Biles still leads the gymnastics world

A decade later, Simone Biles still leads the pack. The gymnastics star won her record eighth U.S. Championship on Sunday night, 10 years after she first ascended to the top of her sport as a teenage prodigy. Biles, currently a 26-year-old newlywed considered perhaps the greatest of all time, posted an all-around two-day total of 118.40, four points clear of runner-up Shilese Jones. Leanne Wong, a Florida native, claimed third, cementing her chances for a third straight world championship team. Biles, who won her first world title in 2013, is all but certain to return to the gym. Over the course of two nights at the SAP Center, she served notice that even after a two-year break following the Tokyo Olympics, in gymnastics there is the one referred to as the GOAT and there is everyone else. Biles became the oldest woman to win a national title since USA Gymnastics started the event in 1963. Her eight crowns moved her past Alfred Jochim, who won seven championships between 1925-33 when the Amateur Athletics Union ran the championships and the events in men's competition included rope climbing. He said that he doesn't think about numbers. I think about my performance. And I think overall, I hit 8 for 8. ''I'm pretty happy with it,'' he said. I think it's a lucky number for this year. There has been a substantial expansion of the sport over the past few decades. No one has spent more time on the far end of the Bell curve than Biles, who has spent 10 years using her unique talent to push boundaries in more ways than one. They aren't supposed to last this long, so don't expect them to last a long time. The most elite gymnasts at 26 at least the most who haven't retired are simply hoping to hold on to what they have. She finds repetition boring. This time, she insists that she's doing it for herself and her markedly different approach to her job offers tangible proof that she's not lying. She has kept most training under wraps, more interested in sharing glimpses of her life far away from the gym. He said he wants to keep personal, just so that I know what I'm aiming for. This year I'm trying to move a little differently, not the way I have in the past. I think it's working so far so far, so I'm going to keep it secretive. There appears to be more balance in her life, leaning into the just gymnastics mantra that helped fuel her rise. Age hasn't caught up to her yet, though she played it relatively safe by her standards on Sunday. On Saturday, she tweaked her right ankle in training, leading her to opt out of doing the Yurchenko double pike vault, which she nailed almost flawlessly during the opening night of the competition on Friday. She received a total of 16.850 for her Cheng vault, which was still the highest performance of the night. She earned 14.8 on beams, or a quarter of an average. The 15.400 drew a standing ovation when she finished too. In late September, Biles will attempt to add to the 25 medals 18 of them gold she's captured so far in her unparalleled career. Jones is also said to be on the plane. The 21-year-old is a marvel on bars, where she excels despite being tall for someone who opts to do this for a living. The crowd erupted when she nailed her Dismount, her 15,000 score was tops on the meet on the event and put 10 months filled with injuries that have slowed her training firmly behind her. Who joins Jones and Biles at world championships remains very much up in the air. Reigning Olympic champion Sunisa Lee has spent most of the year battling a kidney issue her doctors are still trying to get a handle on, she could have a chance as a specialist after putting together a solid balance beam routine. Wong, one of two athletes trying to compete in the NCAA and elite levels at the same time, put together two stunning nights that included an elegant bars routine and a floor exercise that makes up for precision what it lacks in power. Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles, teammates of Biles at the 2020 Olympics, who have also spent the last two years splitting time between college and elite, were not quite as sharp. Chiles fell off both of the bars and beams, the report said. Carey finished in the top 10 on just one event vault where the Americans figure to be loaded.