Aug. 3 (UPI) — Simone Biles sprinted and unleashed her peerless torque, twisting into her explosive Biles II and landing clean to win the women’s vault gold medal at the Paris Olympics on Saturday at Bercy Arena.
The medal was Biles’ seventh gold overall, tying her for the second most in gymnastics history.
“I did a lot of repetitions in the gym, trying to find and work on that landing, and it showed tonight,” Biles told NBC. “I’m super exited that I can open it up and land it right.”
Biles could further close in on Soviet Larisa Latynina’s record mark (nine) by the end of the Games. Her seven golds also are tied for the third most ever by a female American Olympian.
Brazilian Rebeca Andrade and American Jade Carey earned respective silver and bronze medals in Saturday’s vault competition.
North Korean An Chang Ok earned an early lead in the competition, posting an average score of 14.216 through her two vaults.
Biles then toed the mat, took flight and never looked back. The most-decorated gymnast in history took a breath before breaking into her sprint.
She then performed the Biles II — a round-off back handspring onto the vault table, followed by two backward flips while in the pike position, with her legs straight and bent at the waist — before landing clean and flashing a wide smile.
Biles, the fourth competitor, scored a 15.700 on her first attempt and 14.900 on her second for the best average score in the event, aided by the move she coined with her namesake.
Andrade, the sixth competitor, went on to average a 14.966 to climb into second place. Carey, the final competitor, followed, posting scores of 14.733 and 14.200 — averaging 14.466 — for a bronze medal.
“This means everything to me,” Carey said. “I think it’s the perfect ending for myself. This is really all I wanted to do.
“I wanted to come here and redeem myself on vault and I couldn’t be happier.”
Biles, who already earned gold medals through the team and individual all-around competitions, will get two more chances to earn medals in Paris.
The balance beam and floor exercise finals are set for Monday morning in Paris.
