With Biles back, U.S. even better
ANTWERP, Belgium — As gymnasts rotated around the world championships arena Thursday, mimicking how they will warm up and then compete on each apparatus once the meet begins this weekend, the U.S. women constantly garnered a crowd. Fans couldn’t attend this training session, but a swarm of cameras followed the Americans from one event to the next, congregating around the podium that elevates the equipment.
Once Simone Biles arrived at the venue, attention gravitated toward her, whether she was sitting on a mat, waiting for her turn or soaring through the air during her tough routines. She enters the competition as the undisputed headliner, a deserved status because of her 23 world and Olympic gold medals. But the anticipation also stems from curiosity: How will Biles perform here on a global stage after a mental block derailed her run through the Tokyo Games two years ago?
Biles has shined since she returned to competition in August, earning the world’s best all-around score this year. She has felt some nerves in Antwerp, more than at those recent national-level competitions, her coach Cecile Landi said, and so have the other American gymnasts. By the time they began Thursday’s formal training session, they methodically delivered one solid routine after another, performances that would be more than enough to earn another team gold.
“They settled in,” said Chellsie Memmel, the technical lead of the U.S. high performance staff. “They got in a groove and did just what they’ve been doing in practice all week, so I’m really happy with where we’re at.”
When the Americans competed at world championships a year ago, they entered the last rotation of the team final with a significant cushion despite an earlier mistake on beam. They cruised to the gold medal, outscoring secondplace Britain by more than three points.
That was without Biles. Now with the sport’s biggest star on the team again, that margin could be even larger.
During Thursday’s training session, Biles impressed with her Yurchenko double pike, the vault that will be named for her if she lands it during these world championships. The skill is so extraordinary that, even in mostly empty arenas with only other gymnasts and staffers in attendance, Biles’s practice attempts provoke an audible expression of awe. Biles’s difficult routines on each apparatus give her an edge over her peers and bolster the U.S. team score.
Since 2006, when the open-ended scoring was introduced, the U.S. women have never finished worse than second place at the Olympics or world championships. But their run of unquestioned dominance began about a decade ago, and it has in large part coincided with Biles’s career.
Biles led the United States to team golds at world championships in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019, as well as the Olympic gold in 2016. In those wins, the Americans had an average cushion of almost seven points and never finished less than five points ahead of the silver medalist. In the pre-Biles era, only the 2012 team won the gold with a margin (5.066 points) that rivaled what these recent Biles-led squads have accomplished.
The U.S. team is not invincible; Tokyo was a reminder of that. Biles withdrew from the team final after the first rotation, and the Americans slipped to second. Even as the world’s best gymnast, Biles can make mistakes; she had a rough outing at the U.S. selection event when she barely clinched the top allaround score. So it helps that this squad at worlds has other gymnasts with experience and medal potential.