Four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles and the USA women’s team won a record seventh consecutive world team title at the World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.
Simone Biles, Shilese Jones, Leanne Wong, Joscelyn Roberson, Skye Blakely and reserve Kayla DiCello combined for a total of 167.729 points.
The Americans, who are Olympic team champions from Tokyo 2020 Olympics, triumphed by 2.199 points over Brazil (165.530), who became the first South American nation to earn a medal in the event at an Olympic Games or World Championships.
France took the bronze with 164.064 points for its first Olympic or world team medal since 1950, less than ten months before hosting the Olympic Games in Paris.
The US women gymnasts have won every world team title since 2011, and this team is the most successful ever. They broke China’s men’s record (2003 to 2014) for the most consecutive trophies.
Simone Biles won her record 20th World Championships gold medal, exactly 10 years after her first gold and 800 days after withdrawing from the vault final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. At the age of 26, she also became the oldest American woman to win World Championships medal. Simone Biles has the incredible career seven medals from the Olympic Games, of which four are gold, and 26 from the World Championships.
In their first team final since Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Simone Biles and the Team USA once again started on vault. She put in a strong effort, followed by excellent balance beam and mixed parallel bars, before capping off the final with the floor combination, for which she received the evening’s highest score of 15.166 points.
Minutes before the competition, American Jocelyn Roberson withdrew after an injury sustained when landing on a vault during the warm-up. The 17-year-old debutant later cheered on her teammates from the sidelines after her left leg was wrapped in a bandage just below the knee to the toes. Leanne Won, who was originally slated to play one apparatus, filled in for Roberson on vault and floor.
Simone Biles and Shilese Jones Jones are among the participants in Friday’s all-around final. Simone Biles could win the title for a sixth time. Shilese Jones took silver last year behind Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade in the absence of Simone Biles.
