With videoGymnast Simone Biles led the United States to provisional first place in the national rankings at the World Championships. The 26-year-old Biles, who made her international return in Antwerp, is also the top all-around athlete after two of the 10 subsections overall (58.865).
Biles’ score helped the American team reach a team total of 171,395. This puts them far ahead of Italy (162,230) and the Netherlands (161,197).
The four-time Olympic champion is also currently first on vault (14.949), floor (14.633) and beam (14.566). On the final apparatus, Sunny Weavers (13.733) was third after two subdivisions, and Naomi Visser was third on floor (13.733).
On vault, Biles excelled at Yurchenko’s double corner somersault, a jump that until now seemed reserved for men. She will be remembered as the “Biles II” of vault because no gymnast had ever done it in an international competition before. The jump has a difficulty level of 6.4 points.
The American gymnast decided not to speak to the press after the qualifying competition. It will not do so until after the team final on Wednesday.
Biles, who competed in the World Cup finals for the first time in Antwerp ten years ago, returns to the international scene in the Belgian city. She took a break from gymnastics after the Tokyo Olympics to work on her mental health. Due to mental disability, she decided to skip most of the individual competitions at the Games, but she won a bronze medal on beam. In 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Biles won four Olympic gold medals. At that time, she also won a bronze medal on beam, the apparatus with which Wevers won the Olympic title.
Watch “Biles 2” here:
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