Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 2023: Simone Biles soars to sixth World all-around title, historic 34th medal

Simone Biles is on top again, striking gold in the women's all-around final Friday (6 October) at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp. It's a sixth global title and her first since 2019.

From the moment Biles stepped into the Sportspaleis, flashing her megawatt smile, to deafening screams from the packed house, it appeared it would be her night. She went on to tally 58.399 ahead defending champion Rebeca Andrade of Brazil (56.766).

2022 World all-around silver medallist Shilese Jones took the bronze medal at 56.332.

"I was emotional because 10 years I won my first Worlds, now we're back here," Biles said afterward. "So, it was emotional. It means everything to me, the fight, everything that I've put in to get back to this place to feel comfortable and confident enough to compete."

The win comes with more history for Biles, who donned a blue sequinned leotard the crystals on which shone as bright as the sport's biggest star.

She's now the only gymnast to win World all-around titles a decade apart, having taken her first title in the very same venue in 2013. Legendary gymnasts Uchimura Kohei of Japan and Russia's Svetlana Khorkina's first and last titles were six years apart, the previous record.

Biles is also the only female gymnast to take six all-around crowns, tying her with Uchimura.

With 34 World and Olympic medals, she becomes the sport's most decorated ever, male or female. After Wednesday's women's team final title, Biles was tied with Vitaly Scherbo, who competed for the Soviet Union, the Unified Team and Belarus throughout his career.

"All in all, I don't think it will hit me until maybe I retire and then look back and see everything that I've done," said Biles of her historic career. "Tonight, I think it was a good start."

Ahead of competition, coach Laurent Landi noted many were keeping a close eye on her pupil to see if she still had 'it.'

"It still proves to myself and other people that I can do it, so I'm proud of the work that I've put in to get to this point," said Biles of those who might have questioned her, "and it's just exciting that I just keep going up, up each and every year, so I'm excited for what's to come."

• 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

'Gymnastics is something that I do, and it's not who I am as a person'

In the opening rotation, the 26-year-old chose not to perform the daring Yurchenko double pike that became her fifth named element earlier in the week. Instead, she vaulted a Cheng (round off onto the board, half turn onto the vaulting table, front layout with one-and-a-half twists) and delivered one of her best attempts at the manuever this season. Her 9.500 execution score gave her a 15.100 final score.

On the uneven bars, Biles earned a 14.333 after pushing through some nervous looking elements to stick her full-twisting, double back dismount. She moved to balance beam with a .233 lead over Andrade.

First to go in the third rotation, Biles shared a laugh with coach Cecile Landi, a 1996 Olympian, after her touch warm-up.

In competition, Biles opened her routine with a slight balance error her switch leap mount. After adding an additional switch leap, Biles was nearly flawless on the 10 centimetre wide apparatus. She earned a 14.433.

Heading to the floor exercise, Biles had a .934 lead over Jones. Last to go, her 14.533 score gave her the historic gold medal.

The superstar gymnast returns to competition after withdrawing from the women's team final at the Tokyo 2020 Games to prioritise her mental health as she dealt with what gymnasts call the 'twisties,' where the body and mind fall out of sync.

"I was actually was less nervous today. I think I was so much more nervous for team finals just because that's when everything occurred, so I was a little bit traumatized from that," said Biles, referencing Tokyo. "Today, I felt a little more relaxed."

She told Olympics.com before heading to the Worlds that she's working to find more balance her life in her return to the sport, making sure to find time for friends, family and self-care.

"They've been amazing just to keep my mind off gymnastics because for a couple of years whenever I wasn't in the sport that's kind of all I had. We got to hang out, have fun, just be normal adults, so I think it's been really nice that even when we go back we're going to try to go to a winery and stuff like that just to keep it normal," Biles said of those around her. "Gymnastics is something that I do, and it's not who I am as a person and I think it took years to realize that."

Andrade, Jones take second-straight global medals

For Andrade and Jones, their silver and bronze medals, respectively, are the second-straight in the global all-around after the duo finished one-two a year ago.

"To go until the end," said Andrade of what she was most proud. "Because it's my fourth day doing all four apparatus and that is very difficult."

It's a second medal in Antwerp for the Brazilian, who two days ago helped her squad take an unprecedented team silver medal.

"I don't know what to say because I am really happy to be on the podium again, side-by-side with such incredible athletes," said Andrade. "So it's an honour to come back to Brazil with another medal and to have another medal in my career."

Jones pushed through a few dicey moments in her final routine on the floor exercise to secure her place on the podium, powering through a double back after her knees buckled after a front full stepout.

"Sometimes if it's a little underrotated, I'm still going to push it out and pretty much do that standing double tuck, so when that happened, just got to keep pushing through, you're not going to do a layout," said Jones of that moment. "I was just like, 'I have to do the double tuck, I'm gonna do the double tuck, no matter if it's this low, this high, I'm gonna do it.'"

Two years ago, Jones was dealing with disappointment, coming up one spot shy of an alternate role on the U.S. team for Tokyo 2020. A cross-country move back to her native Washington-state from Ohio, where she'd trained since a youngster, paid off, as she took three medals in her Worlds debut a year later.

Now, along with Biles, she finds herself among Team USA's best.

"This has been my biggest dream and just pushing forward to '24 next year, anything it takes," said Jones.