Almost like déjà vu, it happened again. The second podium of the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium was once again colored in American blue, white and red. But this time with a golden taste. For the seventh consecutive year, the United States (167,729) was crowned world champion in women’s artistic gymnastics. There were no rivals for them. And even less for Simone Biles. It started with a jump and ended on the ground. His two specialties, in case he misses anything. She started seriously, but as the final progressed her smile came out: she was on the verge of equaling Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo’s (33) number of world and Olympic medals, and she knew it. Chaos and failure reigned in the final, where Japan and Great Britain, failed and erratic, ran out of steam and moved away from the podium, close together until the last rotation. The silver medal went to Brazil (165,530), France (164,064) completed the podium, followed by China (163,162), Italy (162,997), Great Britain (161,864), the Netherlands (159,563) and Japan (157,496).
The gymnasts welcomed the large crowd at the Antwerp Sportpaleis. However, there were numerous presentations for athletes such as Rebeca Andrade, last year’s world champion, Shilese Jones and Melanie Dos Santos. After the Japanese men’s team’s victory the day before, fans wanted more. And on the floor, flamenco music played for French veteran Marine Boyer, opening the finale.
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There was no trace of the car accident that forced American Shilese Jones to have ankle surgery. Jones began the rotation on vault with a 14.100, while Great Britain, with whom he shared the apparatus, countered him with a 14.166 from Ondine Achampong. The British fought hand-in-hand with their biggest rival to better their silver medal from last year. But then came Simone Biles, who didn’t dare to do the jump with which she made history on Sunday, the Biles II, and the acrobatics, a Yurchenko with a double twist, on landing and after getting lost in the air, saved to score a 14,800. More serious this time. Without smiling.
On the uneven bars, China’s Qiu Qiyuan, the only woman to surpass Biles on the score, dethroned Rebeca Andrade, who did her thing and nailed the landing. And without expecting it, chaos and failure reigned in the final stretch of the first round. An experienced jumper like Britain’s Jessica Gadirova failed to land and fell forward, while Shoko Miyata fell on her face just at the end of her floor exercise, at the last second, on the last diagonal. Brazil capitalized on the mistakes and finished third, with China leading the way and the United States watching their backs.
Japan failed again to jump. And the possibility of coming back disappeared. The Netherlands enjoyed the final without paying attention to the results, and Italy scored little by little. Meanwhile, the pressure was on a Brit battling on the uneven bars with Biles, who regained her smile with a 14.466. The current asymmetrical runner-up in the world rankings, Jones, was not wrong by increasing the gap with the rest of the countries and taking gold. France, in the shadows, took advantage of the British’s failures and placed on the podium behind the United States and China, both of which were out of reach with two rotations remaining.
Andrade exceeded the required time on the balance beam and was penalized, but on floor she wowed with a routine that earned her a 14.666. Great Britain didn’t recover from their mistakes and ended up in sixth place against a France that celebrated practice after practice and took a hard-fought third place thanks to Melanie Dos Santos’s bar routine. China couldn’t beat Olympic vault champion Andrade, who scored 14.900 points, and settled for fourth place.
👑If it didn’t exist… We’d have to invent it!
🤸♀️Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) returns through the big door in Antwerp and wins his first gold medal at this World Cup with the USA in the team competition
📹Participation ends with this floor exercise#GimnasiaRTVE pic.twitter.com/mQ9A52bngN
— Teledeporte (@teledeporte) October 4, 2023
Biles slid down the balance beam and reached the exit as what was already her palace watched in silence, watching her and seeing her 14,300. But it put the final icing on the cake. It was the last exercise. The gold medal in his hand. And he grabbed it with a 15,166, smiling and looking up at the sky. Simone Biles and the USA became world champions again. He won five gold medals at his last World Championships in 2019. At the moment there is already one hanging around his neck.
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