Antwerp (Belgium) (AFP) – Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won her second world gold in the women’s vault as US star Simone Biles took silver after a fall during the final at the world gymnastics championships in Antwerp on Saturday.
(From L) American Simone Biles took world vault silver behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade with South Korea’s Yeo Seo-jeong third © KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFPOlympic champion Andrade scored 14.750 points to take the title with Biles falling while landing her first jump, but taking silver with 14.549 and her 28th world medal.
Returning after a two-year break, Biles over-rotated her Yurchenko double pike vault named the Biles II after her, landing with her feet too far in front of her, and rolling onto her back.
As a result she lost a point on her execution score, to which was added half a point due to the presence of her trainer on the side of the mat.
Andrade, a revelation at the Tokyo Olympics, had already been crowned world vault champion at the 2021 worlds in Japan.
At 24, the delighted Brazilian, silver medallist in the all-around competition behind Biles on Friday, now has five medals on the world stage.
South Korea’s Yeo Seo-jeong scored 14.416 to win bronze.
On Friday, Biles was crowned all-around champion for a sixth time having also led the United States to a seventh consecutive women’s team title earlier in the week.
She will also compete in the finals on the uneven bars later Saturday and the beam and the floor on Sunday.
In the men’s competition, Olympic champion Artem Dolgopyat gave Israel their first ever world gymnastics gold in the men’s floor final while Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan defended his pommel horse crown.
Dolgopyat scored 14.866 points to take the title ahead of Japan’s Kazuki Minami (14.666), with Milad Karimi (14.600) giving Kazakhstan their first world medal since 1997 with bronze.
Ukraine-born Dolgopyat, 26, won floor silver at the worlds in 2017 and 2019, before claiming the Olympic title in Tokyo.
McClenaghan, 24, scored 15.100 points to retain the title he won in Liverpool last year with American Khoi Young, 20, taking silver (14.966) and Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud bronze (14.633).
