Biles soars to 6th US gymnastics title with two history-making moves

Simone Biles celebrates after competing in the uneven bars to win the all around senior women's competition at the 2019 U.S. Gymnastics Championships Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019, in Kansas City, Mo. (Source: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The choice was entirely hers. Only there really wasn’t one for Simone Biles to make.

Sure, she could have taken her triple-twisting double-flip (aka "the triple-double") out of her floor exercise routine during the final night of the U.S. women's gymnastics championships on Sunday. She surely didn't need it to assure herself of another national title.

Still, even as her coach Laurent Landi left the option up to her after the Olympic champion's bid to become the first woman to complete the triple-double in competition came up a bit short on Friday, he knew the answer.

Spend enough time in the gym around the 22-year-old who is redefining what's possible in her sport one exhilarating routine at a time and it quickly becomes evident that sidestepping a challenge isn't really her thing.



Yet Biles doesn't pay too much attention to the margin or her scores for that matter. She's been a fixture atop the podium for six years and counting. Attempting to find the boundaries of her immense talent is what drives her.

It's why she got so angry after putting both hands down as she tried to land the triple-double on Friday. It's why she never thought about ditching it on Sunday. And it's why she sneaked a peek at her phone while rotating from floor to balance beam, typically a no-no during a meet. Well, at least for anyone not named Simone Biles.

"I wanted to see how it looked," she said.

Here's a word: historic.

"It's like she hit a hole in one and we were all there," USA Gymnastics high performance director Tom Forster said. "It's a big deal and we all know it. No one in the world has done it before in the women and actually, she does it better than most of the men who have done it. She should be super excited about that."


Well, sort of. Biles gave coach Laurent Landi a relieved high-five before sticking out her tongue and waving her arms as she ran to hug the rest of competitors in her rotation.


"I was a lot happier today," Biles said. "I feel I haven't been as confident on bars this year as I was last year. To finally do a good routine like I can do it, I was really happy. I was very happy and the last event, so I was like, 'Thank God we're done.'"


A year to go before a return trip to the games, Biles is even better. And really, it's not close.

"She's a freaking beast," said MyKayla Skinner, an alternate on the 2016 Olympic team who clinched a spot on the national team by finishing eighth. "Like, I don't even understand. I always ask her, 'Do you realize how good you are?' And she's like 'Yeah, but I don't know.' It just comes so naturally, it's amazing."

In a sport that sometimes forces athletes to choose between skill and execution, Biles doesn't have to. She not only puts together the most difficult routines in the world, she does them better than anyone else. Biles won floor, balance beam and vault and finished third on bars even with her "meh" set on Friday.

"She does stuff that I never thought people could do," Lee said.


Hurd rebounded from a rocky floor exercise on Friday that dropped her to eighth overall to zoom up to fourth despite admitting she "wanted to throw up a little" when the night began. She promised she would be better on Sunday and she was, despite a technical glitch before her floor when the music started before she took her starting position. She walked off the podium, exhaled and then went out and drilled her set.

"I think more than anything, tonight just really helped my confidence," Hurd said.


"It wasn't as good as in some of the trainings," she said. "But I'm just happy that I landed it because after night one, my confidence got shot down. So I was really worried about it going into today and that was all I could worry about."

Not anymore.


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