(Reuters) – Simone Biles led the U.S. women’s team to their seventh title at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old Biles marshalled her team to another golden victory in a dramatic final that closed with a superb floor routine giving her a 15.166 score for an overall 167.729.
The American won the first of her five world all-around titles at the age of 16 a decade ago in Antwerp, making this stage her return to international competition after a two-year hiatus from the sport to protect her mental health.
With 25 world medals, the most of any gymnast in history, and seven Olympic medals, the oldest American woman to compete at the Worlds now has five skills named after her after securing the Yurchenko double pike which is now to be named Biles II.
Brazil took second place with 165.530, led by 24-year-old Rebeca Andrade.
The French team took bronze with 164.064 following excellent routines on the balance beam and vault, highlighted by the performance of Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos, who trains at the gym owned by Biles’s family in Texas.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City; editing by Clare Fallon)
