Simone Biles Makes History At U.S. Classic After Landing Yurchenko Double Pike
It’s been over a year since Simone Biles the gymnast and five-time Olympic medalist has competed. But she made history at the U.S. Classic ahead of the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday (May 22) with a stunning performance.
The 24-year-old landed the Yurchenko double pike, a vault skill she has been working on since last year, The Washington Post reports. During a training session on Friday (May 21) she was seen practicing the move that has never been done by a female gymnast in a competition.
Yet, on the day of her competition, Biles stunned judges and landed the double pike skill, earning her a total score of 16.1, People reports. She officially became the first woman to ever complete the Yurchenko double pike in a competition.
A Yurchenko double pike consisted of Biles sprinting down the runway, doing a roundoff on the takeoff board, followed by a back handspring with a half-twist onto the fault and finishing with a double somersault in a piked position.
“I was just thinking, do it like training,” Biles said to NBC Sports after completing the vault. “Don’t try to like overdo anything because I have a tendency, as soon as I raise my hand to overpower things and I did a little bit, but I was still on my feet. It’s a new vault and I’m proud of how today went even though it was a little bit rough.”
See her make history at the U.S. Classic below: