
Simone Biles added a silver medal in the vault at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships on Saturday, a day after capturing her sixth all-around gold to become the most decorated gymnast in history.
The 26-year-old failed to land her first vault, the namesake Biles II – also known as the Yurchenko double pike – for a 14.433 mark, giving her rivals hope.
Biles went on to achieve an incredible 14.666 for an average score of 14.549 after needing to restore her composure immediately for her second vault.
The American’s total retained her in first place until the final gymnast to perform, reigning champion Rebeca Andrade.
Brazil’s Andrade finished with an overall score of 14.750, 0.201 points higher than Biles, and celebrated by dancing with her country’s flag on the floor.
Yeo Seo-jeong of South Korea took bronze.
Later in the day, Biles scored fifth in the uneven bars, the equipment in which she has had the least success over the years.
Biles scored 14.200 in an event won by China’s Qiu Qiyuan, who scored 15.100. Kaylia Nemour of Algeria got silver, while Shilese Jones of the United States took bronze.
Creating history
Biles achieved the first woman to succeed in landing the Yurchenko double pike vault at an international competition last weekend in Antwerp, Belgium, ensuring the skill is now dubbed in her honor, mesmerizing onlookers during qualifying.
The element consists of a roundoff onto the springboard, which is followed by a back handspring onto the vaulting table, and concluding with a piked double backflip into the air to landing.
With a record sixth all-around gold on Friday, Biles broke Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo’s record of 33 overall medals in both the Olympics and the World Championships.
Her second gold of the week came after she helped the United States win the women’s team gold on Wednesday. It was generally thought that Biles would win a hat trick of gold medals in Belgium early on Saturday – and she almost did, despite tumbling backward while attempting to land the “Biles II,” but Andrade’s exquisite performance over both vaults saw the Brazilian rightly defend her crown.
Biles now has an all-time record of 28 world championship medals (21 gold, four silver, and three bronze).
On Sunday, she will compete in the finals of the balancing beam and floor exercise.