Simone Biles adds to her legend by winning sixth world Championship

Sports desk, Oct 6 (EFE).- American gymnast Simone Biles expanded her legend and added her sixth world championship title after winning on Friday in the World Championships all-around final held in the Belgian city of Antwerp.

The same stage where Biles was crowned world champion ten years ago, kicking off an impressive career that has made her the best gymnast of all time.

Previously, only Japanese icon Kohei Uchimura had reached the milestone of six world championships.

Simone Biles, who finished first in the qualifying round, has now won gold in the all-around at the six World Championships she has competed in.

The American, who turned 26 last March, did not compete in the 2017 World Championships in Montreal, as well as in the previous two editions held in the Japanese city of Kitakyushu in 2021 and in Liverpool in 2022.

Absences that, in the case of the last two World Championships, responded to the mental health concerns that already led her to abandon the Olympic Games in Tokyo despite finishing the qualifying round in first place.

A hiatus that Biles ended last August after finding a new way, as she explained, to deal with the success and pressure that comes with her status as a significant figure in world gymnastics.

«I think what success means to me is a little different than it used to be because before, everybody defined success for me, even though I had the narrative I wanted. Now it’s just showing up, being in a good place, having fun out there, and whatever happens, happens,» Biles said in the weeks leading to the competition.

Biles already led the United States to its seventh consecutive world title on Wednesday, a medal that gave the Ohio native her 26th medal – 20 gold, three silver, and three bronze – at world championships, more than anyone in history.

However, Biles herself insisted she «can continue to improve.» On Wednesday, she equaled another legend, Japan’s Kohei Uchimura, as the only gymnast capable of winning six world titles in the competition.

A gold that seemed destined for her after an already outstanding qualification round, where she beat her compatriot Shilese Jones by 1.933 and the Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, the current world champion, by 2.266, after signing the best scores of all the competitors on vault, beam, and floor.

The only thing that eluded the American was the best score on asymmetrical bars, where she «settled» on Friday with a score of 14.333 units.

A score that allowed her to finish the second rotation in the first place, in addition to the 15.100 she scored on vault, despite not performing the «Biles II,» a Yurchenko with a double piked somersault, which she performed for the first time in the World Championships qualifiers.

If Simone Biles was 0.233 ahead of the Brazilian Rebeca Andrade and 0.567 of her compatriot Shilese Jones after the first two apparatuses, the gap between the two North Americans shot up after the balance beam.

Biles started her routine with doubts, which gradually disappeared until she nailed the start to reach a score of 14.433 points, which neither Andrade -13.500- nor Jones -14.066- could come close to.

A circumstance that allowed her to go into the final floor exercise, an apparatus in which the North American has five world titles, with 0.934 over Shilese Jones, second, and 1.166 over Rebeca Andrade, who fell to third.

It was a gap that was widened by Biles’ spectacular floor exercise, which, despite a minor setback, ended the competition for the North American with a score of 14.533 for a total of 58.399, earning her her sixth gold medal.

More than a point and a half ahead of Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, who, despite stepping on the line on her final diagonal, snatched the silver medal with a score of 56.766 from American Shilese Jones, who finished third with a score of 56.332 after an erratic floor routine.

Biles hopes this will not be the last in Antwerp, as the North American still has more to add in the vault, beam, asymmetric, and floor finals, for which she is already qualified. EFE

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