Simone Biles competes on the uneven bars at the 2018 FIG Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Nov. 2, 2018 in Doha, Qatar.
Who said she was done making history?
After claiming her record 13th world title earlier on Friday, Simone Biles was back for more and won the silver medal on uneven bars at the gymnastics world championships in Doha, Qatar.
In doing so, the 21-year-old Texan won her 23rd combined Olympic or world championships medal, and her first on uneven bars. She now has world championships medals in every event — team, individual all-around and on all four apparatuses — becoming the first American to do so.
With two more event finals to go before the competition wraps up on Saturday, Biles has a chance to further distinguish herself by making the podium in every event at a single world championships. No woman has done that since Yelena Shushunova of the Soviet Union in 1987.
Biles’ bars score of 14.700 trailed only that of champion Nina Derwael of Belgium, who scored 15.200. U.S. teammate Morgan Hurd finished sixth with a score of 14.433.
Though Biles was never weak on bars — she made the event final at her first world championships in 2013, finishing fourth — the generational gymnast had never been quite as good as she was on the other three apparatuses. That changed when she returned to the sport following a post-Olympic break. Working with noted bars coach Laurent Landi, Biles has become more confident and smooth on the apparatus.
That showed in her first post-Olympics competitions this summer, including at the national championships in August, when she won the event for the first time and swept all five national titles.
In Doha, she kept it up with one of her best routines in an already historic meet.
Biles’ uneven bars silver medal came after she won her first world title on vault earlier in the day, although she is also the defending Olympic champion on vault. All combined, Biles now has 13 world titles and four Olympic gold medals.
When the competitions in Doha wraps up Saturday, Biles will have two more chances at medals when she competes in the balance beam and floor exercise finals. She posted the top qualifying score in both events. American Kara Eaker also qualified for balance beam final.
On the men’s side, Sam Mikulak will go for world medals on parallel bars and high bar. He just missed out on winning his first world championships medal on Friday when he finished fourth on pommel horse. Mikulak and Yul Moldauer also competed in the floor exercise final Friday.
Chrös McDougall has covered the Olympic movement for TeamUSA.org since 2009, including the gymnastics national championships and Olympic trials every year since 2011, on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc. He is based in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
