Simone Biles soared to women’s vault gold with her gravity-defying Yurchenko double pike propelling her to a third triumph of the Paris Games and her seventh career Olympic crown.
Biles, who led the United States to team gold before grabbing all-around gold, produced a pair of stunning vaults on Saturday to notch a resounding victory over Olympic and world champion Rebeca Andrade of Brazil. American Jade Carey took bronze.
Biles took control with her opening vault, the Yurchenko double pike now named the Biles II.
Her height off the vault table was astonishing, and even though her momentum carried her back a step on landing, her execution score of 9.4, along with the 6.4 difficulty score for the move so tough no other woman attempts it, earned 15.700.
The American also impressed with her second effort. She powered down the runway and launched into the Cheng vault, which incorporates a round-off, half-on entry with a one-and-a-half twisting flip to finish. She earned 14.900.
The 27-year-old claimed a comfortable victory at the Bercy Arena with an average of 15.300 points.
Andrade opened with a beautiful Cheng vault that garnered 15.100 points and had a slight hop on landing of her second vault for a 14.833 and an average of 14.966.
Carey was the last of eight finalists and snatched bronze with an average of 14.466, denying North Korea’s An Chang Ok.
Biles, clad in shimmering red, gave a big smile as she received another rapturous reception at Bercy Arena.
Her smile was just as big as she saluted the judges after landing her second vault, and she was still smiling as she high-fived coach Laurent Landi.
Biles arrived in Paris as the world’s most decorated gymnast and she has reached new heights by claiming gold medals in all three women’s events contested so far in Paris.
The US great now owns a total of 40 world and Olympic medals – 30 of them gold.
She now has 10 Olympic medals overall, with seven of them being gold.
She led Team USA to the top of the podium in the team final before claiming a second all-around Olympic title two days ago.
Biles can add to her tally further when she competes in the balance beam and women’s floor finals on Monday, capping her return to the Olympic pinnacle after a bout of the disorientating and dangerous mental block called the “twisties” saw her pull out of most of her events in Tokyo.
