American Simone Biles became the most decorated gymnast in history Friday after winning her sixth all-around global championship in Belgium.
Ten years earlier, she won her first all-around championship at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp. Friday's gold medal made her the first female gymnast with six all-around world titles. Only Kōhei Uchimura, a Japanese male gymnast, has won six world titles.
In the all-around, Biles scored 58.399. The incumbent all-around champion, Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, finished second with 56.766 while American Shilese Jones took bronze with 56.332. Wednesday saw a record seventh straight gold for the US ladies.
Biles won the vault (15.100), balancing beam (14.433), and floor exercise (14.533). She placed sixth in uneven bars with 14.333; Algerian Kaylia Nemour won with 15.200.
The Yurchenko double pike, now called the Biles II, was skipped in favor of a Cheng, the second-hardest vault. She performed cleanly on uneven bars despite finishing second. After a few mistakes on the balancing beam and floor routine, she finished first by hitting all her abilities
Biles is the most successful gymnast ever with 34 world championship and Olympic medals after Friday's gold. Her all-around performance qualifies her for extra medals in all four individual events Saturday and Sunday.
Biles hopes to win every event again in 2018, when she became the first woman to do so in 30 years.
Biles' record-setting result Friday came after long pauses after the 2016 and 2020 Olympics and bowing out of many events in the latter.