ANTWERP, Belgium — Simone Biles is as good as she’s ever been. Just as golden, too.
Ten years after winning her first all-around title at the world championships, in this very arena, no less, Biles has another. Her sixth title makes her the winningest gymnast, male or female, in history, with 34 medals at the world championships an Olympics. A whopping 21 of them are gold.
The six all-around titles also ties a record with Japan’s Kōhei Uchimura, who won six between 2009 and 2015.
And Biles isn’t done. She qualified for all four event finals, giving her a chance to duplicate her feat from the 2018 world championships, when she medaled in all six events she competed in.
Biles finished with 58.399 points, more than a point ahead of second-place Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, last year’s world championship. Fellow American Shilese Jones was third. The audience saw Biles’ final score first and, when fans began shrieking, Biles looked at the scoreboard and her mouth dropped open. She then hugged coach Cecile Landi.
Biles’ numbers alone are staggering, but she’s done it despite taking breaks from the sport after both the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. She also wasn’t sure if she wanted to come back after Tokyo, when anxiety caused by the lofty expectations on her and the isolation of the COVID restrictions brought on a case of “twisties.” Unable to tell where she was in the air and not willing to risk her health and well-being, Biles withdrew from all but one event final.
But she came back in early August and won her eighth U.S. title. Another record, for those keeping track. Now she’s got a six-pack of world titles, twice as many as any other woman.
Biles effectively wrapped this one up after the first event. Though she opted for a “less-difficult” vault than her Yurchenko double pike, the Cheng she did is still the second-hardest being done today. And she did hers better than reigning world champion Rebeca Andrade, leaving the first rotation 0.400 ahead of the Brazilian.
Andrade would have needed Biles to make a major mistake to have a chance of catching her, and Biles did not. Andrade knew it, too, looking grim as she left the podium after a sloppy beam routine.
HISTORY:A look at Simone Biles' record medals and titles.
ANTWERP, Belgium — Next up for Simone Biles: More medal opportunities.
Biles qualified for all four event finals, giving her the chance to duplicate her feat in 2018, when she won six medals. It was the first time in 30 years a woman had won a medal in every event.
The vault and uneven bars finals are Saturday, and the balance beam and floor exercise finals are Sunday.
See a full list of the standings and scores for each event here.
Simone Biles won the all-around title by a healthy margin, but because she tripped during her floor exercise, she wasn't sure she'd done enough until she saw the final score.
"I actually wasn't sure, because I didn't know if I needed that leap for credit or for start value purposes," Biles said on the Peacock broadcast. "So I started rethinking, I was like OK, if I get to my double A quick, I can do a leap and we'll be good. But then I was like no, no, don't do that again."
When Biles was asked if winning world titles is getting boring for her now that she's won six, Biles said, "No, I think it's always interesting. I think we had a really good group going today, so I don't know, it's just every year gets a little bit better and a little bit more exciting."
She also got a bit emotional during the national anthem and was asked to reflect on that moment.
"OK, I was emotional because it's — it was my first worlds, here, 10 years ago. And then now, my sixth one. So it's crazy," Biles said. "But I swear, I do have something in my eye that's been bothering me for like four hours and I cannot get it out. So while I was looking up there, it was like a combination of both."
Even tripping during her floor routine didn't stop Simone Biles from winning. A score of 14.533 was enough to secure first place and her sixth world championships all-around title. With the gold medal, she also became the winningest gymnast in history.
"For some reason, I could not pick up my feet on my leaps, because I actually kicked the ground in my tour jeté leap too," Biles said during an interview on the broadcast after the winning routine. "And then on that one, I just like kicked the ground so bad and I just had to laugh at myself. I was like, am I supposed to do another leap? Because I don't know the code THAT well. I just do whatever I'm told. So I was like, I think I need to do another leap. And I was like, no, I don't have time, my music's going to run out. So."
ANTWERP, Belgium — Simone Biles has a comfortable lead going into the last event.
