., competed in three events Friday. She pulled out of floor exercise and scored 14.600 on her vault (tied for 15th overall), 14.800 on the balance beam (ninth overall) and 15.400 on uneven bars (sixth overall).

Worley declined to be interviewed -- as she did last Tuesday when most of the other Olympic hopefuls attended a media day. Instead, Worley released a statement that read: “It felt really good to be here competing and back in competition. My back is holding up.”

Liukin was sympathetic. “It’s hard to see someone like Shayla who is usually so outgoing because now she’s hurting,” Liukin said.

In contrast was Sloan, who had to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery last March and who chose not to compete on the vault Friday. Sloan scored 15.600 on uneven bars (fifth); 14.850 on balance beam (eighth) and 14.550 (14th) on floor exercise and then couldn’t stop talking.

Sloan of Pittsboro, Ind., who turns 16 Monday, said she was ecstatic to be able to compete in three events and have her knee feel “fabulous.” It was her adrenaline in overdrive that caused her to fly out of bounds twice on floor exercise, she said, and it is her faith that national team coordinator Martha Karolyi knows best that persuaded her to skip the vault.

“Martha knows what I can do on vault,” Sloan said. “She’s seen me do it a hundred times. She said she didn’t want me to hurt myself again right now.”

Hong, 15, who is from Laguna Hills and who trains in Blue Springs, Mo., was in fifth place overall after Friday’s competition. She ranked no higher than fifth and no lower than eighth on any of the four apparatus. Her coach, Al Fong, said it was the kind of secure performance they aimed for. “We want to prove that Ivana can be put up on any of the events and not hurt the team,” Fong said. “We’re where we want to be. You don’t want to peak too soon. We still have training camp at the ranch.”

It is at the Karolyi ranch outside Houston where the final Olympic team will be chosen. Bieger, who was sixth overall, one spot behind Hong after Friday, said that is in her mind.

“You want to do well here,” said Bieger, who was the silver medalist in all-around at the 2006 world championships. “But you know you’ll have to perform in front of the committee at the ranch.”

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diane.pucin@latimes.com

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