Europe 1 with AFP 16:38 p.m., October 08, 2023

After a two-year break from gymnastics, American Simone Biles won her 22nd world title on her return to competition. The famous gymnast was crowned on the balance beam at the World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, less than 10 months before the Olympic Games in Paris.

American Simone Biles, back in competition after a two-year hiatus, won her 22nd world title by winning the balance beam title on Sunday at the World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, less than ten months before the Paris Olympics. Biles, who won the team and all-around titles during the week, earned an outstanding score of 14.800, followed by 17-year-old Chinese teenager Zhou Yaqin (14.700).

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22 world titles and 29 medals

Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, who had beaten Biles the day before in the vault final, rounded out the podium (14.300). During a high-level final, the American performed a series of acrobatics without moving a millimetre on the apparatus. But her title came down to very little, as the Chinese Zhou was so impressively light. The gold only eluded the latter due to a step backwards on the exit of the beam, penalized by a tenth of a point.

Biles now has 22 world titles and 29 medals. It marks a breathtaking return to the international level, two years after a gruelling Tokyo Olympics marked by the episode of the "twisties", the brutal and unpredictable loss of any reference point in space. She then cut off the gym altogether and only returned to competition last August in the United States.