Simone Biles and Jake Jarman enjoy golden day at gymnastics world championships
Simone Biles closed out an incredible comeback meet after a two year layoff by winning gold on the balance beam and floor exercise at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships as Britain’s Jake Jarman became world champion for the first time in his career by winning the men’s vault competition.
“When I woke up this morning, I felt good,” said Jarman. “I just had a good feeling. I think it’s not really sunk in yet, it will probably sink in when I get home and relax. I’m just super happy to take my career to this stage.”
After two years away from international competition, Biles has seamlessly resumed her dominance. Biles finished with five medals overall in Antwerp, winning gold medals in the all-around, team, balance beam and floor exercise competitions in addition to silver on the vault. Biles has a record 37 medals at world championships and Olympic Games.
It has been clear for some time that Jarman was capable of competing for world titles but last weekend his place in the final was in significant doubt. During the qualifying round, the 21-year-old Briton fell while attempting his incredibly difficult Yonekura vault, which packs in a total of three and a half twists.
“As soon as I sat that first vault down, I was definitely gutted, I was heartbroken. Instantly, in my head, I was like: ‘I have not done it,’” said Jarman.
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Such is the difficulty of his vaults, Jarman still scored well enough to sneak into the final. Since then, he has vaulted at an incredible level throughout the competition. In the final, the difficulty of his two vaults was considerably greater than those of all of his competitors, who had no response after he nailed both the Yonekura vault and the famed Dragulescu vault, a front double somersault with a half twist.
The final day of Biles’ comeback meet, meanwhile, ended with a demonstration of her supreme mental strength and competitive fire. After a long, exhausting competition, the 26-year-old American saved her best balance beam routine for when it was most needed in the final, weaving through the routine without a single balance check. Biles scored 14.800, edging out Zhou Yaqin of China by a mere tenth.
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Biles closed out her meet by holding off Rebeca Andrade of Brazil to win her fourth gold medal on the floor exercise. Andrade, who beat Biles to gold on vault, has proven a worthy rival to Biles and their mutual admiration was clear. The 24-year-old enjoyed a historic championships herself, a bronze on the balance beam meaning she also left Antwerp with five medals.