Majestic Biles extends record to 25 world gymnastics medals

She surpasses the previous record of 23 world medals won by men's star Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus.

October 13, 2019 07:50 pm | Updated 07:52 pm IST - Stuttgart

Artistic Gymnastics - 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships - Women's Balance Beam Final - Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Stuttgart, Germany - October 13, 2019   Gold medalist Simone Biles of the U.S. celebrates on the podium with her medal and flowers   REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

Artistic Gymnastics - 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships - Women's Balance Beam Final - Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Stuttgart, Germany - October 13, 2019 Gold medalist Simone Biles of the U.S. celebrates on the podium with her medal and flowers REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

All conquering American gymnast Simone Biles won her fifth gold, her second of the day, at the world championships on Sunday in the women's floor final to extend her own all-time record to 25 worlds medals.

Having earlier won the beam final, the 22-year-old also extended her own record of 19 world championships golds after success earlier this week in Stuttgart in the team, all-round and vault events with the USA.

Biles was crowned world floor champion for the fifth time in her career after winning the final by a full point from team-mate Sunisa Lee, who earned silver with Russia's Angelina Melnikova taking bronze.

Her double gold success came within a two-hour spell after earlier winning the beam final with China's Liu Tingting, 19, taking silver with 16-year-old team-mate Li Shijia in bronze place.

Her victories on the beam and floor makes Biles the most decorated gymnast in history, surpassing the previous all-time record of 23 world medals won by men's star Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus in the 1990s.

This is the first time Biles has finished a world championships with five gold medals having said she is “99 percent” sure Stuttgart will be the fifth and final worlds of her career.

The only blot on Biles' near-perfect record in south-west Germany came in Saturday's uneven bars final when she finished fifth.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.