World Championship
20th World Championship title for Biles – gymnastics star with a medal record
Simone Biles won gold with the US team in Antwerp. photo
© Geert vanden Wijngaert/AP/dpa
It’s a title with an announcement: gymnastics superstar Simone Biles wins her 20th World Championship gold. The 26-year-old also sets a record.
With now 33 medals at the World Championships and Olympic Games, Biles has become the most successful gymnast in history. So far she has been tied with Larissa Latynina from the former Soviet Union, who, however, is unrivaled compared to Biles with 18 Olympic medals.
German team out early
Second behind the USA, who have won all women’s team titles since 2011 and had already collected the most points in qualifying, was Brazil (165.530). France secured third place (164,064). As 13th in the preliminary round, the German team missed both the World Cup final and participation in the Olympic Games in Paris. “We haven’t digested the whole thing 100 percent yet because it was a dream that was shattered, at least as far as team qualification is concerned,” said Pauline Schäfer-Betz.
The woman from Chemnitz has secured a personal starting place in Paris as the best German all-rounder and will be competing in Antwerp together with Sarah Voss (Cologne) in the World Cup final on Friday and on her flagship balance beam apparatus on Sunday.
Biles, who did not take part in the last two World Championships at the Olympic Games in Tokyo because of her mental problems, forgot her sensational jump “Biles II”, which she had presented to the world three days earlier, in the team final. But even without the last risk, she earned a high score of 14,800 points. She then completed the program with both routine and skill, leading the US team to victory.