Simone Biles’ return couldn’t have been better. The American gymnast made history yesterday at the World Championships in Antwerp (Belgium), after performing a Yurchenko Double Pike: she is the first woman to execute the double back somersault jump in an international competition. The 26-year-old girl provisionally placed first in the qualifying day of the artistic gymnastics championship with 58,865 points.
Biles rehearsed this jump for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, an event from which she withdrew due to mental health problems, to take a two-year break. She now renames the most difficult exercise in the female scoring code with her name, Biles II, and with it she gets 6.4 points. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) rated it with the highest possible rating, executing it without errors. Her compatriot, Shilese Jones, is second with 56.932.
Biles now has five skills that bear her name, including the one she performed last Sunday: two in floor exercises, two in vault and another on the balance beam. The American star has 25 world medals and seven Olympic medals.
The leader of the American team finished the qualifying subdivision at the top of the table and will go for team gold this Wednesday at her sixth World Cup, in Antwerp. Meanwhile, Great Britain and Italy are positioned as the main rivals.
