Simone Biles cries on the podium at the World Gymnastics Championships in Belgium Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
Simone Biles has officially become the most decorated gymnast of all times on Friday after winning a stunning sixth world all-around title.
Biles was in excellent form, winning the 21st world championship gold medal of her career, increasing her overall medal tally. up to 34 at the Olympic Games and World Championships. This means that in the overall standings she is ahead of Belarusian Vitaly Shcherbo, who won 33 victories in the 1990s.
Biles only needed to get on the podium to add this new record to her name, and she absolutely dominated . on Friday night in Antwerp with a performance worthy of a gold medal.
She led the event, in which gymnasts compete on all four apparatus (vault, bars, beam and floor), from the halfway point and never relinquished it positions after that.
Biles made headlines during the qualifying competition. Championships on Sunday when she became the first woman in history to land the Yurchenko double jump, now called the Biles II. But on Friday she decided to perform a near-flawless easier vault, and it was still more than enough to get her into a good position early in the competition.
The only sign of nervousness came during the final rotation, when she tripped over her own foot during the floor exercise. She recovered, however, even as she chuckled to herself, and finished with a total score of 58.399, 1.633 points ahead of defending champion Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, who took silver. Biles' teammate Shylise Jones won bronze.
Simone Biles has now won more medals than any gymnast in history. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
Biles' smooth return to the world stage is even more impressive considering how much time she's had. It was Biles' first international competition since the Tokyo 2020 Games two summers ago, when she withdrew from several events due to «turns,» a mental block that caused a gymnast to lose control of her position in the air.
The 26-year-old is now looking back on her best years and has been making progress all week. She is the first woman to compete for the United States six times at the world championships, and on Wednesday won her first gold medal at this year's competition after her floor exercise helped the United States win its seventh straight title in the women's team final.
This weekend she will likely add to her medal tally in the individual apparatus final.
This was Biles' first international event after the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Photo: Getty Images/Naomi Baker
Before any action began, there was a huge turnaround when world medalist Jessica Gadirova — the first British woman ever to stand on the podium in an all-around final at last year's World Championships — pulled out of the competition in the last minute. «As a precautionary measure, Jessica Gadirova will not compete in today's World All-Around Final,» British Gymnastics wrote in a statement minutes before the final began.
Her teammate was called up to take part. Alice Kinsella. substitute and put in a stellar performance, finishing seventh with a score of 54.032. Fellow Briton Ondine Acheampong, 19, finished 13th in her first all-around final.
“My coach came over and said you need to get your swimsuit right away,” Kinsella said of the dramatic call. “I was a little stressed. I ran to the toilet and stuck it in. I'm really proud because I didn't warm up or anything. I didn't have time to think. I even told my trainer, maybe I don’t need to warm up anymore!”
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