Biles makes history in return to competition

LOS ANGELES: Four-time Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles became the first woman to land a Yurchenko double pike vault in competition at the US Classic in Indianapolis on Saturday, while winning the all-around title in her first meet since October 2019.

Biles, who last competed at the 2019 World Championships, had an all-around score of 58.4 points and finished ahead of training partner Jordan Chiles (57.100) and Kayla DiCello (56.100), despite falling off the uneven bars on her final event.

For the Yurchenko double pike, Biles sprinted down the runway, did a roundoff onto the takeoff board, followed by a back handspring with a half-twist onto the vault before finishing it with a double somersault in a piked position.

“I was just thinking, do it like training,” she said of her mindset as she took off down the runway. “Don’t try to overdo anything, because I have a tendency as soon as I raise my hand to kind of overpower things. I did a little bit, but at least I still was on my feet and it’s a new vault.”

The 24-year-old said was not happy that the International Gymnastics Federation gave a preliminary 6.6 difficulty score for the element.

“That’s on the International Federation of Gymnastics that’s not on me,” Biles said. They have an open-end code of points and now they’re mad people are too far ahead and excelling.”

Biles, who sported a rhinestone goat on the back of her white leotard on Saturday, also posted the highest scores on balance beam, floor exercise and vault at the US Classic, the first of three major competitions before the July 23-August 8 Tokyo Summer Olympics.