Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 2023: Simone Biles claims two more golds on final day of competition

Simone Biles won her 29th and 30th career medals at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Saturday (8 October) in Antwerp, Belgium.

The USA gymnast currently has 23 gold medals at the global event. When advancing to a medal round at the Worlds, Biles has come away with a medal all but three times (bars, 2013, 2019, 2023).

But for Biles, her performance an Antwerp was about more than medals after she withdrew from several finals at the Tokyo 2020 Games to priortise her mental health as she dealt with what gymnasts call the 'twisties.'

"I had to prove to myself that I could still get out here, twist, I could prove all the haters wrong, that I'm not a quitter, this, that, the other," Biles said afterward. "I didn't care as long as I'm out there twisting again, having fun and finding the joy for gymnastics again, who cares?"

Her gold medal rush began in the women's balance beam final, where she was fourth to go. Forced to wait, Biles alternated between pacing back and forth and sitting at the start of the matting as the judges calculated the score for Zhang Qingying of the People's Republic of China.

When Biles was given the green light, she delivered her cleanest balance beam routine of the championships, mounting with a smooth switch leap, switch leap half, back pike combo. Her two layout acrobatic series was steady as a rock and she nearly stuck her full-twisting double back dismount. She scored 14.800.

Zhou Yaqin followed Biles with a stylish and elegant routine, coming up just short of the USA athlete with a 14.700. Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, the Tokyo 2020 vaulting gold medallist, was the last to go. She posted a 14.300 for bronze.

In the floor final, Biles claimed her second gold medal of the night, earning a 14.633 to hold off Andrade's 14.500. Brazil's Flavia Saraiva took third with a 13.966. The medal is Saraiva's first individual medal at the Worlds.

"We had Rebeca on every single podium with me, so I feel like we give each other the best push that we can to bring out the best athletes," Biles said of the history-making Brazilian. "So I just, I don't know, just being excited, being back out here, competing, having fun, having that pressure again, all the things."

• Full Q&A with Simone Biles as she seeks to make more history at World Championships
• Simone Biles on letting go, twisting again, and having no regrets: 'What success means to me is different than before’
• World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2023 preview: Full schedule and how to watch live Paris 2024 qualifying action

'Blocking out the noise'

In her return to the sport, Biles has taken a more subdued approach.

That should we compete at August's U.S. Classic, her first meet in nearly two years since Tokyo, didn't come through a blockbuster interview or even a social media post from the superstar herself.

Instead, USA Gymnastics announced that she had registered for the event. Biles tweeted about it days later.

It's all part of a new approach for the American.

"I think blocking out a lot of the outside noise and not letting that bother me and also doing things that I really enjoy doing and not saying yes to everything," said Biles of how she's doing things differently in 2023. "I had to learn how to say 'no,' that's usually the first response now. If it doesn't fit into my time or my schedule, then I'm not going to do it, and I'm not going to force it. I think that helps a lot.

Later, Biles said she's taking a more relaxed approach to her results, as well.

"Before, whenever I was going out there, it was always... I wouldn't say it was always about medals and count and stuff like that. But I think I worried a little bit more about ending up on the podium," she said, "and now, I'm just like 'I don't care [about the placement.]"

Jarman takes historic gold; Dauser finally golden; Hashimoto adds third gold

In the men's vault final, Jake Jarman took pole position early, nearly sticking a Kasamatsu two-and-a-half for a massive 15.400. His second vault was a clean Dragulescu for a 14.700 and a 15.050 average score. Jarman's win is his first for Team GB and just their second men's vault medal all-time after Kristian Thomas took bronze in 2013.

"I don't think it's quite sunk in to be honest," said Jarman after. "I was super nervous going into this competition, I don't know why. I kept telling myself, 'Just enjoy it, just enjoy, anything can happen', but I still got nervous, but to be able to hold my nerve and produce the vaults I did, I'm super proud."

USA's Khoi Young was the silver medalist, claiming his second individual medal in two days. He was first to go in the final, laying down two stuck vaults (first, a front handspring Randi; second, a round off onto the board, half turn to the table, front flip with two twists). He finished with a 14.849 score.

Ukraine's Nazar Chepurnyi was third at 14.766.

Germany's Lukas Dauser, the Tokyo 2020 parallel bars silver medallist, was competing in his fourth final on the event at the Worlds and took gold at last, scoring a 15.400 as the penultimate competitor.

China's Chi Cong was second at 15.066, followed by Japan's Sugimoto Kaito at 15.000.

In the final event of the championships, Daiki Hashimoto claimed gold on high bar scoring 15.233, more than half a mark over his nearest challenger, Croatia's Tin Srbic (14.700). The pair repeated the result from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in what's becoming a regular horizontal bar duel. Su Weide of People's Republic of China claimed bronze in his debut World Championships, with 14.500.