Simone Biles Just Made History With an Jaw-Dropping Beam Dismount
Simone Biles might be the most decorated gymnast in U.S. history, but that doesn’t mean she’s resting on her laurels: On Saturday, she became the first gymnast ever to attempt and land a double-twisting, double somersault dismount during the first day of the 2019 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City, Missouri.
Biles told Team USA that she’d been working hard on nailing the dismount. “I’m really happy with the beam dismount and how it’s come along, because if you had asked me after [U.S. Classic] if I was going to compete it, I would’ve said no,” Biles said. “I feel like in those short two weeks we did a lot of work on a couple of the events, so I’m pretty excited with how it turned out.”
Once she completes it at an international meet, the dismount will be named after Biles. It’s the third time her name will be attached to a skill—she’s already had moves named after her on the vault and floor routine.
The move came at the finale of Biles’ minute-and-a-half-long routine, which ended on the balance beam. She’d already competed in other events on Saturday, and not all of them had gone according to plan. Biles had started the day how she ended it: making history. She attempted a triple-double during her floor routine (two flips and three mid-air twists)—making her the first woman to try the move in competition—but her landing was a little off and she had to steady herself by touching the mat with her hand.
“It was too much, and for the triple-double you kind of need to lean back a little, and I went straight up and straight down, so that’s why I did that and then put my hand down,” she told Team USA, adding that it was “the only time I truly felt sorry for myself in a real long time, but you have to keep the momentum going. “
She certainly did. Despite that first stumble, Biles, who has a combined total of 25 world championship and Olympic medals, still finished first for the first day of competition with a score of 58.650—and did so well ahead of Susina Lee in second (56.900) and Jade Carey in third (56.100).
Watch the incredible moment here: