Simone Biles won her eighth all-around victory at the US Gymnastics Championships, shattering a record that had stood for 90 years.
After taking a two-year break from competition to focus on her mental health, the four-time Olympic champion won less than a month after making a comeback.
With a floor routine score of 15.400 and an overall score of 118.450, the 26-year-old took first place, 3.9 points ahead of Shilese Jones.
Biles overtook Alfred Jochim, who won his seventh US championship in 1933.
She was the only contestant to complete the two competition days in San Jose with two scores of 15 or above, after seizing the event with a 15.700 on the vault on Friday.
Biles first won the title of US all-around champion in 2013, and in 2021, she tied with Jochim’s mark.
She quit gymnastics later that year after withdrawing from five of her six finals at the postponed Tokyo Olympics. Later, she revealed that she had been suffering from “the twisties,” a mental block that may cause gymnasts to lose their sense of space in the air.
Biles, who won a bronze medal on the balance beam and a team silver in Tokyo, has yet to say if she plans to participate at the Olympics in Paris in 2016. However, she is anticipated to compete in the World Championships, which will be held in Antwerp from September 30 to October 8, when she will have the opportunity to add to her collection of 25 world medals, including 19 golds.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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