UNPARALLELED
U.S. wins all-around; Biles sets mark for most world medals
Simone Biles, of the United States, warms up on the uneven bars Tuesday during the women’s team final at the gymnastics world championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Biles led the U.S. women’s team to its fifth consecutive world championship title. She also gained her 21st medal at the world championships, most for a female gymnast. Move coverage in Sports,
STUTTGART, Germany — Simone Biles won a record 21st medal at the world gymnastics championships Tuesday as the United States retained its women’s team allaround title.
It was Biles’ 15th career gold and broke a tie with Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina for the most medals overall by a woman at the world championships. She’s now two short of Vitaly Scherbo’s all-time record of 23 among men or women.
“Every year it feels better and better just because we’re adding to the legacy,” Biles said. “I feel like I never think of records. I just go out there and do what I came to do, which is compete for the country.”
The U.S. team scored 172.330 points to beat secondplace Russia by 5.801 points and win its seventh consecutive team title at an Olympics or world championships.
The reward for winning was a battery-powered medal that lights up when it senses movement. Biles called it “the sickest medal we’ve ever had.”
Biles posted the best individual scores on the vault, balance beam and floor.
“I think if I do the routine that I did tonight I’ll be more than happy” in Thursday’s individual all-around final, she said.
A fall for Sunisa Lee on balance beam in her world championship debut and a fumbled routine from Grace McCallum on the uneven bars left the U.S. with room for improvement, though both were strong on other apparatus.
“It’s just so surreal to come out here and end up on top with the strength of the team that we have, even after having a couple falls out there,” Biles said.
Russia became the first team to get within six points of the U.S. since China at the 2015 world championships, something which pleased Russian gymnast Angelina Melnikova.
“We’re happy that we got second because we can’t battle the Americans just yet, but today the gap was significantly lower than at the last few world championships,” Melnikova said.
Biles said other teams were “most definitely” closing in on the U.S.
“All of the teams have improved their difficulty over the last quad, and I think that’s really exciting to see the strength that they have.”
Lee, a 16-year-old from St. Paul, Minn., was competing in her first world championships after placing second behind Biles at U.S. nationals in August. She competed on the uneven bars, balance beam and floor and showed resilience to recover from
slipping off the beam — saying “the nerves got to me” after a long wait at the apparatus — to post the day’s thirdbest score on the floor behind Biles and fellow American Jade Carey.
After a whirlwind two months, Lee is still adapting to being on the U.S. national team alongside athletes like Biles.
“A bunch of them have been helping me a lot. Just because I’m the rookie, they’ve been giving me a lot of pep talks and stuff like that,” she said. “I look up to Simone so much. She’s super inspiring and such an amazing gymnast. It’s definitely been a crazy ride and I’m super excited to compete in the all-around with her.”
Italy ended its 69-year wait for a women’s team medal with bronze, as China failed to make the podium for the first time since the 2003 world championships. A fall on the beam mount by Italy’s last gymnast, Elisa Iorio, made for a tense finish but she recovered to score enough to stay ahead of China by 0.536 points.
It was a big recovery for Italy, which qualified in last place for the final.
“I feel like I never think of records. I just go out there and do what I came to do, which is compete for the country.” — Simone Biles