Simone Biles made history by picking up her record 13th career gold medal at the world gymnastics championships when she cruised to victory in the vault final on Friday. Yet it’s the silver she captured on uneven bars that the Olympic and world champion may cherish more.
For years Biles viewed bars with a mixture of skepticism and scorn. There was a point in time she admits she would have been OK with taking a “chainsaw” to every bars set in the country.
Those days are over. Helped in part by the influence of new head coach Laurent Landi, Biles now considers the event a challenge more than a chore. Maybe that’s why the smile on the podium during the medal ceremony after she came in second to Belgium’s Nina Derwael was so wide.
“I’ve come a long way,” Biles said.
It certainly showed. Biles put together a score of 14.7 to edge Germany’s Elisabeth Seitz for silver. Belgium’s Nina Derwael won the first ever gold medal for her country at worlds when the judges awarded her daring and intricate set with a score of 15.2.
Not that Biles – who expressed frustration after a sloppy (by her standards) performance while winning a record fourth all-around title on Thursday _ was complaining after finishing runner-up to Derwael. She became the first American woman to earn a world championship medal on all four events, and the way she’s focused on upping her degree of difficulty on bars is a testament to the way her approach has matured over the years.
“(Before) to even work and put that much effort into bars, I would have probably been like `No, No thank you,”‘ Biles said. “I really put the work and the effort to bring up that event to the level with the other (events).”
Events like vault, where Biles has long been among the best in the world. She easily captured gold even though she opted not to perform her new signature vault after she fell while trying to land in during the all-around final. She chose two slightly safer vaults instead, and her average of 15.366 was nearly a full point ahead of silver medalist Shallon Olsen of Canada and bronze medalist Alexa Moreno of Mexico.
