Simone Biles sets new all-time medals mark with 2 more gold at gymnastics worlds

Simone Biles broke the all-time record for most medals by any gymnast at the world championships by winning the balance beam and floor exercise Sunday.

Biles won her 24th medal on the beam, breaking a tie on 23 with the Belarusian men's gymnast Vitaly Scherbo, and added her 25th less than two hours later.

Biles scored 15.066 on the beam after a near-flawless routine, opting for a simpler dismount than the double-double she performed earlier in the championships.

When her score was announced, guaranteeing the medal record, Biles leaped up from her seat with a broad smile and punched the air.

WATCH | Biles takes gold in beam

Simone Biles wins 24th world championship medal with balance beam gold

5 years ago

Duration 3:36

American gymnast Simone Biles broke the all-time record for most medals by any gymnast at the world championships by winning the balance beam competition on Sunday.

China took silver and bronze with Liu Tingting on 14.433 and Li Shijia on 14.3, respectively.

Canada's Ana Padurariu, who isn't fully recovered from an injury suffered before the Pan Am Games in July, finished eighth.

"Today wasn't the best, but I was just happy … to be at another world championships in another beam final," the Whitby, Ont., native told Gymnastics Canada. "These world championships would have been better for me if I hadn't got sick."

Golden in 5 of 6 events

Biles won the floor exercise by a full point, scoring 15.133 despite a step out of bounds on one pass, and blew kisses to the audience after finishing her routine. Her U.S. teammate Sunisa Lee took silver, her third medal of the championships, while Angelina Melnikova took bronze for Russia.

WATCH | Biles takes gold in floor exercise, sets record with 25th gold

Simone Biles wins floor gold; sets all-time mark with 25th worlds medal

5 years ago

Duration 5:36

American gymnast Simone Biles won the gold medal in the floor exercise on Sunday to set the all-time record for most medals at the world championships.

Canada's Brooklyn Moors was seventh. She was a last-minute addition to the floor final after Nina Derwael of Belgium withdrew.

"I just wanted to come out and enjoy it, and [finishing] seventh was pretty amazing," said Moors, who hails from Cambridge, Ont. "This has been an insane competition with so many highs and lows.

"Our goal coming in was to qualify a team for Tokyo [and the 2020 Olympics] and that's what we did, so that was thrilling."

Biles' winning routine came after a long wait when Brazilian gymnast Flavia Saraiva requested an inquiry into her score, during which time Biles sat on the edge of the floor.

Biles has won five events at these world championships after team gold Tuesday, individual all-around gold Thursday and vault gold Saturday.

A fifth place on uneven bars Saturday ended Biles' chances of winning a medal in all six events, which she did last year in her comeback world championships after a sabbatical in 2017.

Biles hasn't confirmed whether she'll continue to compete after next year's Olympics, so this could be her last world championships.

Of her 24 career world medals, 18 are gold, against 12 of 23 for Scherbo.

Earlier, Russia's Nikita Nagornyy won the men's vault for this third gold medal of the championships. He's the first European man to win the vault since 2010.

Nagornyy scored an average 14.966 from his two vaults, beating his friend and Russian teammate Artur Dalaloyan into second place. The bronze went to Ukraine's Igor Radivilov.

The 38-year-old Romanian Marian Dragulescu, a four-time world champion, secured qualification for his fifth Olympics by placing fourth.

Britain won its second gold of the championships as Joe Fraser scored 15 points to win on parallel bars. Ahmet Önder​​​was second for Turkey, with Japan's Kazuma Kaya third. Max Whitlock won Britain's first gold medal Saturday on pommel horse.

Canada's Cournoyer makes Olympic cut

Rene Cournoyer, who was part of the Canadian men's team that failed to earn a quota spot earlier this week for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, has done so on his own, according to the International Gymnastics Federation.

"It feels absolutely amazing to realize all those hard hours of training have paid off," said Cournoyer, the highest-scoring athlete for Canada in the all-around competition. "I still can't believe my dream is about to come true.

"It's time to get back in the gym and to be the best gymnast I can be for next summer."