Erie Gymnast Josh Karnes is competing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics team.

Josh has always dreamed of being an Olympian. He started gymnastics at 3 years old and has been in love with the sport for as long as he can remember.

"You just feel like you're flying," said Josh. "You can't really describe the feeling. It just feels pretty cool."

Quickly, Josh became a standout. He regularly qualified for nationals and skipping ahead to higher levels and better competition. 

His first goal was to be a collegiate athlete. Josh is now a Junior at Penn State, where he won the Big Ten Parallel Bars Individual Championship, and was named all-American and on vault, parallel bars, and in the all-around last year.

Next, Josh will be competing the U.S. Olympic Trials on Thursday.

"People would come up to us and say yeah there's something different about him as far as his skill level," said Josh's parents James and Monica Karnes. "It's been such a joy watching him... No matter what the outcome is we're just so proud he's made it this far."

Josh tells us he is coming off an injury, so he will be competing a limited number of events at the trials. 

The U.S. Olympic Gymnastics trials for the 2024 Paris games start Thursday.