MADRID, 6 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The American Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all time, has returned to competition two years after the last time, at the Tokyo Olympics, where she suffered a mental block, and has prevailed in the Core Classic, the last qualifying test for the United States National Championships that are held at the end of the month in San José (California).
Biles, 26, easily prevailed in the test with a total of 59,100 points, which put her five points ahead of the second classified, Leanne Wong. In this way, the possibility opens for Biles to be part of the United States team for the Paris 2024 Games, where she could add another Olympic medal to the seven achieved between Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 -four of them gold-.
Fans in the NOW Arena cheered for Biles after she completed a powerful somersault in her floor exercise routine, and the crowd recognized her when she nailed her difficult Yurchenko double jump. Opening her first competition since Tokyo, Biles competed on the uneven bars, where she placed third best of the day.
She was confident on the balance beam, the only individual event she was able to compete in in Tokyo after her battle with the ‘twisties’ – mental block. On that occasion, she got a bronze which marked her seventh Olympic medal. On Saturday, her score of 14.80 was the highest of the two women’s sessions combined.
Her compatriot Sunisa Lee, an all-around gold medalist in Tokyo, wobbled a bit on the balance beam but still scored 14.500; She didn’t compete in all of Saturday’s events, but she needed to perform well on two apparatus to qualify for the US Nationals, and she got it done with her excellent routine on the balance beam and a 13.50 on the vault.
Biles’ floor routine earned a score of 14,900, the best of the two sessions combined. He finished in the vault, where he scored 15,400 in a routine in which he went a little to one side when he landed.