Simone Biles has done it again.
Biles won her ninth national all-around title Sunday night at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas. She won gold medals in all four events, was nearly flawless throughout the tournament and is gearing up to compete in her third Olympic Games in Paris this summer.
With her win in Texas, Biles has officially qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials later this summer. She is the first gymnast, men’s or women’s, to win nine national championships. Biles already held the record last year when she won her eighth title, breaking the record shared by Alfred Jochim. With her win, she also became the oldest woman ever to win the title.
Biles finished with a total score of 119.750. She fell on the vault while trying to exit her signature Yurchenko double pike, which resulted in a one-point deduction and her first fall of the season.
Sunday’s win came after Biles dominated the field by winning every event at last month’s U.S. Classic. Skye Blakely came in second with 113.850 points. She narrowly beat out Kayla DiCello, who won bronze with 110.800 points. Jones did not participate because of a shoulder injury. Both Jones and Kariya Lincoln have applied to compete in the Olympic Trials.
Biles is getting back into shape ahead of the Olympics later this summer after leading Team USA to the team title at last fall’s World Gymnastics Championships and winning the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award in 2023.
Biles is set to qualify later this summer, but she is sure to be one of the most highly-anticipated skaters in the world as she competes in France in the run-up to the Olympics. It will be her first competition since her “ups and downs” at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics led to her missing multiple events, a surprising turn of events for the four-time Olympic gold medalist.
But once again, Biles seems to be her old self. Olympic trials begin in Minneapolis on June 27, about a month before the opening ceremony in Paris.
