Biles also became the first American woman to win a world championship medal on all four gymnastics events.
DOHA, Qatar — The records just keep on coming for Simone Biles.
The Olympic champion added gold on vault and silver on uneven bars during the first day of event finals at the world gymnastics championships on Friday. The gold medal is her third of the meet and the 13th of her career, the most ever by any gymnast at worlds.
Biles, who won a record fourth world all-around title on Thursday, opted not to do her signature vault during the finals but still coasted to victory. Her two-vault average of 15.366 was well clear of the 14.516 posted by Canada’s Shallon Olsen and the 14.508 put up by Mexico’s Alexa Moreno.
Biles finished runner-up to Belgium’s Nina Derwael in the uneven bars final but still became the first American woman to win a world championship medal on all four events. Biles’ score of 14.7 nudged her past Germany’s Elizabeth Seitz but wasn’t enough to top Derwael’s 15.2. Derwael’s gold was the first ever for Belgium at the world championships.
American Morgan Hurd, who finished third in the all-around behind Biles and Japan’s Mai Murakami, came in sixth in the bars final.
Biles will have a chance to add to her medal total when the meet wraps up on Saturday. She will compete in both the balance beam final and the floor exercise final. If she medals on both — as she did at the 2016 Olympics — the 21-year-old will tie the mark for career medals at the world championships with 20.
Men’s all-around champion Artur Dalaloyan added gold on floor exercise, as his score of 14.900 allowed him to slip past Japan’s Kenzo Shirai. Carlos Edriel Yulo of the Philippines was third, just ahead of American Yul Moldauer in fourth.
China’s Xiao Ruoteng, who lost gold in the all-around on a tiebreaker, won gold on pommel horse on a tiebreaker. Xiao and Max Whitlock of Britain both finished with a score of 15.166, but Xiao claimed gold because his execution score was higher than Whitlock’s. Lee Chih-Kai of Taiwan won the bronze, the first world championship medal for Taiwan in a quarter century. American Sam Mikulak was fourth.
Greece’s Eleftherios Petrounias captured gold on still rings with a score of 15.366. Brazil’s Arthur Zanetti took silver, with Marco Lodadio claiming bronze.
The men finish up the meet with finals on vault, parallel bars and high bar on Saturday.
