Biles pulls off Yurchenko's double pike vault, to be named after her

AFP

American gymnast Simone Biles became the first woman to do the Yurchenko double pike at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Sunday, with the vault now to be named after her.

The Yurchenko double pike is the most difficult jump in the women's scoring code and was rated at 6.4 points by the technical committee in anticipation of it being performed.

The 26-year-old athlete scored 15.266 with a 58.865 total in the all-around, securing the vault to be named Biles II after a different original jump was named after her in 2018.

With 25 world medals, the most of any gymnast in history, and seven Olympic medals, the oldest American woman to compete at the worlds now has five skills named after her, two on the floor exercise, two on vault, and one on the balance beam.

The US women's team finished their qualifying subdivision at the top of the table and will go for team gold on Wednesday in Antwerp.

More from Sports

  • Liverpool players join family for Diogo Jota's funeral

    Carrying a red floral wreath bearing his shirt number, Diogo Jota's Liverpool teammates joined relatives and residents in a small Portuguese town on Saturday for the funeral of the football star, who died with his brother in a car crash on Thursday.

  • Own goal propels Chelsea past Palmeiras into CWC semis

    An 83rd-minute Weverton own goal from a deflected Malo Gusto cross gave Chelsea a nervy 2-1 win over a spirited Palmeiras side in the Club World Cup quarter-finals on Friday.

  • Sabalenka fights off Raducanu, Alcaraz marches on

    Women's top seed Aryna Sabalenka fought off inspired home favourite Emma Raducanu in a cauldron-like Centre Court atmosphere to keep her Wimbledon quest on track but it was the end of the road for two other Grand Slam champions on Friday.

  • India lead England by 244 runs in Edgbaston test

    India finished day three of the second test on 64-1 to lead England by 244 runs after they dismissed the hosts for 407 in the first innings at Edgbaston on Friday despite Jamie Smith's commanding and unbeaten knock of 184.

  • Grand Slam champions Keys, Osaka crash out of Wimbledon

    There were to be no Fourth of July celebrations for American Madison Keys as she joined the exodus of seeds from Wimbledon with a 6-3 6-3 defeat by 104th-ranked German Laura Siegemund in the third round on Friday.

News