Back on the global stage after two years of absence, gymnastics superstar Simone Biles impressed upon entering the competition at the Antwerp World Championships by successfully completing an extremely difficult jump during qualifying.
This jump, a Yurchenko double pike, now takes the name of the 26-year-old American, Biles being the first woman to achieve it in an international competition.
He was rewarded with a score of 15,266 points, far ahead of the competition. In total, she accumulated 58.865 points at the end of the four apparatuses and took the lead in qualifying after the first two subdivisions (out of ten).
The American is making her return to the international level in Antwerp, two years after the grueling Tokyo Olympics. Arriving in Japan as the big favorite after her four titles won five years earlier in Rio, Biles had collapsed, withdrawing from most of the events because of “twisties”, sudden losses of any reference in space.