Olympic champion Simone Biles, 24, on Saturday rewrote the history of female gymnastics by becoming the first woman to land a Yurchenko double pike at the U.S. Classic held in Indianapolis.
The dangerously impressive move features a roundoff back handspring into two straight-legged flips. After pulling off an impressive number of flips it was revealed that Biles who had been working tirelessly behind the scenes on the Yurchenko double pike since last year according to the Washington Post was visibly overwhelmed with the success;
“Never in a million years did I think it was going to be feasible,” Biles said. “It was just to play around, be a kid. And I was never mentally strong or physically strong enough to do it back then anyways. I feel like now that I’m a little bit older, mentally and physically, I feel ready and prepared.”
“The first woman in history to land a Yurchenko double pike in competition. Our jaws are on the floor. @Simone_Biles is still in the air,” Team USA tweeted in reaction to the news.
Biles, who had the best all-around score at the event of 58,400 won four gold medals and a bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Saturday’s gymnastics competition was Biles’ first time showing up since 2019
“I’ve been working so hard on it in the gym and to finally just put it out in a competition was really nice. So I feel pretty confident going into championships,” Biles said.
“It’s very, very challenging,” one of Biles’ coaches, Laurent Landi, said during a “60 Minutes” segment that aired in February. “And what’s scary, it’s that people can get hurt. You do a short landing, you can hurt your ankles … it’s a very dangerous vault.”
The sports star is not new to crashing the records, she is the most decorated woman gymnast in the world.
Expectations are high as Biles will now compete in the US Olympic team trials in June, before heading to the Tokyo Olympics in July