Biles is seeking what would be a record sixth title a decade after she won her first in this very arena. She’s got 43.866 points heading into floor exercise, one of her signature events, with fellow American Shilese Jones almost a point behind.
Reigning world champion Rebeca Andrade trails Biles by 1.166 points, and Jones by 0.232, after a sloppy beam routine.
Biles is so good, and has such big advantages in both difficulty and execution, that she needs to make mistakes for anyone else to have a chance. She hasn’t been flawless — there was the balance check on her beam mount and some wonkiness on uneven bars — but she hasn’t give anyone else an opening.
ANTWERP, Belgium — Simone Biles had a slight hiccup to start her balance beam routine. The rest of it was fantastic, though, and Biles climbed down from the podium with a look of relief on her face, smiling as she nodded at coach Cecile Landi.
Biles landed just slightly off center on her mount, and had to do a balance check to prevent any further error. (You try walking on that 4-inch-wide thing, see how well you do.) But she was dazzling on the rest of the routine, with not even the slightest hesitation as she did one skill after the other.
She scored a 14.433, and now has only floor exercise, one of her signature events, to go.
A 16-year-old competing for Algeria, Kaylia Nemour turned heads on uneven bars with a performance judges gave a 15.2. Nemour, who was born in France and previously competed for the French, switched to the Algerian federation after a disagreement with the French federation, according to the Peacock broadcast. She is the 2023 African all-around champion.
ANTWERP, Belgium — Simone Biles holds a slim lead over Rebeca Andrade at the midway point of the women’s all-around final.
Biles, looking to win what would be a record sixth world all-around title, has 29.433 points. Andrade, last year’s world champion, is 0.400 behind. American Shilese Jones, the silver medalist last year, is third.
ANTWERP, Belgium — Shilese Jones has pulled into medal contention.
Last year’s silver medalist, Jones was gorgeous on uneven bars, her signature event. Her 14.633 moved her into third place at the halfway point of the competition, behind Simone Biles and Rebeca Andrade, last year’s world champion.
ANTWERP, Belgium — The all-around final is turning into survival of the fittest.
France’s Melanie de Jesus dos Santos, expected to be a medal contender, and Canada’s Ellie Black, who is competing in the last group, both fell off uneven bars before the meet had even reached its halfway point. Other gymnasts had falls on floor exercise and balance beam.
It’s been this kind of worlds, though. France was the only squad that made it through the women’s team final relatively unscathed, while Japan’s Kenta Chiba and China’s Sun Wei took themselves out of the running for medals in the men’s all-around final Thursday night.
ANTWERP, Belgium — Simone Biles is doing what she needs to do.
Uneven bars is Biles’ “weakest” event, and we should all be so fortunate to be as good at our worst thing as she is on bars. Her routine wasn’t the cleanest she’s ever done, and she missed at least one of her connections. She was laughing as she looked over at coach Laurent Landi after she finished.
But Biles scored a 14.333, not providing much of an opening for those trying to catch her.
ANTWERP, Belgium — Simone Biles has the early edge on reigning world champion Rebeca Andrade.
Biles, looking to win a record sixth all-around title, is 0.400 ahead of the Brazilian after the first of four rotations. Biles did her Cheng vault almost perfectly while Andrade, doing the same vault, landed hers low. Andrade took one step and then another, the second taking her into the out-of-bounds area.
Biles scored a 15.1, including a 9.5 execution score, while Andrade had a 14.7.
Both trail Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour, who scored a 15.2 for a dazzling uneven bars routine. But bars is Nemour’s speciality, and she’s likely to drop back the longer the meet goes.
Fellow American Shilese Jones, last year’s silver medalist, is in sixth.
ANTWERP, Belgium — That’s about as good a start as Simone Biles could have hoped for.
Biles opted for the “less-difficult” Cheng vault, rather than her Yurchenko double pike. The Cheng is the second-most difficult being done, but its difficulty score is 0.800 less than the Yurchenko double pike. But with the way Biles did it, it doesn’t matter.
