Simone Biles is no stranger to impressing the gymnastics world. Throughout her career, she’s done it time and again.
Appearing in her first gymnastics meet since late 2019, Biles made history when she performed the Yurchenko double pike vault at the US Classic over the weekend, a notoriously difficult (and dangerous) move which historically has only been attempted by male gymnasts.
Wearing a white leotard with a rhinestone goat – a reference to her status as the Greatest of All-Time – Biles performed the Yurchenko double pike vault which features a round-off onto the springboard and back handspring into a piked double backflip.
In the footage of Biles, you can see she performs it with such power that she stepped back on her landing. Regardless, her score of 16.100 was higher than either of her gold medal winning vaults at the 2016 Olympics, which has set social media on fire with excitement.
Simone Biles just became the first woman in history to land a Yurchenko double pike in competition 👸🏾 pic.twitter.com/bVoZrqgRBK
— Coach Christi, DNP, ENP, CCRN. 👩🏾⚕️🥎 (@SnapMyAd) May 23, 2021
Michelle Obama and LeBron James are among her admirers.
Always amazed by you, @Simone_Biles! Keep shining — we’re rooting for you! 😍✨
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) May 23, 2021
pic.twitter.com/Z5bbYIu95a
MY GOODNESS @Simone_Biles!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/ejJ5hfPaWm
— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 21, 2021
“I was just thinking, ‘Do it like training. Don’t try to overdo anything,’ because I have a tendency as soon as I raise my hand to overpower things, which I did a little bit, but at least I was still on my feet,” Biles said afterwards.
Biles has been teasing the Yurchenko double pike in recent months and decided to make it official on the weekend, alongside her other athletes vying to join her on the US Olympic team this year.
“I’ve been working so hard on it in the gym and to finally put it out in a competition was really nice. I feel pretty confident going into championships,” she said.
“The thing that made us train it seriously, was that we had the extra year. If not, we would have never tried it. So given the time to play around with it, then that’s when we thought it would be kind of feasible.”
At just 24 years old, Biles is one of the most decorated gymnasts of all-time and is currently the reigning world and Olympic champion.