Biles plans new twists in bid for a fifth title
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles said Tuesday she will perform a reworked balance beam routine at the upcoming world championships and also attempt two twisting skills on floor and beam that will be named for her if she performs them successfully.
Biles, 22, of Spring heads up the five-member USA Gymnastics squad that will compete Saturday in Stuttgart, Germany, in the team qualification round. The women’s team final is Tuesday, followed two days later by the women’s allaround final and event finals Oct. 12-13.
Biles will attempt to win a fifth all-around championship to go with six national all-around titles and 20 world championship medals, including 14 gold medals. That total includes four gold medals in the team competition, which is not staged at every world championships. As she did at the recent USA Gymnastics championships, Biles said she will attempt to compete a triple-twisting double tuck somersault on floor exercise and a double-twisting double somersault on her balance beam dismount.
If she competes either successfully, they will be added to the FIG code of points scoring system under her name.
Biles, who trains at her family’s World Champions Centre in Montgomery County, said she will compete the triple-double on floor in each competition but will pick her spots for the beam double-double dismount.
She practiced both elements during podium training Tuesday night in Stuttgart and also practiced the double-twisting, blindlanding vault that bears her name after she performed it in the 2018 world championships.
“I feel really confident, and I’m excited to do them at the event,” she said during a news conference in Stuttgart, a tape of which was provided by USA Gymnastics. “I never thought I would actually be able to do them one day, but (coaches Laurent Landi and Cecile Conqeteau-Landi) helped me believe in myself, and here we are. I feel like it’s not real, but it is.”
Biles had an uneven performance at a recent team selection meet in Orlando, Fla., winning the all-around by .35 points after generally winning recent events by at least a point or more. That competition included a fall on her uneven bars dismount and some struggles on balance beam.
She said she has reworked the first half of her balance beam routine and hopes for better performances on that event, the only one of three event finals in which she did not win a gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
“Even with the dismount being harder, I’m feeling more confident,” she said. “I’m more solid and confident in the skills, and once you’re not afraid of the skills your routine flows more smoothly.”
Biles already has skills on vault and floor named for her but said she looks forward to adding more singular elements to the gymnastics scoring code.
“It’s something I can hold onto, because I’m the one who did it first,” she said.
With the retirement of such names as Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps, Biles enters the run-up to the 2020 Olympics as arguably the most visible Olympic athlete in the world. She copes with expectations by trying to improve rather than trying to win.
“It’s hard, but this year I’ve been the most confident with not letting outside expectations get on me,” she said. “On beam, I get nervous because of the expectations, and on the other events I’m usually pretty confident on what I do.
“I try to go out and do what I’m trained to do. It’s hard, but I manage. … I never go into a competition trying to win. I go into a competition trying to compete like I train.”
Biles this year will join 1996 Olympic gold medalist Kerri Strug as the first U.S. woman to compete at five FIG world championships.
The U.S. team, which also includes Jade Carey of Phoenix, Kara Eaker of Grain Valley, Mo., Sunisa Lee of St. Paul, Grace McCallum of Isanti, Minn., and MyKayla Skinner of Gilbert, Ariz., will compete on the second of two days of women’s team qualifying. One of the six team members will be designated as the alternate and will not compete.
The U.S. women will join Brazil in the final qualifying session, in which gymnasts qualify for the team final and also for event finals.