She got massive height and flew what seemed like forever. She pretty much stuck the landing, and immediately grinned. She got a 15.1, with an execution score of 9.5 out of 10.
The all-around final will be streamed on Peacock starting at 1:30 p.m. ET Friday, and there will be a highlights show on CNBC on Oct. 8. The full schedule is here.
Antwerp is six hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so the all-around competition begins there at 7:30 in the evening Friday.
The order of events for Friday night’s team final will be the same for Simone Biles and Shilese Jones as it was for the team final earlier in the week.
They’ll start on vault, with Jones up second in the group of six and Biles up third. Then it’s on to uneven bars, where Jones and Biles are the first two up in their group. After that it’s balance beam, with Biles leading off and Jones going last. They finish on floor exercise, with Jones the second-to-last competitor and Biles the last.
Also in their group is Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, last year’s world champion, and Britain’s Jessica Gadirova, the bronze medalist last year.
Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, who won the all-around at last year’s world championships, is back. Though she had some struggles in qualifying, she rebounded with a spectacular performance in the team final, posting the second-highest score behind Biles.
Fellow American Shilese Jones won the silver medal at last year’s worlds and was second to Biles at the U.S. championships in August. Jones also had the second-best score in qualifying.
Also keep an eye on France’s Melanie de Jesus dos Santos, who trains with Biles at the World Champions Centre outside of Houston. She’s long been considered one of the world’s best gymnasts, but has tended to struggle in big competitions. Not in the team final, however. She had arguably the best meet of her life, leading France to the bronze, its first team medal at worlds since 1950.
Flavia Saraiva of Brazil; Canada’s Ellie Black; and Manila Esposito of Italy are some others to watch.
Britain’s Jessica Gadirova, last year’s bronze medalist, would have been on that list but will not be competing in the all-around.
Gadirova was third during qualifying, and also competed in the team final. British Gymnastics didn't give a reason for her withdrawal, announcing just before the meet began that "as a precautionary measure" Gadirova would not compete and she'd be replaced by teammate Alice Kinsella.
To be determined.
Biles did the vault, so difficult few men even try it, during qualifying, meaning it will forever more be known as “the Biles” in the women’s scoring system. Actually, it’ll be known as the Biles II, since she’s already got a vault named after her.
Or maybe it should be the Biles V, since it's the fifth skill named for her. She has two on floor and one on balance beam.
Coach Laurent Landi said after qualifying they hadn’t decided yet if Biles would do the vault again at this competition, and she didn’t do it in the team final.
"People I hope realize that's maybe one of the last times you're going to see a vault like that in your life from a woman gymnast,” Landi said. “So I think it's time to appreciate it."
Simone Biles' floor routine clinched a record seventh consecutive team title for the U.S. women at the world gymnastics championships, breaking a tie with the Chinese men (2003 to 2014). Biles has been on the U.S. team for five of those titles, and Wednesday night's gold was her 20th overall at the world championships.
American Simone Biles is on the brink of history. Well, more history.
On Wednesday at the world championships in Antwerp, Belgium, Biles, 26, led the Americans to team gold medal, putting her one medal shy of becoming the most-decorated gymnast, male or female. She now has 33 medals at the world championships and Olympics, tying Vitaly Scherbo.
Antwerp would be a fitting city for Biles to set the mark, considering it's where she first stepped onto the world stage. At her first world championships in 2013, the then-16-year-old won four medals, including her first all-around gold.
Look back at all of Biles' medals here.
Simone Biles' height is widely reported as 4 feet, 8 inches.
Simone Biles is 26 years old. She is the oldest member of Team USA that won a record seventh consecutive team title for the U.S. women at the world gymnastics championships. The other team members are: Skye Blakely, 18; Shilese Jones, 21; Joscelyn Roberson, 17; and Leanne Wong, 20.
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