US star wins 4th All-Around world title; Japan’s Murakami takes silver; American Hurd claims bronze
Vinay Nayudu
Doha
Uncharacteristic and laden with a series of mistakes, yet Simone Biles had enough in her performances to emerge on top in the women's All-Around event of the 48th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Doha 2018 and become the first woman in history to win four individual All-Around world titles at the Aspire Dome on Thursday.
This was Biles' 12th world title putting her equal on record of 20 world championship medals set by Russia's Svetlana Khorkina.
The 21-year-old American, despite a fall on the balance beam and a landing fall on vault, ended with a winning total of 57.491 which pushed Japan's Mai Murakami, who finished 1.693 points behind (55.798), to silver.
The 2017 All-Around champion and Biles' compatriot Morgan Hurd (55.732) finished 0.066 behind Murakami (55.798) to pick the bronze.
The margin of victory, even accounting for Biles' first falls in more than 60 career routines in the Olympics or world championships, marked the largest of her four All-Around world titles.
Commenting on her achievement and the pitfalls, Biles said,"I think I gave everyone out there a heart attack, but it is what it is. Even the best fall sometimes, but I'm excited that I pulled it out at the end. I was definitely shocked. Vault was very uncharacteristic, but I haven't been as confident at these World Championships on beam as I have been in past competitions. So it's a little scary going out there. Vault shook me up a little bit, but I tried not to get off-track and tried to focus on the other three events."
Biles, who returned to the international stage after a year-and-a-half break following her four golds at Rio Olympics, termed the on-going Worlds as one of her toughest."This one has probably been the hardest to get out of all my World Championships and Olympic medals, and the scariest one. It's exciting to bring back a gold medal for the US, but for me it's a bit disappointing because that's not the performance I would hope to give."
It was error-ridden and electrifying at the same time as Biles, who began with the vault and moved to uneven bars and the beam before arriving to the floor exercise. It seemed somewhat destined too as equations changed.
On the third of the four rotations on the beam, the 17-year-old Morgan was the last to go but in trying to be perfect she flipped a little and a score of 12.933 meant that Biles still stayed in the lead.
The finale came on the floor exercise and Belgium's Nina Derwael produced a beautiful routine which was quite pleasing to the eye and received a huge applause returning a score of 13.300. That pushed her to the first place.
Murakami of Japan, the 2017 floor individual champion, went up next and essayed another thrilling show to get a score of 14.000 and be on the top position.
Morgan then came close to Murakami, but could fetch only 13.866 which meant she was now placed second.
It was time for Biles to battle the odds and against herself. But the champion lived up to her brilliant execution and difficulty superiority to be awarded a whopping score of 15.000 which brought the winning overall total and the much-awaited gold.
It was happiness and disappointment alike for the other competitors too.
Belgian Nina, who by her own admission isn't usually so good on the floor exercise, but on this day she seemed super."Little bit of a mixed feelings, but I'm happy about my performance today. I did come fourth and missed the podium, but I'm really happy for the opportunity to behind three great gymnasts," said she smiling all along.
Looking back the crucial flip, Morgan said,"I was trying to be a little too perfect", while Murakami said,"I just wanted to do a four-four (four clean routines) and I did and it brought the silver medal. And I wanted to finish with a smile."
But just like many were left wondering, even Murakami was taken aback with Biles' fall and rise show."Instead of thinking I could win, I was thinking 'Oh, Biles can fall!'"
The contest went so close that was there was just 0.001 points between fourth and fifth places. The gymnasts, along with the men will be back in action on Friday for the individual apparatus finals.
Biles would be in action in all the four women's apparatus, while the men will contest in six.
RESULTS
Women's All-Around Final
1. Simone Biles (US) 57.491 pts
2. Mai Murakami (JPN) 55.798
3. Morgan Hurd (US) 55.732
4. Nina Derwael (BEL) 55.699
5. Angelina Melnikova (RUS) 55.699
6. de Jesus dos Sant (FRA) 55.599
7. Chen Yile (CHN) 54.632
8. Saraiva Flavia (BRA) 54.366
9. Huan Luo (CHN) 54.332
10. Asuka Teramoto (JPN) 54.299